Tell us about your mistakes.

[ScottishBoy]

Oh...and never run a still at a party. Idiots who know nothing about alcohol keep trying to prove how friggin brave they are by tasting pure. This happened to a bud who decided to serve at a party. He shut the thing down after some jock tried to swig from the jar.

Yep, good call Scottish Boy. The whole shootin match sounds rather sophomoric.

Clear minds prevail.

I think were were juniors...

I was also reminded of another event which could have had dire consequences. If you are working with any pressure in your system, test all your connections. We used to use a paint brush and a can of warm water. If you think a joint might be leaking, then brush it and look for bubbles. The last thing you want is alcohol vapor/air mixture and an open flame.

Some of this stuff is coming back to me...

[kiwistiller]

I just had an epic face-palm moment. I realised that I have no memory of taking the botanicals out of my boiler after the last batch of gin. Since then, I have stripped some UJSM, and added it to my keg of low wines, which has about 45l now. FML. guess that lovely flavour is going to feed the column.

[olddog]

Whoops

[scarecrow]

I was running a rum wash today. Low heat stovetop pottie with a thumper. All was going well, so I decided to do a bit of a cleanup to kill time.
I sat back down and watched the still, like I always do. Suddenly I could hear the output pipe chuffing. Took a closer look and sure enough it was hissing and farting like no ones business. WTF. What's going on here?

In the time it took for me to turn left and walk 1 pace to check the controls the pottie blew the bowl just high enough to cause hot wash to spray every where.
Just as I reached for the towel to shield myself, the thumper blew out some flour paste.

Shit was spraying everywhere.

I managed to turn the heat off and throw towels everywhere to soak up the wash.

I must of accidently bumped the control from low to high without realising it when I did my cleanup.

All I can say is this stuff was fucking hot and it fucking hurt.

That's done me for a week or two till I heal.

scarecrow

[HookLine]

Woah! That was a close call. Could have been a lot worse.

Appreciate your honesty. It helps others avoid the same experience.

[rad14701]

Sorry to hear about the accident, scarecrow... It should serve as a wake up call to everyone that accidents can and do happen... Now, get healed up and climb back on that still soon, ya hear...

[fdangerous]

my worst one was a couple of months ago , i use flour paste as a seal and some how didnt get it all mixed up or just didnt use enough of it on that side but some how i had the thing runnin full out and sprung a leak wich burst into flames lol, i was wowed, then cut the heat and shoved it of the burner , another night on the couch,lol

[kiwistiller]

crap. posting twice in a week in this thread.

I'm CERTAIN that someone said recently that if you dissolve baking soda in water first, it won't foam so much when added to the wash. it may have been an illusion though, as I can't find it now.

Anyway, safe in the knowledge that it wouldn't foam, I tipped a large amount of sugar and baking soda in water into one of my fermenters, and Mount Vesuvius erupts and sugar foam goes EVERYWHERE, all over the insulation (and electric blanket!) for the fermenters, all over the floor, down the back of the bench and along all the hard to reach places, the windows....

I have spent all morning cleaning it up.

I will not make that mistake again.

[HookLine]

Using baking soda just adds more nucleation sites for the CO2 to foam on. Don't matter if it is dissolved in water.

Just add a little bit of the baking soda/sugar, let the foaming settle, then add a bit more, etc, until it doesn't happen.

[kiwistiller]

yup I figured that one out pretty quick

Learning by doing, learning by doing....

[rad14701]

Giving a good stir to an active ferment will release a majority of the CO2 immediately prior to adding any ingredients helps reduce foaming... Even adding water can cause a minor reaction but anything with an abundance of nucleation points is worse...

[Tater]

Made a corn meal mash other day . After 2 frosts thought nats were gone .So didnt put cloth over barrel just plywood I use for such.mash fermented for 3 days before infection and can smell alch in it.Decided to try something Id wondered about with these infections and added some bleach to mash and filled barrel to top with added water.Want to see if bleach will kill infection .Will give time to let chlorine evap out of wash and add some sugar and yeast to see if mash will start fermenting again. Filled barrel to top cause if nothing else will let set till washes cleans barrel before dumping.

[Tater]

just checked mash. its history

[UnclePaul]

My dad told me stories of an older man I knew who made shine back in the late thirtys and early forties. Started his still up one day and forgot to remove the oakbranch plug he used to keep unwelcome guest out of the coil.
The left if for a little while to go back to the house.
Dad said you could hear the explosion from a mile away.
After being told that story, I do all my cooking out side.

[kiwistiller]

Here's a new one ... starting a 50l spirit run at 10pm, because you have 170 exam papers to mark by the morning, and you might as well supervise the still while you're at it (coz then it's like you're being paid to still? sorta? maybe?). Tired stilling does not work well at all. I'm fairly confident I'll bugger up something, so I'm shutting down for a nap. I keep nearly overflowing jars.

SleepyKiwi