Leaky day

[NormandieStill]

So I had started prepping to finally do the spirit run on my apple brandy low wines when I realised that I would have to postpone as the dishwasher was on (I share a coolant supply tap with the dishwasher). Never mind I thought, I'll sling the control tap that I bought onto the coolant output from the leibig and be ready for some better control of coolant.

I turned around from my work to see a large puddle on the floor. The dishwasher was leaking water everywhere. A quick clean up and once over and I found a leak in the drain pipe. I'll have to wait until monday to get parts so what the hell, I'll start my run.

But today was a leaky day. I stress that the vapour path has been checked and double checked and is sealed up tight, but I currently have 2 active leaks dripping from my coolant system, and twice now I've had to refit the coolant in tube onto the leibig because the tube popped off. The first time the water was on full blast so with 3 bars of pressure behind it I got quite wet. It's now tied down with some copper wire and I'm enjoying the gentle sound of the drip into the bucket from my new control tap (not enough PTFE tape) and the drips onto a cloth in the cupboard where my coolant water comes from.

In my professional life I run a 2 fuck-ups per day rule. If I exceed this number of dumb mistakes then I pack up tools immediately and find something less dangerous to do. I think I shall be applying the same principle to distilling.

[Demy]

It can happen to have unexpected events and are generally not welcome .... but they do happen!

[Yummyrum]

You sure do get days like that Normandie, glad you can rationalise it .
I do all my fermenting and distilling outside . I’ve lost count of how many leaks , spills , bursts , sprays and other messes that have occurred and count my blessings it was not in the house otherwise I would have been ordered to shut down years ago .

Hope you have a good run once you get it all sorted . May I suggest you get some kind of pressure regulator/reducer on you water supply . It should take the pressure off your hose fittings and make general coolant adjustments a lot easier .

[NZChris]

If you control the flow before the Liebig, there shouldn't be enough pressure to pop the hoses off.

[cob]

In my professional life I run a 2 fuck-ups per day rule.

I can't help your leak problem. but in my professional life the mantra was

"perfect is close enough and nothing else counts"

when your flying 100+ MPH 10 feet off the deck, upside down with

the stick between your knees waving both hands at the crowd

I'd bet you can up your game.

[NormandieStill]

You sure do get days like that Normandie, glad you can rationalise it .
I do all my fermenting and distilling outside . I’ve lost count of how many leaks , spills , bursts , sprays and other messes that have occurred and count my blessings it was not in the house otherwise I would have been ordered to shut down years ago .

Hope you have a good run once you get it all sorted . May I suggest you get some kind of pressure regulator/reducer on you water supply . It should take the pressure off your hose fittings and make general coolant adjustments a lot easier .

Thankfully my other half has a sense of humour and found the sight of me wrestling a tube while getting covered in water rather amusing. She even brought me a towel!

The pressure reducer is not a bad idea. The incoming supply into the house is already reduced to pull it down to 3 bar, but a second one inline on the coolant might make this all a bit more manageable.

If you control the flow before the Liebig, there shouldn't be enough pressure to pop the hoses off.

Ha. I had searched a bit on the forum and consensus seemed to be that at the exit was better. The other leaks were due to my use of PTFE tape. Normally my plumping fittings are sealed with flax and paste but I was trying to make less mess! Lesson learnt. I'm also going to move all the coolant connections onto Hozelock-style connectors which will make it easier to break down and store.

When the weather improves and I've finished modifying the keg, the plan will be to do runs in the shed using a 1000l rain water barrel as my coolant source which will no doubt add other, different problems.

Other than being somewhat long, the run seemed to go well. 1 small jar of foreshots and 12 jars of 200ml to 250ml of distillate currently airing out under coffee filters. The hearts were fairly neutral with just a hint of apple (a sort of apple vodka) and the late heads were very apple-y if a little hot. I did make the mistake of tasting a drop of heads directly from the spout which annihilated my taste buds for a short while. Hearts seemed to be around 75%-60% abv. And from the abv coming off the still, my low wines were stronger than I remembered. I thought I recalled measuring them at around 23%, but 35% seems more likely. I'll try blending in a day or so and see what I end up with. I've got some well-seasoned apple wood in the garden and a ready supply of oak and I know what I'm aiming for flavour wise so it'll be experiment time.