On the flip side molten slag dropping in ya boot will make those river dance blokes look like hacks.Kegg_jam wrote:Yeah, don't solder in flip flops either.
Don't stir a molasses wash up inside the house, it will not end well.
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On the flip side molten slag dropping in ya boot will make those river dance blokes look like hacks.Kegg_jam wrote:Yeah, don't solder in flip flops either.
This gave me a good chuckle. I once got (Australian) magpies pissed the same way! The poor things would fly up and land on the power lines, only to fall off again. A few even hung there upside down. Funniest sight I've ever seen.Lyonsie wrote:Got the chickens pissed on spent grain. My mam and her sister came down to get eggs. They were not very impressed
The first story is more or less like a test I planned to do: distill a small amount of alcohol and than set fire to the output of the condenser. My guees would be that there is not enough oxygen to cause a blast, but apparently there is.Alchemist75 wrote:So stupid shit done distilling alcohol.....
How bout blowing up stills?
Done it twice, things happen, like, ima idiot kinda things.
So I wasn't technically "making" ethanol but I was distilling it as a solvent recovery from a hot concentrated ginger extract on a new, all glass still design that was intended to be super efficient at collecting 95% ethanol from select tinctures. It was it's maiden run and it performed beautifully until I got out the lighter.....
Mind you I was 20 years old. OK, so it had a condenser that employed ice water and cool little two chamber gas trap at the end of it, at the very end of the whole train it had an overflow arm. I decided to check and see if any ethanol vapor was escaping through the overflow by holding a lighter flame to it. Yeah, I know, bright. What ensued was a lesson in rocketry and confirmed that my design was very efficient. The ice cooled condenser was actually generating negative pressure so the lighter flame was drawn up the arm and into the gas trap....
*PHUNK!* the top chamber of the gas trap shot off like a bolt, ricocheted off the ceiling and landed somewhere behind me. Immediately the entire work space was dancing with blue flames including myself. I managed to get the fire put out quickly but I learned a valuable lesson. Good solvent recovery rig, real damn good.
Another time, me and my best buddy were distilling some home made rum in an old 5 gallon milk can. We had used a paste of flour, sugar and water to seal the heavy steel lid on. We were cooking on his gas oven in his kitchen and things were going fine until about halfway through the run. I guess the paste hadn't completely set up and sprung a little leak, a little leak that very nearly blew the cap off into the ceiling. Big, spectacular, blue fireball shot out of the top of the still when the leaking vapor hit the gas flame. I just about jumped outta my 36 hole boots and my buddy hit the deck. Luckily the paste actually did keep the lid from flying off and we got the fire under control fast but sweet Jesus.
Yeah, things blow up sometimes when you're being a dummy.
on purpose??!!!???Alchemist75 wrote:Yeah, don't do that, ever. Use a mirror or polished steel. Alcohol vapor and flame are a bad mix particularly in a semi closed system. Explosives engineering 101
I can't tell you how much better I feel after reading this!Hilltop wrote: Well today I made a serious rookie mistake that could have ended very bad, The dangum weather won't cooperate so after my mash got ready I set up indoors.
I was on my second run finishing off a barrel of mash, Once I dropped to 10 proof on my low wine run, I hurried to disconnect to prevent my thumper from creating a vacuum and sucking in my boiler.
As I was disconnecting the union between boiler and thumper I failed to see that I had wiggled the thumper to the edge of the counter. Upon disconnect the thumper tilted to the right and the thumper, liebeg and parrot crashed into 4 gallons of head and tail pumped up low wines and the entire floor was covered in 90 proof before I could blink. Thank God no open flames were present. I have been mopping and listening to bitching for 2 hours. There was a drain in the floor under the fridge and most ran out it.
All blankets on the backside of the wall in the next room folded up on the floor had to be washed and there ain't enough air freshener in this world that covers up the smell.
I'm defiantly in the dog house, with a busted parrot, hydrometer and wasted time and money.
You should stop by the Liars Bench thread as me and Truckinbutch get tired of being the only people here with a personality! Now that was a good yarn. I have raised many baby chickens off spent grain. I have some I'm raising now who are getting big enough for the kids to consider them as " teenager" chickens. The other day I gave them some fresh cracked corn along with spent rice and wheat mash. They dove right in the mash and ignored the corn. This is the I'm a dumbass thread, so come on over to the other one and sit a spell.Bavis54 wrote:I am fortunate to live on fairly large property, all to myself, so I put spent grains out to feed deer and raccoons etc. been doing it now for yrs, little by little I keep noticing this one squirrel that runs down, gets sloshed and then throws out the local blue jay from its birdhouse and sleeps it off. First cpl times I saw it I laughed like hell, then one morning I saw the squirrel try climbing out the box, he fell out, hit a root n knocked out his front teeth. I felt sorry n responsible so I been putting out oatmeal for him. But he never would eat it . I was afraid he had died until other day I heard something- tick ..tick tick tick....tick tick- I looked outside n saw the squirrel with a rock in one paw and a piece of corn from spent grain pile clanging them together and eating it. ... I’m glad the little lush is still around.
Reminds me of the time a few years back a house builder who was building a house for my family, when he smelled propane in his home (country farm home heated by propane), he went to his basement stairs, lit a match and threw it into the basement!!!!Kareltje wrote:The first story is more or less like a test I planned to do: distill a small amount of alcohol and than set fire to the output of the condenser. My guees would be that there is not enough oxygen to cause a blast, but apparently there is.
I feel like I just watched a Disney cartoon made by shiners. Cool storyBavis54 wrote:I was afraid he had died until other day I heard something- tick ..tick tick tick....tick tick- I looked outside n saw the squirrel with a rock in one paw and a piece of corn from spent grain pile clanging them together and eating it. ... I’m glad the little lush is still around.
Never seen it. Looked it up. Understood the perils.still_stirrin wrote:Reminds me of the time a few years back a house builder who was building a house for my family, when he smelled propane in his home (country farm home heated by propane), he went to his basement stairs, lit a match and threw it into the basement!!!!Kareltje wrote:The first story is more or less like a test I planned to do: distill a small amount of alcohol and than set fire to the output of the condenser. My guees would be that there is not enough oxygen to cause a blast, but apparently there is.
When he regained consciousness, he was on the ground 15 feet outside his home, which had been lifted up and moved on the foundation. Busted a couple of ribs in the ride too.
Needless to say, our new house went “on hold” for a few months while he rebuilt his home first.
Ever see “Fire Marshall Bill” on In Living Color (Jim Carrey’s entry to Hollywood)? Google it.
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