Tell us about your mistakes.

This hobby is fun & enjoyable, but it is not tiddlywinks. Be safe!

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Brutal
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by Brutal »

That sucks MCH. If you gotta start over try hooking the fabric inside a fishing net. Then you can just scoop some up, set the net across the top for a few minutes, then dump and repeat. Best thing is you're already all dirty if you make a mess its OK.
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MichiganCornhusker
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

I've got a good system now.
I used 6 bar clamps around the top of the trash can to pinch the fabric over the top.

The fabric itself is super tough, can easily handle the weight, it was just that the way the handles are moulded into the plastic trash can they allowed the rope to ride up and off.

With my new steamer rig, this might be one of my last strained ferments anyway. But, I'm splitting this batch up and I'm gonna do one run with totally clear, racked, strained ferment, and another run with all the slop through my steam stripper to see if I notice a difference in the final whiskey.
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Brutal
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by Brutal »

Beautiful! I was hoping your post would end with that!
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Kegg_jam
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by Kegg_jam »

Son of a mutha flippin nut cracker I got slimed!

5 gallon buckets suck, stupid air locks for fermenting wine suck, mopping my hard earned Rye mash off the basement floor sucks big time....

.... But it does smell really good though.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by yakattack »

For now. Just don't miss anything or it.won't smell so good anymore
HDNB wrote: The trick here is to learn what leads to a stalled mash....and quit doing that.
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Kegg_jam
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

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ImageUploadedByTapatalk1457061071.643650.jpg
sltm1
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by sltm1 »

I gotta say, you make a beautiful looking mess, makes my mouth water!!
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by shadylane »

I murdered the yeast in a chopped corn/sugar wash.
The controller for the heater shorted out and the 20 gallon ferment was at 180f
So I converted the corn with enzymes and re-pitched the yeast.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by pfshine »

Well nice save and way of turning a bad situation into a positive one.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by shadylane »

The ferment was started yesterday and found it over heated this morning.
I made a yeast bomb for the original wash, guess a second dose of boiled yeast,
for nutrients isn't going to hurt anything :lol:
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rumBum2
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by rumBum2 »

Kegg_jam wrote:Son of a mutha flippin nut cracker I got slimed!

5 gallon buckets suck, stupid air locks for fermenting wine suck, mopping my hard earned Rye mash off the basement floor sucks big time....

.... But it does smell really good though.

Nah! 29768 members here, i bet this has happens to them all! that is if they actually fermented something.. Now getting your old lady pregnant by accident, now that is a big mistake!!
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by SouthTexasShine »

So I've run my 7 gallon keg thumper more than a dozen times and always loaded it with about 2 or 3 gallons and never had an issue. The other day I loaded the boiler and had a little over two and a half gallons of rum wash left so I loaded that in the thumper along with 3 quarts of low wines and started my run. About 4 oz into my fores I had a huge puke and scrambled to catch the wash and kill the flame. I got everything shut down, emptied about 6 quarts from the thumper and fired back up. Pretty soon I had fores running out of the liebig again and I started to clean up the mess. I turned around to see steam coming from the liebig and realized that I was standing on the cooling line return hose. I run an exhaust fan so there wasn't much of a build up and the mist clear as soon as I moved my foot.
On clean up I realized my big issue, I had grabbed a 5 gallon keg, not a 7 gallon keg to use as the thumper. Now I have marked the thumper keg with paint.
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Still Life
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by Still Life »

Made some Deathwish Wheat Germ wash from Tried And True
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=47474

About 2am we hear a POP! kerplunketyYY!

That recipe has a warning about violent fermentation....
but blow off the bucket lid and split the rim??
Air lock was destroyed by floor impact.
Hit the lights and wheat germ was spattered all over.

Rescued what I could at that hour, and figured it'd be a busted half-ass batch at best.
But it distilled out some tasty product after all.

Won't do THAT recipe again, but I do incorporate about a half cup of wheat germ into
the Tried & True Odin's Corn Flake I'm currently addicted to.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 14&t=47492

No joke. It even blew the seal ring from the lid and it was hanging like a garter on the bucket.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by skow69 »

The 3rd law of fermentation:

Violent fermentation leading to catastrophic failure of the fermentation vessel will only occur between 1 am. and 4 am. or when no one will be home for at least 12 hours.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by Kegg_jam »

Finger slipped on cordless drill before my paint mixer was all the way in the barrel.

Use your imagination....
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by rgreen2002 »

rumBum2 wrote:
Kegg_jam wrote:Son of a mutha flippin nut cracker I got slimed!

5 gallon buckets suck, stupid air locks for fermenting wine suck, mopping my hard earned Rye mash off the basement floor sucks big time....

.... But it does smell really good though.

