Tell us about your mistakes.

[dropping_planets]

stripped some ujsm.....i have low wines carboy's for....ujsm, all grain, and feints/redistill/neutral ....

started dumping ujsm low wines into my all grain carboy.....
about 1 liter....in a 6 gallon carboy.... not much but enough to make me think damn.... just turned my all grain into sugarhead.....

[Fester]

one hurt my hand the other hurt my pride...

couple years ago after stripping off a keg of wash I wanted to put another keg on to strip it too. so son and i put on thick, heavy welding gloves and took the hot keg off the propane burner. out it went to get dumped. we grabbed hold of the bottom of the stainless steel keg and it burned through the gloves and several layers of skin on our hands almost instantly. pain. tears. jumping up and down. now i have drain and fill valves so i don't need to swap kegs.

when i got my second barrel, a new charred oak full sized, i followed the "break in" instructions to the letter. added about 1/4 of the volume of the barrel with very hot water, hammered in the bung and rolled it around for about 1/2 hour. checked for leaks. none! got the rubber hammer and hit the side of the bung... bang,bang,bang... nothing. looked all around the bung. bang,band,bang... bung in tight. bang,bang,band,bang,bang,band,bang... nothing. bung in tight. maybe the water cooled and it is under a vacuum? so looking directly over the top now very carefully... tap on the bung. POP! pressurized barrel shot bung and got me square between the eyes. wasn't hurt, just stunned. son got a real kick out of it.

[Husker]

POP! pressurized barrel shot bung and got me square between the eyes. wasn't hurt, just stunned. son got a real kick out of it.

Sounds about like a MasterCard commercial. 'Priceless' LOL.

H.

[dropping_planets]

son got a real kick out of it.

i just got a real kick out of it.....

[arc1000]

Wish I could show pic - but the jist of it is a lip edge on to a flat surface some 16" in diameter would not seal with the old water/flour paste. Will be seeking a slitted tubing type gasket along with some clamping; pull down thing. So it is back to the stove top propane to cook off this mash. But I really want the wood fired out door show.

[nedscreekkennels]

Here is a good one did a nice slow spirit run of the low wines off of ujssm. combined the low wines from 3 rounds and run them real slow last night had them all lined up on the workbench airing out over night about 4 am this morning heard a big rucus coming from the shop. I went out to see what in the world was going on noticed that I had left the side door open . Reached in and turned the lights on and here was two black and tan coonhounds destroying the shop trying to get to a big coon on the top shelf .I put a leash on the dogs and got them out of the shop and put them in the dog run beside the shop and went back in to get the coon. At that point I saw 22 broken quart jars with alcohol all over the floor a 35 gal fermenter turned over it was only leaking from the bung a little, and my brand new 6 gal carboy shattered . I caught the coon with a catch stick and needless to say I threw the coon in the run with the hounds. guess I had better make sure I shut the door tight.

[Husker]

Shoulda give the coon a little more booze, and a last cigarette before his punishment.

Sucks. Bet that door is not forgotten about any time soon.

H.

[Fester]

bigCRY.gif (15.21 KiB) Viewed 4779 times

that's gotta hurt, nedscreekkennels

[nedscreekkennels]

I guess that will teach me about trying to hurry up and get to bed my eyes were burning after cleaning the still and putting stuff away. It had been a long day that wound up being a longer night. The old man that came to get his hounds made the comment that they smelled like they had been in some corn mash and looked at me and grinned real big . After he loaded the dogs up he offered me a drink out of his cooler it was some ok apple pie.

[Lagerman64]

Drinking most of the day and washing carboys is a recipe for disaster. Before I got a slop sink in my home brewery I use to wash my carboys in the tub, b-brite can make the buggers slippery, as I was emptying one it slipped and tried to catch it. Connecting with the edge of the tub the same time as my hand it shattered, bonus at 1 AM there wasn't a line at the emergency room. Wrapped my hand in a towel, drove to the hospital (injury did have a sobering affect) and 5 stitches later good as new. I was fortunate not to have cut any tendons, lesson learned never to be repeated.

[Lagerman64]

However my biggest blunder is not finding this forum sooner. Lack of patience, poor research, and bad judgement resulted in my purchasing a stilldrinkin.com still. More on thread; stilldrinkin realmccoymoonshinestills rkhelp bluegrassmoonsh

[LWTCS]

Damn.

I got side tracked the other day then forgot to turn on the water (strip run).

Bet I lost a third to the angels.

At least I'm still running the small unit.

No matter, its still hard enough to render likker w/o giving it to...........nobody.

[Husker]

Bet I lost a third to the angels.

More like lost it to the devil here. Angels make it better. You just lost booze with no improvement

H.

[Fecus]

My first attempt at fermenting peaches...

Got the square two gallon bucket from my sis-in-law what had the muscadine wine in it and washed. Filled it about half with blended peaches, add some sugar, stir, fill bucket to about three inches from the top with water, stir some more, pitch some yeast and stir a little more. Put lid on bucket and go to bed.

Sugar wash don't expand much and it's about three inches from the top! Well, peach mash run out of the bucket like lava flowing out of a volcano while I was asleep. This was the bucket lid what had the little x cut in the top that sis uses in her slow and long ferments with just a pinch of yeast. I experimented with just a tblsp of Turbo Pure 48. Didn't run out of the little x mind ya but it ran out the sides of the lid that don't have the tabs for pulling the lid off the bucket. So now the bucket is deformed and I had two puddles of peach mash soaked in the carpet.

[LWTCS]

More like lost it to the devil here. Angels make it better. You just lost booze with no improvement

Bloody hell Husker.

Can you twist the blade a little harder

[Husker]

So now the bucket is deformed and I had two puddles of peach mash soaked in the carpet.

