Safety

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

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rgreen2002
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Safety

Post by rgreen2002 »

So...you can never say it enough.... don't leave your apparatus unattended!

I'm getting ready to do some HBB...the steam is flowing nicely...25 gallons of water at 160 degrees and I'm about to start adding grain. I was sitting here reading the forums and BANG.... something slides off the cover of my steamer. I jump up to see the barrel sliding backwards. I have my barrel on a motorcycle lift:
Big Bertha - back in place
Big Bertha - back in place
This allows me to raise and lower the barrel for steaming and for hoisting the grain out (I steam/mash in a bag). The barrel...because of all the damn thumping during steam generation had slipped backwards and nearly fell off the lift. I shut down and quickly got it back into position. Imagine 25 gallons of steamy water all over the basement and the wand just blowing steam all over the place had I not been available!

I have been considering bolting a stand to the lift anyway (I don't use it for anything else) and this I think has driven that point home...

Best piece of advice ever given to me... don't walk away!! Another problem averted.
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still_stirrin
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Re: Safety

Post by still_stirrin »

Whew....that was a close one. Not only a possible sticky mess, but a potential for scalding burns from the hot wort splashing. Good thing you were near to catch it in time. Steam is a powerful energy source.

I remember one time while doing a beer at our local brewpub (yes, I brewed there part time), I opened the kettle manway to dose the hops without first shutting down the steam to the boiler. The steam was pressurized to 15psig which put the saturated steam at around 250*F. I had about 250 gallons of wort boiling so there was already a huge heat load potential in the hot wort.

Opening the manway reduced the slight backpressure inside the boiler (an atmospheric stack to the vent at the roof 30 feet higher than the boiler), and the wort flashed up into a boil, literally exploding out of the manway. Since I was on a ladder to reach the manway and was holding the bucket of hops, when the boiling hot wort came out of the manway, I dived off of the ladder to the floor. Even still, some of the hot wort splashed on me, giving me deep scalding burns on my chest.

Lesson learned...always close the steam valve BEFORE opening the manway to add hops!

So, be careful when running with steam...there is a lot of enthalpy (potetential energy) in saturated steam under even a slight pressure.
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Still Life
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Re: Safety

Post by Still Life »

Was sitting here reading HD when the droning hum of my cooling pump went dead.
You know, the screech of silence. Sure enough. $20 pump gave it up after only 3 months.
Vapor trailing out the liebig.
3/4 of the way through the distill at 9:30 on a Saturday night.
Son of a....

Luckily JUST GOT a new pond pump and kept the old (smaller, but effective) one.

Some fitting matchups, and back to business.

Shits is, the replacement pump is damn near silent. Will require a keener ear.
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Re: Safety

Post by The Baker »

Still Life said, "Shits is, the replacement pump is damn near silent. Will require a keener ear." .

Look up liquid flow indicator on Google. lots of pics of simple devices.

Geoff
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Truckinbutch
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Re: Safety

Post by Truckinbutch »

Pertinent reminders to all that this hobby is only as safe as the folks practicing it . Never drop your guard .
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Still Life
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Re: Safety

Post by Still Life »

The Baker wrote:Still Life said, "Shits is, the replacement pump is damn near silent. Will require a keener ear." .

Look up liquid flow indicator on Google. lots of pics of simple devices.

Geoff
Thanks Geoff.
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Re: Safety

Post by The Baker »

Still Life wrote:
The Baker wrote:Still Life said, "Shits is, the replacement pump is damn near silent. Will require a keener ear." .

Look up liquid flow indicator on Google. lots of pics of simple devices.

Geoff
Thanks Geoff.
Thanks to you; you made me think about it and I will probably do something like that myself. Got the idea from remembering the old petrol ( 'gas' ) bowsers that had little bits of coloured plastic in a clear fitting, that bounced around when the liquid flowed.

Geoff
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rgreen2002
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Re: Safety

Post by rgreen2002 »

Truckinbutch wrote:Pertinent reminders to all that this hobby is only as safe as the folks practicing it . Never drop your guard .

Exactly where I was hoping to go with the thread TB... reasons why we sit so near and remain so attentive. Keep them coming...
HD Glossary - Open this
A little spoon feeding *For New & Novice Distillers - start here
BEST WAY TO GET ANSWERS FROM HOME DISTILLER
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."
The Baker
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Re: Safety

Post by The Baker »

The Baker wrote:
Still Life wrote:
The Baker wrote:Still Life said, "Shits is, the replacement pump is damn near silent. Will require a keener ear." .

Look up liquid flow indicator on Google. lots of pics of simple devices.

Geoff
Thanks Geoff.
Thanks to you; you made me think about it and I will probably do something like that myself. Got the idea from remembering the old petrol ( 'gas' ) bowsers that had little bits of coloured plastic in a clear fitting, that bounced around when the liquid flowed.

Geoff
Look up liquid flow indicator on Google..... MAKE SURE YOU ALSO LOOK AT THE IMAGES ON GOOGLE.

Geoff
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