Just because it worked last time means nothing about this time!

[n_plains_drifter]

Couple'a runs back, last week in Dec,I was stripping a couple of boiler fulls of UJSSM. For reference, I run a propane pot, so working in the garage, with the door cracked for CO control. As you might figure from my handle, it gets cold in the northern plains, and we get some big drifts from time to time.

During warmer months, I power the liebig with a garden hose on the house spigot. It's too cold for that now, so I run from my slop sink into the garage.

My first strip finished up nice, and after powering everything down, I opened the boiler and waited for the backset to cool enough to add to the sugar for the next generation. I had two fermenters to futz with, so maybe 45 minutes elapsed before i emptied the boiler completely and recharged. Fired up the burner, opened the valves on cooling, and we're off to the races.

WRONG!

15 minutes later I'm checking everything and I realize that I've got no waste water coming out of the liebig. Thankfully I was still about 45 C or so. Turned off the gas and started error checking.

Turns out that while I worked on the next gen, the waterline froze somewhere, because it was laying on the floor with the door open and temps were down in the single digits. Pretty sure it was actually froze up in the liebig , because of the restricted volumes btw the copper, but who knows.

Ran some hot water into a bucket, submerged bits and pieces until I got everything warmed up. Disaster avoided and got the next strip finished with no additional issues.

Check, check and double check. Just because it worked last time doesn't mean it will work this time!

Best, Drifter

[Zeotropic]

That was a close one. Good catch.

[Saltbush Bill]

And usually if anything is going to go wrong it happens the moment you turn your back for a few seconds.

[Deplorable]

Yep. Complacency kills people every day.

[shadylane]

That's why we have to baby sit our stills.
I once heard my wife pull up and park the car.
A minute or two later alcohol vapor began shooting out the condenser.
She had parked on the garden hose.

[NZChris]

The Better Half came home and parked the truck on the outlet hose from the condenser. Back then, I didn't have the condensers automated to shut down the still if anything went wrong, plus the Liebig was on mains pressure, which I am sure is way more than it should be in our street. I looked up from my book and the hoses were bulging already. Before I got off my arse to turn the power off and look for a problem, a hose blew off the Liebig and I took a bath trying to sort it. It's funny now

[Saltbush Bill]

This is the problem......Newbies never understand just how many ways that a still run can go wrong and why wandering away from one is such a bad idea.....the hose stories are both great examples of that.
A million a one things can go wrong. Things you would never expect or even think about.

[n_plains_drifter]

Yes indeed. I'm running a 30l pot and getting to know my garage really well, now that I'm in the middle of a hard core effort to fill a 20l barrel with UJSSM. Stripping my third charge of the night right now.

I set up with music and a portable table for my notebook and laptop so that I have fewer excuses to turn away.

I can see why shotguns are popular when you get up to 50l +, it's a long day for me, I wouldn't relish doubling the time of my strips and spirts.

[NZChris]

When I built my 33l pot, there was already a preheater planned for the next build. That was over three decades ago and a lot of product has been through those two since then. The preheater saves me a lot of time and energy costs.

[n_plains_drifter]

NZChris, I'm not sure whether I've seen your design or not. Link?

I started a 'worm' inserted into the boiler after a run that I was going to run chilling water through and the run that heated water through another coil in my next wash to preheat.While it probably conserves energy,I think it wii be slower than just dumping the hot backset and getting the new wash on the direct heat.

Best, Drifter

[NZChris]

If you Google charentaise preheater, you should be able to surf to the same drawings and books that I found in university libraries and used to build mine.

A Google search of the forum should find at least one thread of a build.