Tell us about your mistakes.

[lawnman 2]

last night i filled up my still with the wash and left it to fill up went in side to take the stuff i needed ect,went back out to shed and the still moved with about 3lts of wash all over the floor i heard it hitting the ground as i was near the door craped my self ran and sliped over took the skin off up my shins and bruised all my wrist as i went a.o.t....... so moral of this story what everything all time

[eternalfrost]

this is sort of a freak accident that happened today...

i was doing an all-water test/cleaning run on a new electric keg reflux im making. its from n existing column just upgrding the boiler to electric. i left it alone to heat up and since it was just water i wasnt to worried and didnt even start the condensor. i came back after a few hours to start up the condensor, and realized i hadent even put it into the rig. the input water line was disconnected since i used it to fill the keg up for the test. i put the condensor into the top of the column and realized this, bent down to pick up the line and when i stood back up i got a blast of boiling water in the face! the residual water in the condensor had flash-boiled when put into the hot column and blasted out the open end of the condensor... hurt like all hell for an hour or so but luckily no serious damage...

moral of the story... always always have your condensor connected and running if the stills hot, even if your just running water through it

[pukana_blah]

I have used oak to make some whisky in the past, took 3 months of distress aging before I was satisfied with it.
I assumed that if I put 4x as much oak in the next batch it should go at least twice as fast hindsights a bummer.

i ended up with what tasted like a liquid tree.
very very very woody.

[Husker]

Cut it in half with white dog. If it still tastes like finished forest fire, then cut it in half again. If you can not 'fix' it in this manner, then simply redistill.

H.

[CoopsOz]

I screwed up yesterday, I didn't have my collection jar in a bowl (for whatever reason I forgot to do it).....I had to run inside for a moment during the run, that moment turned into a few moments, by the time I got back there was whitedog overflowing onto my bench and floor. The scary thing was picking up my element controller from the middle of the puddle.

It needed to happen I suppose, I have been getting to cocky of late.......one needs a eye opener every now and then.

[vajravarahi]

i left it alone to heat up

get a portable kitchen timer, the kind that make an annoying beeping when they go off. Need to be gone for just 15 minutes? Set it for 15 minutes, start it, and take it with you. Then when it goes off, you know to get yer butt back to the still.

If you're stillin', that's what you are doing. You shouldn't be workin' on the truck.

Sorry, but everyone's gotta be thinking safety first all the time. For the sake of yerself, and the sake of yer loved ones. Even if that's just the dog.

[Mud]

I've got a lot of fermenters going and low wines piling up so I decided to do a spirit run on some DWWG. Added 1 gallon low wines to a cleared wash...Grabbed the tails from the last spirit run and poured those in. Immediately realized I had already used those tails...and these were tails from making gin. I forgot they were hanging around since I haven't collected tails from gin on the last few runs.

Serves me right for not labeling. My practices have improved since collecting those tails. Those were the only bottles on the shelf not labeled. So it turned into a stripping run and I'm headed out now to get some sodium carbonate from the hardware store. More neutral for gin base it is! Better get some more wheat germ, too.

[tracker0945]

After being involved in distilling and this site for the last 12 months or more, I can clearly say that the biggest mistake that I have made was not getting into this hobby much earlier.



Cheers.

[HookLine]

Ain't that the truth, tracker.

[seravitae]

Checking to see if there was anything in a dark bottle by turning it upside-down... quality thinking there.

[HookLine]

Checking to see if there was anything in a dark bottle by turning it upside-down... quality thinking there.

That's quality comedy.



(As long as nobody got hurt, of course.)

[big worm]

heat cranked up high to speed up the heat up{propane}on a stripping run ujssm. turned back for two seconds...burp ok no prob just a strip out....did the same stupid thing on the next one aswell. not 15' from the rig. it don't pay to hurry

[goinbroke2]

Ahh crap, where to start. Decided to do a run tonight since the wife is gone to the inlaws. Grabbed the propane bottle off the BBQ...hmm, little light...grabbed the feints and..what's this, low wines or product? crap..smells like whisky..check book, nope it's low wine, should of marked it. Hmm getting late, fill it, light it, crap theres sawdust all over my jars. Get 250ml of foreshots, start taking heads and notice steam up top, crap tightened the worm on and forgot to put a wrench on it. (copper to copper fitting) Tighten that up, keep going...oh oh, flame is getting lower. I see a drip on top of the fitting still...got a tiny leak, liquid on top of the tri clover assembly. Got another propane bottle...different threads, old type...crap. flame out after 7L of product, rig up a mickey mouse bull setup trying to finish run...nope, no heat.

