Basic Distilling Safety

A MUST READ FORUM Place where new distillers can read many of the important documents that help introduce them to distilling. This is a read-only forum.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
HookLine
retired
Posts: 5628
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 8:38 am
Location: OzLand

Basic Distilling Safety

Post by HookLine »

Basic Distilling Safety

Both the distillation and storage of alcoholic spirits (mainly ethanol) has some potentially fatal dangers associated with it. Tall neutral columns in particular can produce very high strength ethanol, at a concentration of greater than 95% abv (alcohol by volume). However, while there are some very real dangers, following some basic, common sense safety rules will reduce any risk down to an acceptable level:

If you are new to stilling, then stick to using well tested designs and materials and recipes to start with. Experimenting with new ideas is good and part of what we do on this forum, but you should learn to stand and walk properly before you try to run.

Check your equipment carefully before each run. Make sure all the openings and pathways are not blocked, and any valves are working. Set the whole still up, including connecting the coolant system up fully and testing it, before turning on the heat source for the still.


NEVER leave a running still unattended. That is just asking for serious trouble. Get to know the behaviour of the still well, and directly monitor it at all times during the run. Make sure you will not be disturbed during the run by anybody or anything. Do not run a still while you are tired or sick or upset, or under the influence of alcohol or any other kind of intoxicating drugs. Keep your mind firmly on the job.

Liquid ethanol above a concentration of about 50% abv is very flammable, and the vapours are also flammable and highly explosive in the right concentration of air-vapour mix. In these ways ethanol is similar to the dangers from petrol. Be aware of this.

Never charge the boiler with any higher than 40% ABV. Doing so creates an explosion risk.

Ethanol vapours are almost invisible, and the flame from burning liquid ethanol is almost invisible in med-strong light.

Do not allow vapours or liquid product to be anywhere near a heat source, especially a naked flame.

Place your collection vessel in a much larger non-flammable, ethanol resistant container (such as a tray or large pot). It should be capable of holding at least an hour's worth of output if your collection vessel spills or leaks.

Do not allow any leaks from the still. Use a mirror and torch (flashlight) to detect leaks, look for condensation on the mirror. If any are found, DO NOT continue the run. Turn the heat source off straight away, and repair the leak before continuing.

Make sure the stilling area is well ventilated, so even if you have missed a small leak then vapours cannot build up in the stilling area.

Wipe up any liquid spills immediately. Keep a bunch of old dry rags or a bucket of fine dry sand handy to do this. Remove them from the stilling area (to out of doors) as soon as they have been used to soak up the spirit.

Keep at least one fire extinguisher handy during distillation runs, and also in the storage area, (though not right next to the still or stored spirit). A fire blanket and a charged garden hose in the nearby vicinity are also a good idea. Always make sure you always have an easy escape route from the stilling area.

If you ever run your still at night, and rely on electricity for lighting, then always keep a reliable flashlight within easy reach or on your person. You never know when the power will go off.

High strength neutral ethanol is also a concentrated poison that is colourless, and almost flavourless and odourless. If ingested in any quantity, it could kill. Children are especially at risk. Do not store your spirit at high abv. After the initial ageing has been done, water the spirit down to at least 50% abv or under. The best storage strength for beverage alcohol spirits is 40% as it is a very common commercial standard for spirits that most people are accustomed too, so it will not take them by surprise after a couple of drinks.

Clearly label your product storage containers with the type of spirit in there, and the strength (in % abv). Many distillers also write the date of production or bottling on the label.

If you have children in your house, lock your spirits away safely. If you can, dedicate a specific area to your stilling, and lock the kids out (and your pets).


High proof beverage distillate should never come into contact with plastic (with the exception of PTFE/Teflon gaskets). It can eat into the plastic and leach unwelcome chemicals into your distillate. The safest known and best tested materials for contact with your handcrafted spirits are glass, copper, stainless, and certain woods (mainly French and American oak). Oak barrels made specifically for storing alcoholic spirit are good storage containers, and are in fact used for ageing and maturing some spirits, to add colour and flavour.


Overtemp alarm.
When buying a thermometer for your still, it is best to get an electronic one with a programmable over temperature alarm. For neutral runs, set the alarm at 80 ºC (176 ºF), maybe a little higher. For stripping or pot still runs, set the temp at 98 ºC (208 ºF).

•••••••••••

Please feel free to make any safety suggestions or comments (on the original thread). Good ones will be incorporated into the main post (with credit).

Hook

Additional suggestions from:

guerrila distilla
Lowerarchy
rad14701

Mod Edit: Original Post: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 33&t=11187" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Mod Edit: Also read ENTIRE safety forum! http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=33" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
Be safe.
Be discreet.
And have fun.
Cornbread
Swill Maker
Posts: 345
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am
Location: I age it in the woods & bottle it in the barn. Why do ya wanna know?

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Cornbread »

Wipe up any liquid spills immediately. I have to admit guilt on this one. I am very safe..or so I thought..but I always let the spills lie there until clean up time at the end. Thanks (They could be burning and I wouldn't even know it)
Moonshine ain't nothing but lots of love and goodness distilled into liquid. It will love you like a big woman wearing a straw hat
Cornbread
Swill Maker
Posts: 345
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am
Location: I age it in the woods & bottle it in the barn. Why do ya wanna know?

