Tell us about your mistakes.

[Mud]

You know you need a condenser on the end of that lyne arm, right?

[punkin]

Evolution at work.

[HookLine]

Nathan

Mud asked a damn good question there.

Do you have a condenser on the end of your lyne arm?

Got a good pic of your 'still' you can show us?

As it stands, seems to me that you seriously need to do a whole lot more reading and understanding before running that still again, and before you hurt yourself, or worse some innocent bystander.

[rangitang]

How dumb can you get. Last tuesday I was running a rum wash thru' and I had used some bee smoker sacking on top of the boiler to shorten the heat up time. All went well and I slowed the propane when I came on temp and ran thru the afternoon but I had to stop when a) I had dropped to 60 ABV and b) when my wife insisted I take her out for fish and chips. Fine, turn off the propane, vent the kettle so the thumper does not syphon back to the kettle, jump in the truck and go. We got back early so I thought why not fire up the still and continue? With everything as I had left it and the wash still hot why not? So I turned on the propane, it lit first time and immediately set fire to the sacking tinder dry on top of the still. I went up like a bomb I turned off the gas and grabbed the clump of sacking strips tied in the centre to get the burning mass away from the still. The burning mass fell apart all around the still and now there were flames all around and I am stamping out fire and looking like a dancing Dervish when my sandles catch on fire. Dancing tempo reaches peak as I manage to quell the flames and kick off my sandles. What a close one as I am doing this in the car port . I did follow the rules in having the liquor containers twenty feet from the still. Propane is an open flame liquor is highly flammable, bad combo for the careless and I reminded myself of this as I limped thru' the next day on my scorched feet.

[rad14701]

Sure wish the wife had gotten some pictures of your Dancing Dervish routine, or some video for YouTube...

Glad nothing was damaged aside from maybe a bit of pride...

[birdass]

Was going to do a run last night got everything going temp started to rise i figured i had at least ten min before i needed to turn on the cooling system well I was wrong I walked out for about one minute a when i came back in the room was full of steam and the temp at 200deg really screwed that one up

[rangitang]

Yes Rad apart from my pride suffering and the realisation again that a person can get old and still do dumb s%$t no real damage was done and looking back it could certainly have been a lot worse. I have however taken a second look at safety and made some changes towards improving things. My wife, thank the gods, did not witness this spectacle and so my friends and associates will not be immediately told of my fiery foot fandango and so my secret is safe.

[rad14701]

Was going to do a run last night got everything going temp started to rise i figured i had at least ten min before i needed to turn on the cooling system well I was wrong I walked out for about one minute a when i came back in the room was full of steam and the temp at 200deg really screwed that one up

There's good reason behind the not leaving the still unattended precaution... Once the temperature gets to a certain point it raises faster than one might expect... My current setup goes from about 130F to 172F in about a minute, and would shoot to over 200F if the coolant wasn't running... Does the same thing at the tail end of the run as well... I definitely know when the run is done...

[blanikdog]

This seems to be a common mistake. I did it once and it sure as hell is scary when you see vapour gushing out of the condenser. So much for air cooling.

blanik

[hrtpmpr]

So I'm a newbie at this distilling thing but I can homebrew with the best of them. Anyway, I was reading about using activated carbon in the fermenting sugar wash to eliminate the cogeners as they are made. Funny thing...I have two five gallon carboys full of sugar wash 24hrs into fermentation sitting in my closet. So I think, what the hell...I'll try it. DON'T DO IT!! STOP!!! I get my carbon and funnel from the garage and come back to the closet where the unsuspecting carboys sit happily fermenting away. I pop off the airlock off one of the carboys and begin to add some activated carbon. Next thing I know there is a geyser rivaling Old Faithful coming out of the top of my fermenter. Of course it takes me couple of seconds to even process what the hell I'm really witnessing here and by then it was all over...And when I say all over, I mean the reaction AND 2.5 gal of sugar wash. What a hell of a mess...time to get out the shop vac.

[eternalfrost]

So I'm a newbie at this distilling thing but I can homebrew with the best of them. Anyway, I was reading about using activated carbon in the fermenting sugar wash to eliminate the cogeners as they are made. Funny thing...I have two five gallon carboys full of sugar wash 24hrs into fermentation sitting in my closet. So I think, what the hell...I'll try it. DON'T DO IT!! STOP!!! I get my carbon and funnel from the garage and come back to the closet where the unsuspecting carboys sit happily fermenting away. I pop off the airlock off one of the carboys and begin to add some activated carbon. Next thing I know there is a geyser rivaling Old Faithful coming out of the top of my fermenter. Of course it takes me couple of seconds to even process what the hell I'm really witnessing here and by then it was all over...And when I say all over, I mean the reaction AND 2.5 gal of sugar wash. What a hell of a mess...time to get out the shop vac.

Nucleation sites... basically, pointy things help things change states. the wash is super-saturated with co2 from the yeast. adding any solids or shaking the liquid will cause this dissolved gas to fall out of solution.

just like the lines of bubbles in a champagne glass from specs of dust.

[rangitang]

I havecaught myself in another mistake that while not a dangerous mistake it is a sin of ommision and should be noted. Making notes as you go for reference. The parent site stresses the importance of this. In my enthusiasm to get going I neglected this detail and am now realizing how easy it is to forget details concerning mashing when different mashes are made. I have written starting gravities on the wall and dates when started. That is not enough and I wish I had written everything down for later. It is all getting logged now. I am aiming for consistency in my rum that is working out so nicely thanks to this site and the experience of others. Ta very much to all.