^%$#$%^&*!!!!!! So, I have7L of 64% whisky and about 200ml of tails like stuff because the heat was so low at the end.

My mistake? Not being prepared this time. I have 40L of wash to do also. Next time mamma takes off I guess. Fix clamping assy/get propane/clean bottles...could of been worse I guess.

[brewmaker1]

My mistake? Having a 20 gallon beer brewing system, but only a 30L pot. For all us new folks, there's a reason people say to use a keg for a kettle. I can make 20 gallons of all-grain mash at a time but have to do four separate stripping runs to use it. At least it's been a good learning experience. Next month I should have a keg, then I can strip in one run and use the smaller pot for the spirit run.

[punkin]

Big, big fuck up today

Got a new 30l beer keg the other week, and i was running out of storage jars for my ujsm and malt barley strip. The twenty litre corny keg was full and i had six, 4l jars full as well.

So i put a ball valve on the welded nipple on the bottom of the keg while i was stripping some mollasses wash for neutral.

Made an americaqn oak stopper for the top of the keg and screwed a handle to it..
Changed 2l collection jars on the neutral strip, and started adding the gallon jugs of ujsm strip to the new barrell...
Jar one 4l, jar2 8l,etc etc got 25l good...

Theres the new collection jar sitting there with the fresh strip, mat as well add that to the keg as well...there she goes, 2l of mollasses strip in with the corn and malt......


Uh---Oh...

There's no saving it either.
the rum smell (only 2l) is all over the bourbon smell



Add bicarb and now it'll be neutral strip



Lucky i can fix it now by running through the Skanky Hoe, i'd be crying before with only my potstill....









GottaConcentrateMorePunkin

[HookLine]

Run through the pot still, ya never know ya luck.

[punkin]

Nah, the mollasses smell was too strong. Bourbon Girl said NOWAY when she smelt it.

I've already chucked in twenty spoons of bicarb now anyway

Looks like the skanky hoe will get a run on saturday. Got 40 odd litres of strip for her

Dissapointing too, cause the malt was really starting to add to the flavour and the quantities.

[scalper]

This site is truely the best site yet. I wish I had found it bout 3 mounts ago before I ordered a still from stilldrikin or what ever their name is lol its just sad that its hard to trust people esp on line havent received my still yet lol read on here bout that junkyard crew and I lol. Well nuf whining thanks guys for letting us know bout that co of junkers chek back later

[Stinker]

Scalper, I made the same mistake too. It took 5 weeks for me. Try to keep calling. You may get lucky. Be prepared to change some part.

[jdonly1]

Mmmm Mistakes
I left a 30 litre fermenter out in the shed with the old yeast and a little wash still in it I just grabbed it and took off the lid(its probably been out there for about 4 months in the warm weather)Shit Im glad I have a strong stomach,it still nearly made me dry reach
Bloody glad the misses wasnt home
I have to get my but into get and get some of Winos sugar washes on the go,have to have them ready for my new/punkins old Skanky Hoe

[Pervy Sage]

I've gotten used to thinking I know "tails" by smell and taste, but I wasn't cleansing and sanitizing after every run, so the taste and smell was left in my condenser and affecting the next run. I've also found that leaving it dirty for six runs makes it really hard to clean out (even though I'm only copper and lead-free solder and trying to clean with hot vinegar and salt, it may make it shiny but still smells bad so replaced the scrubber in the liebig and using a distillery grade cleanser several times and iodine water several times followed by several rinses)...

I've had to spend a whole day and a half re-teaching myself about cuts by redistilling some UJSM a couple of times (cleaning between each run)...so the mistake didn't just cost me the time to redistill, it also cost me a whole lot of the flavor in the product.

