Made some updates

Discussions pertaining to the homedistiller wiki.

Moderator: Site Moderator

Post Reply
Fivey
Bootlegger
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 2:46 am

Made some updates

Post by Fivey »

I have refined some bits specifically to do with methanol - the definition page for methanol, the safety page section on methanol, and the definition of congeners. There were several things that needed to be made consistent and/or clarified
* the safety section suggested that methanol was in the heads (only)
* the methanol definition said that methanol was concentrated in the tails (it is the proportion of methanol to ethanol that rises in the tails, not the volume of methanol in the tails)
* the congeners definition said that the congeners were in the heads (only) when congeners can mean both high and low volatility alcohols and some will be in head and some in tails and will all be present to some extent through the whole process.

I also ran the numbers mentioned in the methanol section on the safety page and the 'lethal quantities' mentioned didn't compute so I revised that section with additional detail and a couple of tables. I also added a sub-section that specifically addresses media stories relating to methanol poisoning events.

You can check the changes out if you look in the recent changes page.

There is one additional bit that I have not changed but I am not happy with but want to get input and discussion on, and that is the aside at the bottom of the congeners section that says that a slobber box is an old moonshiners trick to get rid of congeners. This is also basically the whole of the definition of a slobber box. I think this is at least misleading, if not technically untrue. A slobber box will remove some congeners, I guess, but
(a) it isn't especially notable for this, particularly when compared with other things such as reflux stills (and cuts) and if a technique is suggested in the congeners definition for removal of congeners, surely there are better alternative processes to describe,
(b) a slobber box has better utility as a puke trap, but this is not mentioned in the definition at all,
(c) some of the characteristics of a slobber box should be described that distinguish it from other similar devices,
(d) if the slobber box definition is going to carry claims like 'it removes congeners' then it should also explain what congeners it targets (light or heavy ones) and what the physical mechanism is that achieves this result
Uncle Jesse
Site Admin
Posts: 3924
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:00 pm

Re: Made some updates

Post by Uncle Jesse »

Thank you, and this is what makes the wiki so great, being able to modify and improve information to be more accurate. Please keep it up! When I rebuilt the wiki I relied a lot on whatever cached pages I could find in archive.org. Many of these are quite old and undoubtedly need to be improved, but my main concern was getting the information back online.

Thanks again!
If only the best birds sang, the woods would be silent.
Fivey
Bootlegger
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 2:46 am

Re: Made some updates

Post by Fivey »

Glad to help out where I can! It really is the best way to (ahem) distill the wisdom from the forums into a collected set of authoritative information. Just need to keep tweaking it and working on it. Now I have my wiki login I will modify some things where I can see straight away I can improving things. Other things like this slobber box thing, I have an inkling that it could be better but I want to get other thoughts on it first because maybe it isn't something I know in practise - I haven't used a slobber box myself, I only know what I have read and what I can extrapolate from other knowledge... if I can get some more comments on it I will be able to figure out how I can improve it...
Uncle Jesse
Site Admin
Posts: 3924
Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 3:00 pm

Re: Made some updates

Post by Uncle Jesse »

Perfect man. Welcome to the club of wiki editors. So far it has primarily been me and Single Malt Yintzer, who does a great job, but we need more competent contributors.
If only the best birds sang, the woods would be silent.
User avatar
Corsaire
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1131
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 1:20 pm
Location: Belgium

Re: Made some updates

Post by Corsaire »

I've only ever thought of slobber boxes as a device to catch pukes.
However this thread has me thinking again, since apparently they're being used in poland and maybe the netherlands.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=76647&start=30
Fivey
Bootlegger
Posts: 140
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2016 2:46 am

Re: Made some updates

Post by Fivey »

Corsaire wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:39 am I've only ever thought of slobber boxes as a device to catch pukes.
However this thread has me thinking again, since apparently they're being used in poland and maybe the netherlands.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=76647&start=30
It was the thing that sent me re-researching slobber boxes, and coming across the wiki definition for it I was taken aback that this was a described thing. That is the reason I am not willing to simply trust my own instincts and beliefs, but I want to kick this topic around some more so we can arrive at a suitable description/definition for the wiki that will communicate the best information to people coming to the topic for the first time...
User avatar
Saltbush Bill
Site Mod
Posts: 9677
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 am
Location: Northern NSW Australia

Re: Made some updates

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Corsaire wrote: Tue Jan 07, 2020 1:39 am I've only ever thought of slobber boxes as a device to catch pukes.
That's always been my belief too, never heard of them used for any other purpose.
User avatar
Single Malt Yinzer
Trainee
Posts: 974
Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2016 3:20 pm

Re: Made some updates

Post by Single Malt Yinzer »

Thank you! The more we can get the better. If you have any questions on anything or if you want to coordinate anything post it in this forum. The "talk" function of the wiki is really weak and doesn't really notify anyone.

Again - thanks for stepping up!
Post Reply