Fecus, I learned a long time ago, if you ferment inside, then put a container under the ferment vessel. It has saved me having to get "extra chores from the miss's" for fuk'in up the place. For 5 gallon fermenters, the plastic tubs used to hand mix 'creet or as dish bus tubs work great. They will NOT catch an explosive release of mash, but if you have it 'boil over', and pop the lock out, lik what it sounds like you had, the tub will catch the muck, and save the day (but not the part of the ferment that boiled out).

H.

[Fecus]

I'm trying a small batch of DWWG except using Malt-O-Meal. It's sitting in a big bowl

[Kill-Devil]

Ran too hot and too long into the tails on a strip run, ending up with a whole lot of burnt-on, black gunk in the lyne arm. Subsequent run tasted horribly bitter the whole way through, so I knew something was wrong.

It was a real pain to get out. I ended up making a tool to scrub inside the arm - tricky cause of the way it bends and constricts. I am guessing that the late-tails stage contains oils that can get fry and stick on. For now, I'm playing it safe and stopping at 40% ABV, when the distillate coming out of my rig is pretty much devoid of flavour anywho.

-KD

[Hack]

Ran too hot and too long into the tails on a strip run, ending up with a whole lot of burnt-on, black gunk in the lyne arm. Subsequent run tasted horribly bitter the whole way through, so I knew something was wrong.

It was a real pain to get out. I ended up making a tool to scrub inside the arm - tricky cause of the way it bends and constricts. I am guessing that the late-tails stage contains oils that can get fry and stick on. For now, I'm playing it safe and stopping at 40% ABV, when the distillate coming out of my rig is pretty much devoid of flavour anywho.

-KD

That sounds like more of a too hot problem than a too long problem, but I still don't envy you having to clean that up.

[Kill-Devil]

Ran too hot and too long into the tails on a strip run, ending up with a whole lot of burnt-on, black gunk in the lyne arm. Subsequent run tasted horribly bitter the whole way through, so I knew something was wrong.

It was a real pain to get out. I ended up making a tool to scrub inside the arm - tricky cause of the way it bends and constricts. I am guessing that the late-tails stage contains oils that can get fry and stick on. For now, I'm playing it safe and stopping at 40% ABV, when the distillate coming out of my rig is pretty much devoid of flavour anywho.

-KD

That sounds like more of a too hot problem than a too long problem, but I still don't envy you having to clean that up.

Got a little wild and crazy with the new monster burner (Bayou Classic)
Thanks for the feedback, Hack. I guess I was jumping to conclusions about what it was that burned on. It could just as easily have been sugars as oil, I suppose. I do remember cranking up the heat at one point and overwhelming the condenser, so much so that the distillate was hot to the touch. I guess this was when the gunk formed?

In general, do you think running deep into tails can contaminate the output side? On a related note - How often do you guys clean the output side (lyne arm, condenser) or do you find this unnecessary?

thanks,
-KD

[Hawke]

I usually rinse everything out after a run. So far, I have never 'cleaned' mine after they were up and running.

[Dnderhead]

I do not clean either.just a good rinse,if it pukes I usea long bottle brush (used to clean milk equipment) and water.

[I-GOR]

Several months ago it was late at night and I had just finish filtering a full gallon of white dog at the kitchen bar, (bar stools on one side, range on the other). Was cleaning up and I whacked the glass jug real good on the edge of the bar. My bar is porcelain tile. Glass and booze went flying all over the bar, floor and the gas range. Good thing we weren't cooking at the time. All I could do is start mopping. I thought I had fried the range control board because it wasn't lit anymore, but I took the front panel off, cleaned the connections and it lit up again. I don't work booze on the bar top anymore.

[I-GOR]

one hurt my hand the other hurt my pride...

couple years ago after stripping off a keg of wash I wanted to put another keg on to strip it too. so son and i put on thick, heavy welding gloves and took the hot keg off the propane burner. out it went to get dumped. we grabbed hold of the bottom of the stainless steel keg and it burned through the gloves and several layers of skin on our hands almost instantly. pain. tears. jumping up and down.

That sort of event could lead to the immediate consumption of alcoholic beverages!

[scotty]

My worst mistake was listening to my friend paul who got me started in distilling.


Each month i make a list of new toys to blow my SS check on.

It's great actually because getting involved in this requires studying and learning.

I love it and thanks for all the help i have gotten so far

[HookLine]

My worst mistake was listening to my friend paul who got me started in distilling.

He he.

I blame the internet for my downfall.

[olddog]

On the advise from another member, I was advised to leave the oak stick in my likker as it "only gets better", I now have 4 litres of likker made with barley to achieve a whisky, which is now way over oaked. I have another wash just finished, and was considering adding the overoaked likker to it which should be diluted with the addition of the new wash, hopefully I can recover something drinkable.

[Hack]

On the advise from another member, I was advised to leave the oak stick in my likker as it "only gets better", I now have 4 litres of likker made with barley to achieve a whisky, which is now way over oaked. I have another wash just finished, and was considering adding the overoaked likker to it which should be diluted with the addition of the new wash, hopefully I can recover something drinkable.

Leaving it in actually does work as long as you don't have too much oak. I prefer a couple of 3/4" toasted cubes per quart.

[olddog]

I have been using two sticks, half inch square, six inches long.

[Fester]

take out the oak. let it rest a month or two. you have lost nothing. it will be nothing less less than wonderful. been there, done that. it will be the best you ever tasted after a month or two. give it time. this hobby is ALL about TIME if it has touched oak. at first it will taste raw. then like warmed over crap. then not-too-bad. then OK. then better. then great. then more than great.
give it time.
and if you made a little too much, you can give it even more time. then you have got it right.

if you don't really understand what I am saying, please re-read the above. then read below:

Ferment
Distill
Age

get it?

Fester