[BW Redneck]

You really shouldn't be cleaning out the condenser with anything caustic or corrosive in any way (yes, vinegar counts). Corrosive stuff will remove the oxide layer (patina) from the inside and make your distillate taste metallic. The patina doesn't leach away in alcohol, but fresh copper will to some extent. My philosophy to cleaning (after the break-in period) is to run hot water through the condenser every 3-4 runs, or immediately if there is a foamover. If there is any packing , run hot water through it after every other run, and also if it's been sitting idle for a long time.

As for the outside, polish initially for pictures, then let the patina form and only dust it.

[Husker]

BWR is right. Patina is your friend. It will keep your still operating longer. Also, I find a deep dark brown patina looks nicer than a polished still, and is certainly the way the still "wants" to be.

Once a good patina is formed, copper is more stable, and like BWR mentioned, it will not add a metalic taste to the end product. Not sure if this happens due to slow dissolving of "pure" copper, or in the recreation of patina causing some of the material to "peel" off. However, fresh copper will certainly do this, and it is one of the reasons why the first couple of runs out of a new still or column are usually bad (along with residual flux). I think patina is copper oxides, and I know it forms a "protective" layer for the copper below, and under most (all) circumstances should not be removed.

H.

[Pervy Sage]

An embarrassing mistake I've made (several times) is posting messages thinking I know something, and thinking that it will be of use to others who come *after. My personal experience has been that what I "know" can change radically from one week to the next. Even asking questions has usually back-fired on me because what I thought was not answered elsewhere is covered beautifully once I figger out how to search for it.

* like when I tried making Tequila from Agave Nectar

PS: appreciate the notes about over-cleaning my copper - I'll stop doing that. I'll try hot water, and removing the bit of scrubber stuck up inside - the smell was bad, and was effecting the taste, but I'll remember patina is my friend.

[Thirsty Bob]

Pervy:

Right on! but don't stop posting. This site is all about foreshots, heads, hearts and tails.

- Most, but not all newbies are posting foreshots. (premature ejaculations [verbal, check your dictionary ] probably useless)
- Many, caught up in the enthusiasm, are posting heads (possibly useful, but to be used with discretion)
- Most regulars are posting hearts, from their own real experience, and is based on personal taste. (That's where the action is, and from the "heart")
- Tails are useful, often from the masters, but most of us have so much to learn that we just put them aside for later or throw them away.

My point is:

Never stop posing your opinions, because it gives the chance for newbies to learn a little at a time, from you, and learn from the replies to your post. It also allows you to learn from the replies.

As long as one doesn't post a question covered by a newbie FAQ, which I doubt you have done, keep on truckin'.

From what I have seen here, people rarely get spanked, and if they do, it is usually deserved.

There should be no embarrassment from asking and learning.

Just my $.02

[backwoodsboy]

ok so im new at this and didnt take my time... do not add head and tails back to your fermenter.. appearently it will make your beer smell like someone poured a whole thing of finger nail polish remover into it after about a week. yes i know im an idiot. the reason i did this is A. i was attempting ujssm but also trying to sqeeze every last bit out THE WRONG WAY! so ill just keep my heads and tails in their own container

[Hack]

backwoodsboy, you're only an idiot if you do the same exact thing on the next batch. You learned something so it's not a complete loss. Next time put the heads and tails you've saved in the still with the next run.

[Dr_T]

backwoodsboy, you're only an idiot if you do the same exact thing on the next batch. You learned something so it's not a complete loss.

Words to live by!

[backwoodsboy]

thanks guys its just a bummer. now i have a container just for those.

[myles]

Hi guys,
I have been doing quite a bit of late night soldering of stainless steel. A few nights back I was patching up a small leak I found when I was testing the seam joining the bowl to the top of my pot. So had the MAP torch out used silver solder to fix the leak, set the torch on the bench.

Anyway I tilted the pot into the light bent forwards to look at the seam, and knocked the torch off the work bench. Its one of those ones where the burn tube breaks off if it falls over. Managed to catch it before it hit the floor. By the burn tube.

Have never tried juggling with a gas torch before. Managed to save the torch and got away with a few mild burns. Suprising how quickly you can grab and let go of something hot and not get burned too bad.

Was lucky really as I normaly leave the torch burning when I put it down for just a moment!!!