Just had my first scare

[Hambone]

Be safe, friend. Look hard for what caused the obstruction. I’d look first at the clearance under the input tube in the thumper…

[The Baker]

Classic.

Boiler operator ties down the safety valve.

Knowing for certain there will never be a build up of pressure....

Geoff

[jonnys_spirit]

This is a good reason to have boiler and vapor path thermometers and a sight glass - and to be intimate with heatup times of the different charges on your particular still.

[Justinthunder]

Classic.

Boiler operator ties down the safety valve.

Knowing for certain there will never be a build up of pressure....

Geoff

I ran out of hose clamps so I used a zip tie to hold my outlet hose on my Liebig lol, I live 2 hours from a hardware store so I used what I had lol

[shadylane]

Thumper can’t suck boiler dry . You simply ran it until it was dry .

That's what I'm thinking, it would also explain the melted soldier.

[Tummydoc]

I'd guess you had a major puke into the thumper which transferred volume and then clogged the lyne arm resulting in the cap popping off. Then when fired back up you ran it dry (because your volume was much less than starting) and melted the solder.

My guess is the boiler was overfilled, and too much initial heat.

[Justinthunder]

I'd guess you had a major puke into the thumper which transferred volume and then clogged the lyne arm resulting in the cap popping off. Then when fired back up you ran it dry (because your volume was much less than starting) and melted the solder.

My guess is the boiler was overfilled, and too much initial heat.

To me this makes the most sense, I know the lines weren’t plugged when I fired up because I had just done my cleaning runs last weekend. I did have the heat turned up more than normal because I was stripping. Thanks for your help

[stillanoob]

To me this makes the most sense, I know the lines weren’t plugged when I fired up because I had just done my cleaning runs last weekend. I did have the heat turned up more than normal because I was stripping. Thanks for your help

The thing is you don't know for sure. All you know is that it wasn't plugged the last time you used it. In the interim a mud dauber wasp might have gotten in there or a piece of crap fallen in. I don't think this is likely, the point is making assumptions can be dangerous. I put caps on the in and out of my condenser when I put it away because it is stored in a shed and one of the first times I used it a dead earwig came out.

I agree that a puke plugging the condenser is most likely. I'm just saying assume nothing. And DON"T put more weight on top!!!

[Justinthunder]

I put caps on the in and out of my condenser when I put it away because it is stored in a shed and one of the first times I used it a dead earwig came out.

I always rinse my still and the Lynne arm and all my lines and then they get stored in my basement so I doubt anything created a blockage but that’s a great tip, I have some random plastic caps I can fit on. I think my biggest mistake was I had read on here that lots of guys fire high temp until they start getting some likker then dial the heat back and keep that pencil stream, I always fire slow to medium and this time I fired high, I could hear the thump bubbling away and then I heard a small hiss of steam breaking through my dough and I immediately stood up to see where it broke through and boom beer shower. I think from now on I am just going to run at my pace and do what I’ve been doing. On a side note does anybody know the best way to scrape burnt corn off the bottom of a still

[still_stirrin]

…. On a side note does anybody know the best way to scrape burnt corn off the bottom of a still…

I use a Scotchbrite pad to clean my boilers. It’ll scrub off the scorch without damaging the pot.
ss

[Justinthunder]

…. On a side note does anybody know the best way to scrape burnt corn off the bottom of a still…

I use a Scotchbrite pad to clean my boilers. It’ll scrub off the scorch without damaging the pot.
ss

Do you put them on a stick or something? The cape can barley fit my forearm in it and it’s a tall pot, I’ll see if the dollar store has some sort of stick thing I can rig up a scotch bright pad, do you use the blue non abrasive ones for non stick pans or the green ones?

[jonnys_spirit]

I put caps on the in and out of my condenser when I put it away because it is stored in a shed and one of the first times I used it a dead earwig came out.

I always rinse my still and the Lynne arm and all my lines and then they get stored in my basement so I doubt anything created a blockage but that’s a great tip, I have some random plastic caps I can fit on. I think my biggest mistake was I had read on here that lots of guys fire high temp until they start getting some likker then dial the heat back and keep that pencil stream, I always fire slow to medium and this time I fired high, I could hear the thump bubbling away and then I heard a small hiss of steam breaking through my dough and I immediately stood up to see where it broke through and boom beer shower. I think from now on I am just going to run at my pace and do what I’ve been doing. On a side note does anybody know the best way to scrape burnt corn off the bottom of a still

I think you mentioned that the vapor path into the thumper was 1/2"? This along with the backpressure from the thump and extra vapor created from the "High" heat could maybe be a bottleneck..

If the thump was thumping that would be evidence that the vapor path was not fully obstructed...

[stillanoob]

I think my biggest mistake was I had read on here that lots of guys fire high temp until they start getting some likker then dial the heat back and keep that pencil stream, I always fire slow to medium and this time I fired high,

I run full blast until I start feeling warmth at the condenser. I can tell when it is almost ready to start running. Then I drop down pretty low until I start getting the foreshot. Once I collect the foreshot I step up in increments until I reach the strip run rate I like. This seems to help prevent pukes and strips fast.

[Justinthunder]

I think you mentioned that the vapor path into the thumper was 1/2"? This along with the backpressure from the thump and extra vapor created from the "High" heat could maybe be a bottleneck..

If the thump was thumping that would be evidence that the vapor path was not fully obstructed...

The Lynne arm coming off the cap stars out at maybe around 1.5”-2” then tapers down to .5” then that goes into the thump and then coming out of the thump to my Liebig is also a 1/2”, I have run this still for 10 full likker runs now and I’ve never had a problem, this was my first likker run with the new thumper. The only other thing I did different was I had high temp the whole time thinking I could strip quicker. Having read everyone’s awesome input and having lived it I feel what may have happened is the pot puked and when it hit that 1/2” union it may have plugged off and immediately built pressure in the pot until the cap popped off. I fired back up and it ran perfectly until the pot ran dry. The plug must’ve been temporary from the puke. I will definitely be running a lot slower in the future. This hobby is definitely a learning curve and shows every still is different and what works for one guy and his still may not necessarily work for you and your set up. Honestly I know this was a disaster and could’ve been 1000x worse but now that’s it’s done I know my still can’t handle that kind of heat, I was only about 60%-70% full in my boiler too, it wasn’t rimmed or even close to being full.

[shadylane]

Just a thought. Not saying this was the problem.
Make sure the end of the tube is cut at an angle.
That way if the tube is shoved in too far, it wont hit the bottom of the thumper and get plugged up.

[Justinthunder]

Just a thought. Not saying this was the problem.
Make sure the end of the tube is cut at an angle.
That way if the tube is shoved in too far, it wont hit the bottom of the thumper and get plugged up.

Thanks for the tip man, I’ll do that next weekend when I’m soldering on a new drain valve, the one that’s on it is a crappy faucet type and I’m going to switch it for a stainless ball valve

[Yummyrum]

Just go clarify , Shady is talking about the tube in the thumper , the one that goes to the bottom of it . .

[Justinthunder]

Just go clarify , Shady is talking about the tube in the thumper , the one that goes to the bottom of it . .

Yupp, I knew what he was talking about. Angle cutting it so nothing will block the tube from the bottom of the thump. I was just saying I’ll do that the same time I switch out the drain valve on my pit, that angle cut is a great idea

[Stonecutter]

Angle cutting it so nothing will block the tube from the bottom of the thump.

Not necessarily so that nothing can block the tube but that the tube doesn’t block itself.