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Cornbread »

I am too much of a "cut up". I try and post funny stuff on here and always get into trouble with the moderators. Everytime they fuss at me, I usually think they are overreacting.
I would like to firmly state that in this case of me joking about "distilling while drunk" I made a big mistake. SAFETY is number one in this forum. I REPEAT : SAFETY IS NUMBER ONE IN THIS FORUM. ...and should NEVER be joked about. I am very sorry. Even after being asked this morning to re=read the basic safety rules, I found out that I was violating at least one of them. I would rather Hookline bitch me out than me or my family to be dead from a fire. Sure, 99% of you may have known I was joking, but the 1% may not have. I wish you all a Merry and Safe Christmas.
Moonshine ain't nothing but lots of love and goodness distilled into liquid. It will love you like a big woman wearing a straw hat
ScottishBoy
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1283
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:53 am
Location: Just underneath this group of pixels...;)

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by ScottishBoy »

Well that actually brings up a good point...

When you clean up spills, make sure you either remove the soaks from the area immediately or place them in a sealed container or bag. I like to have a breadbag or two around with my towels in case this happens because the alcohol will still be evaporating off the rags. All your doing is changing the efficiency of the evaporation in the exact opposite direction you want to go in. The cloth will help the alcohol evaporate unless you can can get them somewhere airtight.

Get them out or get them inside of something...quickly.

Be mindful of where you leave them as well. Dont just drop them in a corner. Alcohol vapor is still explosive if its 1 hour old or 1 week old.

ScottishBoy
ScottishBoy
HD Survival in a Nutshell...
Read.Search.Listen.Ask for feedback, you WILL get it. Plastic is always "questionable". Dont hurry. Be Careful. Dont Sell,Tell, or Yell. If you wouldnt serve it to your friends, then it isnt worth keeping.
Cornbread
Swill Maker
Posts: 345
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:11 am
Location: I age it in the woods & bottle it in the barn. Why do ya wanna know?

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Cornbread »

On my very first run, I collected several drops in a spoon and "tried" to light it. (IT WAS LIT...I just couldn't see the flame.!!!) I emptied the spoon back into the collection jar (which, at that time, was an old plastic measuring cup because I was going to throw the foreshots away). I left the room to wash the spoon and returned and saw my measuring cup melting before my eyes..YEP..I had poured the "flame" back into it. Talking about dumbass. Of course, now I am glad it happenned because it didn't hurt anything but the old cup and my pride and it taught me about the term "invisible flame"
Moonshine ain't nothing but lots of love and goodness distilled into liquid. It will love you like a big woman wearing a straw hat
Hack
retired
Posts: 904
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:45 pm

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Hack »

If a vapor leak is discovered in your rig during a run, flour dough mixed 4 parts flour to 3 parts water makes an excellent temporary patch and will allow you to complete your run before repairing the leak more permanently. I normally use this to seal the joints on my pot still and usually have a bit extra after setting things up. I keep it on hand until the run is over just in case.
Autowood
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:15 am
Location: SoCal

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Autowood »

My dumb dumb no-no was to put undiluted molasses mash into my 1 L glass erlenmeyer chemistry lab still. The mash began to boil then all of a sudden became like expansive insulation foam and overwhelmed the 1 Liter container, blew out the stopper and sent a column of boiling hot sticky goo all over the kitchen. Luckily I wasn't in the direct path of the goo because it would have been like being tarred and feathered had it got on my body especially my face. :oops:
User avatar
Saltbush Bill
Site Mod
Posts: 9675
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 am
Location: Northern NSW Australia

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Saltbush Bill »

You next boo boo was calling something made from molasses a " mash" a mash is done with grains.
User avatar
TDick
Distiller
Posts: 1365
Joined: Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:25 pm
Location: Sweet Home

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by TDick »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Wed Jun 10, 2020 2:27 pm You next boo boo was calling something made from molasses a " mash" a mash is done with grains.
Hey Bill, when the shit's flyin', an acceptable mistake. :lol:
Autowood
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:15 am
Location: SoCal

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Autowood »

I should have said "wash" instead of "mash." Invert the m in mash and what do you get?
Autowood
Novice
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jun 09, 2020 9:15 am
Location: SoCal

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Autowood »

My comment inverting the "m" in mash to get a "w" as in wash was tongue in cheek. But seriously, this thread is about safety and my dumb dumb could have seriously hurt me and my grandparents who were in the kitchen at the time of the mishap. When the molasses suddenly foamed and blew the stopper, it was because the cooling tube, I believe the correct terminology is "worm," was too small to handle a heavy viscous liquid of concentrated molasses and allowed for the build up of pressure which lead to a Krakatoa kind of experience. I learned a lot of lessons with this one. I'm lucky the glass flask didn't explode sending shards of glass everywhere and the "wash" didn't catch fire over the open flame of the stove and turn into Greek Fire with the end result of sticky napalm on our bodies and in the house.
Lessons learned:
1) Do not use glass as a distilling pot especially over an open flame.
2) Do not put heavy viscous mash or wash in a distilling pot.
3) Do not use small diameter cooling tube or "worm," especially with mash or wash that might plug and cause catastrophic explosion.

Please feel free to add to any cautions I might have missed. Thank you
Duffbrew
Novice
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2022 2:54 pm
Location: Southern NH

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by Duffbrew »

Bump

I like the fact that this place is pushing the safety angle. Let me add a few of my thoughts, I've homebrewed for a bunch of years and have figured out a few safety things.

Ventilation.... wherever you're working you need to make sure you have good ventilation. I brew in my garage I open the door 3 or 4 inches, and the back door or window about the same. Good air keeps you alive and makes the flames hotter.

Fire extinguisher.... just like ammo, condoms, and an erection it's better to have one and not need it, then to need one and not have it.

Sobriety ..... as a brewer I have messed up a few batches by sampling last weeks batch. Distilling is more able to hurt or destroy things and people, do you drinking after the run is done and you are cleaning up.
If it is worth doing, then it is worth overdoing.
The Baker
Master of Distillation
Posts: 4659
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:48 am
Location: Northern Victoria, Australia

Re: Basic Distilling Safety

Post by The Baker »

:oops:

Geoff
The Baker
Post Reply