perfect shine?

[sinder]

So after googling a little, how do you see the difference between shine that have methanol in it and that are good to drink? i dont really see any difference between methanol burning and shine burning when i search on the internet, How do you see the difference? what color does this picture have? It's blue right?

 

[brumateur1]

It's very hard to make a shine with a noticeable amount of methanol. All that nasty taste of bad shine is from other impurities like acetone, isobutanol etc. Do a proper cuts to get a good shine.

 

[sinder]

It's very hard to make a shine with a noticeable amount of methanol. All that nasty taste of bad shine is from other impurities like acetone, isobutanol etc. Do a proper cuts to get a good shine.

But how do you see the difference? the flame is supposed to be either red or yellow if its bad, but all flames looks like blue for me.

 

[brumateur1]

But how do you see the difference? the flame is supposed to be either red or yellow if its bad, but all flames looks like blue for me.

https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46

 

[PapaGanj]

The proper way to tell if your shine has methanol in it is to make sure you do the boil correctly. Dumping everything before and after 195°-205°f (correct my figures if I'm wrong).

You've probably heard of the old head, tails, and heart trick.

The pre boil and up to temp (everything that vaporizes before 172°) is the run off that will contain most of the methanol.

The head, (172°-195°)will contain a significant amount of alcohol, but still wont be as smooth as the heart. (Not usually worth keeping).

The heart (195°-205°)
Will be the least contaminated portion and the real yeild of the whole operation. This is what is classified as shine.

The tails (everything boiling off after 205°) is just that. The butt end of everything. At this point anything thats left in there that can be boiled out will come out.

 

[brumateur1]

The pre boil and up to temp (everything that vaporizes before 172°) is the run off that will contain most of the methanol.

First - there is no methanol in a heads. You can find some insignificant amount more close to tails if you are doing fruit brandy.

Second - stop worrying about it. https://homedistiller.org/intro/methanol/methanol

 

[PapaGanj]

First - there is no methanol in a heads. You can find some insignificant amount more close to tails if you are doing fruit brandy.

Second - stop worrying about it. https://homedistiller.org/intro/methanol/methanol

First-I agree, there is little to no methanol in the head, its mostly taken care of in the pre boil. As i stated.

Second- its poison. I would worry about it. I'm sure the OP started this thread because they're worried about it as well.

It's basically alchemy, and if you want to yeild specific results, you need to do things a specific way. If not, you're left feeling concerned with the amount of methanol that may be left in your shine.

 

[Shine0n]

If you run a potstill and have a thermometer in it its just another point of a leak, take it out and toss it in a piece of meat.
You will have small amounts of methanol through out a potstill run period, not anything that will kill you so don't worry about it.
FACT a bottle of wine has more methanol than a gallon of spirits and nobody drinking wine is dying of methanol poisoning.
Make good cuts, take a larger fores cut if you're worried and collect in small jars.

Let your nose and taste buds be the judge of what's good or not.

 

[Soulshine2]

So after googling a little, how do you see the difference between shine that have methanol in it and that are good to drink? i dont really see any difference between methanol burning and shine burning when i search on the internet, How do you see the difference? what color does this picture have? It's blue right?

I toss the first oz/gal ...I have a 5 gallon reflux still ( clawhammer) meaning at least the first 5 oz that come off , is saved for fire starter/parts cleaner or just toss it. I then check mine by drawing off a sample and pouring it out on a flat metal surface, light it. If it still has a yellow flame , keep drawing off and tossing...maybe another 2 or 3 ounces to be safe. Once the sample burns blue ,i'm good to start drawing "safe" drinkable shine.
I will take a tiny sip once Im close. If it gives me an instant headache and burns my tongue I keep drawing it off to the toss jar.
Out of all the batches Ive made before . The best one yet has been my 98 proof oak barrel chip aged JD recipe . Came out almost like JD Sinatra Select. Good color, Smooth and flavorful