When people think of a distillery, they often think of rum, gin, whiskey, or a multitude of other delicious spirits. However, a big part of working in a distillery is cleaning! While cleaning is never a fun chore, it is a necessary part of working in a distillery. In the video below, I show you how to clean a stainless steel still.
Draining the Still
After the distillation is complete, I loosen the butterfly clamps and remove the end caps on the opening of the still to allow it to cool down. Then I attach a red hose to the bottom of the still, to let the spent wash drain away. Once the still is empty, I will take a power washer and wash spray the inside of the still. Any solids stuck to the heating element will be power-washed off. If the still is particularly dirty, I will also do an internal caustic wash.
Disassembling the Still
In order to clean the sight glasses, I need to disassemble the top part of the still. The condenser is extremely heavy, and I always need help from a co-worker to remove it. The most tedious part of cleaning the stills is having to disassemble the condenser, swan neck, and other parts in order to access the copper packing material.
Rejuvenating the Copper Packing
The sight glasses are packed with pieces of copper tubing. The copper helps with sulfur removal. After each distillation, the copper tubing material turns a grey-black colour. For this reason, the copper material must be taken out and soaked in a citric acid solution to rejuvenate the copper. When the rejuvenated copper becomes a shiny rose colour I will place it back into the sight glass for the next distillation.
For a better look at how to clean a stainless steel still, please watch the video below.
Watch it on YouTube Below
Leave a Comment