Nah! 29768 members here, i bet this has happens to them all! that is if they actually fermented something.. Now getting your old lady pregnant by accident, now that is a big mistake!!
Ran a blackstrap molasses ferment in the basement... Two 5 gallon pails with not enough head room.... sneaky stuff that molasses. Slow to start so I thought...Meh...it will be fine. Blew the bubblers out and molasses all over the floor. Smelled like a bakery had humped a shoo pie in a gingerbread house. Not fun to clean. No more 5 gallon pails for this guy. :mrgreen:
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by heartcut »

Picked up a little, put some fores in an empty water bottle for my neighbor's shop, swept and wiped. Was straining and diluting a gallon of corn and when I dumped in the water the abv rose... Went back to my neighbor, got my water, gave him the fores and am now rerunning the contaminated whiskey. Dammit.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by muscashine »

Fermenting Brown sugar and bananas in the trunk of my old car (because wife didn't want to smell it in the house). Everything going along very nicely until I somehow cracked one of the buckets and didn't know it. Checked on the ferment - all that's left in the bucket is banana mush and foam. The liquid and yeast soaked through the carpet and was now fermenting around the spare tire. Took forever to clean it out and air out the car.
The other bucket ran nicely though. I call it "Trunk Monkey" rum.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by raketemensch »

muscashine wrote:Fermenting Brown sugar and bananas in the trunk of my old car (because wife didn't want to smell it in the house). Everything going along very nicely until I somehow cracked one of the buckets and didn't know it. Checked on the ferment - all that's left in the bucket is banana mush and foam. The liquid and yeast soaked through the carpet and was now fermenting around the spare tire. Took forever to clean it out and air out the car.
The other bucket ran nicely though. I call it "Trunk Monkey" rum.
Imagine getting pulled over with that smell...

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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by Hound Dog »

Yea, having a drain and fill port on your boiler is great! No breaking down between runs, just leave a hose hooked to the drain and crack the valve open when you are done. Quick rinse and you can leave it until you are ready for the next run. Just make sure on the next run you close the valve before filling the boiler. I siphoned one bucket in the boiler and just started on the second before I realized the drain was open. Basically dumped five gallons of nicely cleared wash in the woods.... :thumbdown:
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by muscashine »

raketemensch wrote:
muscashine wrote:Fermenting Brown sugar and bananas in the trunk of my old car (because wife didn't want to smell it in the house). Everything going along very nicely until I somehow cracked one of the buckets and didn't know it. Checked on the ferment - all that's left in the bucket is banana mush and foam. The liquid and yeast soaked through the carpet and was now fermenting around the spare tire. Took forever to clean it out and air out the car.
The other bucket ran nicely though. I call it "Trunk Monkey" rum.
Imagine getting pulled over with that smell...

"What? No, officer, I haven't had a drop."
Hahaha. Finally got the smell out. Febreeze inside the car, and leaving it open for a couple of days finally dried it out.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by MajikMack »

Funny little story... So I was running some rum and collected the foreshots.. knowing this stuff burns well I put it in a zippo... I light it up in the house and a nice pretty blue flame comes out.. Perfect I think.. Until I am driving, try to light a cigarette.. Damned zippo wont light, or so I think.. My cigarette was magically lit and the steering wheel was melting a little.. WTF!!! So I figured out that blue flames + Sun = burning stuff magically...
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Don't wear loose fitting eyeglasses when dumping hot slops out of your still into 5 gallon buckets.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by FreeMountainHermit »

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Don't wear loose fitting eyeglasses when dumping hot slops out of your still into 5 gallon buckets.
Reminds me of a Port O Potty experience at the drags. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Blah, blah, blah,........
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by shadylane »

:lol: :lol: :lol: that's nasty :lol: :lol: :lol:
Glasses are so expensive you'll have to fish them out :oops:
And port-o-potties don't have running water to wash them off.
Kinda gives you a shitty outlook for the rest of the afternoon :lol:
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

shadylane wrote::lol: :lol: :lol: that's nasty :lol: :lol: :lol:
And glasses are so expensive you'll have to fish them out :oops:
Yeah, $&#%+% that. To hell with reading every again if that is what it meant.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by FreeMountainHermit »

shadylane wrote: Kinda gives you a shitty outlook for the rest of the afternoon :lol:

AKA, rectal blurr.
Blah, blah, blah,........
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by cuginosgrizzo »

I finally got some american oak (JD smoking chunks) so yesterday I got some ready and went to oak some UJ that had been sitting white for a coupla months in a glass jar. Before dumping them in I gave it a go and tasted a diluted sample. OMG is that lemon that I am tasting? Yes it is. The jar had been previously used for my limoncello, and although it had been washed, I now have two liters of lemon scented UJ...
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by panikry83 »

Ran a late night strip run a few weeks ago while on vacation. Was a busy day and I figured a nice way to settle down and relax would be to do a run and enjoy some of the fruits of my labor. Well, alcohol, comfy chair, and overwhelming sleepiness = strip all over my carpet when the 3rd jar overflowed. No idea how long I was out but, I judging by the wet on the carpet, probably at least 45 minutes. Lesson learned, no runs after dinner time, too tired.
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Re: Tell us about your mistakes.

Post by still_stirrin »

panikry83 wrote:...alcohol, comfy chair, and overwhelming sleepiness = strip all over my carpet when the 3rd jar overflowed. No idea how long I was out but...
You're lucky that you woke up at all. It could have been a news story. You gotta curtail the alcohol consumption when running.
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