[moose]

doing my first strip run on a very weak wash (1030)...I had already run half the day before and it ran for hours and hours w/ very little collection (I now know all the mistakes I made causing those little probs), so I figured I'd switch on the (water) heater at lunch and head back to work...

but I forgot to turn on the coolant water....(common, I know)...but the problem was that I have a plastic "roof" in my shop, so for the next day and a half, I was treated to a nice gentle rain of high wine and tails from the condesate on the ceiling...yuck

[Mr.Spooky]

doing my first strip run on a very weak wash (1030)...I had already run half the day before and it ran for hours and hours w/ very little collection (I now know all the mistakes I made causing those little probs), so I figured I'd switch on the (water) heater at lunch and head back to work...

but I forgot to turn on the coolant water....(common, I know)...but the problem was that I have a plastic "roof" in my shop, so for the next day and a half, I was treated to a nice gentle rain of high wine and tails from the condesate on the ceiling...yuck

so, are you saying that you fired up your still, dident turn on the coolant, and left the still unattended while you were at work?? or am i not understanding something?

[HookLine]

Sounds to me like what he is saying.

[moose]

yep....tis true, but I'm not using flame....and the worst thing that could happen would be the water heater running out of water and trashing the $8 element????

In using this same wash (the first half) the previous day...it took 2 hrs to get to temperature, and then produced product over six hours at 77 degrees.

Since I was only gone for two hours, I didn't see any problem or risk????

But I'm happy to hear critisism...

In Dr. Stone's books, he has recommened overnight runs??

[HookLine]

But I'm happy to hear critisism...

Never leave a running still unattended. If you have to go out, shut it down completely.

Make sure the condensing system is working properly at all times.

No disrespect to Mr Stone, but I disagree with him if he is saying otherwise.


Safety is always the first and most important rule here. Everything else comes second.

Have fun, enjoy the hell out this great hobby, but be safe.

[moose]

I couldn't agree more!

Comments taken to heart and most appreciated!!

[Mr.Spooky]

ya know when you try to syphen gas out of a tank you usually get a mouthfull of gas? well guess what you get when you try to syphen out a HOT boiler? ?????? a mouth full of boiling shit . iv only been able to eat cold food for two days now.
what the FUCK was i thinking?

[violentblue]

ya know when you try to syphen gas out of a tank you usually get a mouthfull of gas? well guess what you get when you try to syphen out a HOT boiler? ?????? a mouth full of boiling shit . iv only been able to eat cold food for two days now.
what the FUCK was i thinking?

thats a mistake you'll only make once, hopefully.

[rad14701]

Ouch...!!! That sure sounds painful, Mr.Spooky... Hope you heal up quick, with taste buds intact...

[Dnderhead]

Mr Spooky , two ways you can do that ,, Git a bulb to fit end of hoes start siphon then remove. the secant way is to fill siphon with water,
place thumb over end ,put hoes in pot take thumb off should start siphon.
(then it wont suck )

[Mr.Spooky]

Mr Spooky , two ways you can do that ,, Git a bulb to fit end of hoes start siphon then remove. the secant way is to fill siphon with water,
place thumb over end ,put hoes in pot take thumb off should start siphon.
(then it wont suck )

i tried to do that with the water tequnique, the damn wash was so hot that it made the clear hose (that i use to recirculate my coolent) collaps. so i thought " ill just get a water hose and suck on it"..... boy, my plan went all to hell. next time, im just gonna drag the keg out un the yard and dump out the steemin shit........ to hell with the neibors

[kiwistiller]

next time, im just gonna drag the keg out un the yard and dump out the steemin shit........ to hell with the neibors

haha thats what I do. I have one very strange smelling compost heap

[Tater]

After I do a run .I run water hose to bottom of my keg with it hooked to faucet.I fill keg up from faucet.it cools wash and then un hook from faucet full of water causing it to siphon.

[Husker]

If you dump your keg of steaming shit, keep in mind, if you have anything growing there, that HOT liquid will kill it DAMN good. I use that and have dumped along the fence lines, to keep them weed free where the mower can't hit. But I would never (again) dump hot slop in the middle of the yard.

H.

[eternalfrost]

heres a trick i learned from my beer buddies. get one of the little barbed tee joints and hook a good length of tube to each side. on the extra arm, put some kind of valve in there. plug the end the siphon will exit out of and give a good suck on the 3rd with the valve. when it starts flowin close the valve and let go of the other end.
if you have the tee sitting on the floor and the part your sucking on above the water line, the liquid can never hit your lips. once its going nice just close the valve and go as normal.
they use it so they dont contaminate thier mash with spit and get it infected.

[Hawke]

If you dump your keg of steaming shit, keep in mind, if you have anything growing there, that HOT liquid will kill it DAMN good. I use that and have dumped along the fence lines, to keep them weed free where the mower can't hit. But I would never (again) dump hot slop in the middle of the yard.

H.

Hot slop does a good job of killing weeds in the drive, but I've got a spot in the lawn, where I dumped cold slops, that grows twice as fast as the rest.

[violentblue]

you could always do what I did and put a dump valve on your boiler, so you don't need to siphon

[HookLine]

you could always do what I did and put a dump valve on your boiler, so you don't need to siphon

+1