Couple of years back some kids on Cape Cod after a graduation night kegger threw the empty into the bonfire.
The result was 1dead 3 badly wounded .
Not a good way to start your adult life.
Daddy used, to say " Any landing you can walk away from is a good one"
Calculations don't mean shit when compared to the real world practical experience of many...RAD 9/2010
wow. i bet it sat there for a while and "nothings happening. it must be ok" . have a few more drinks, stand around for a while and ...yea. what a shame.
"Learnin to still is alot like eating a dinosaur...ya gotta do it a bite at a time"
At the local scrap yard, (these folks will take anything), some of the workers live on site in 'donated' campers, (several) which are each set upon 4 kegs to raise them off the ground. The yard is all concreted over, and this keeps their homes out of the water when it rains. -hey- (no photos allowed there)
As a shooter, I understand why they shot at a keg. When doing long range shooting, 500 yards to a mile or more, it becomes impossible to see if you are hitting your target, but you can hear the gong after a second or so.
myerfire
yea yea myer, i understand. im a shooter as well. hell if i had a spare keg that wasnt being used for my stillin operations, i would be overjoyed to shoot one . however, i only have one and it was purdy hard for me to come by.
this past weekend i made swiss cheese out of my old microwave and an old safe i found. they made good noises, but nothing like a keg would i imagine.
but to hear about some ungrateful person shooting our beloved boiler of choice...it just makes me cringe
"Learnin to still is alot like eating a dinosaur...ya gotta do it a bite at a time"
finally found me a pony Keg today... it is being shipped, boy I need it. I tried a spirit run today with my new bok and had so many leaks in my damn boiler that I think I lost most of my alcohol. I looked down and around the edge of the lid was a blue fire. It looked like a damn refinery... I shut everything down and when I thought it was cool I took the lid off to see if I could seal it.. It was not cool... all of the vapor went into the air... wont happen any more. I went to ebay bit the bullet and ordered a pony keg.
I have another batch fermenting as we speak...
Kentucky shinner wrote:finally found me a pony Keg today... it is being shipped, boy I need it. I tried a spirit run today with my new bok and had so many leaks in my damn boiler that I think I lost most of my alcohol. I looked down and around the edge of the lid was a blue fire. It looked like a damn refinery... I shut everything down and when I thought it was cool I took the lid off to see if I could seal it.. It was not cool... all of the vapor went into the air... wont happen any more. I went to ebay bit the bullet and ordered a pony keg.
I have another batch fermenting as we speak...
Holy Shit! You're lucky not to be blowed up right now. Maybe you need to review some of the carefully compiled safety stickies in the novice section? A water run or a vinegar cleaning run should have discovered those leaks before you made an alcohol run. Also, keeping a bit of extra flour paste on hand could have fixed your leaks without wasting the rest of your run. Don't take this the wrong way, I'd just like to see my fellow hobbyists being able to enjoy their product without injuring themselves.
myerfire wrote:As a shooter, I understand why they shot at a keg. When doing long range shooting, 500 yards to a mile or more, it becomes impossible to see if you are hitting your target, but you can hear the gong after a second or so.
myerfire
Well I'm glad to see all hope is not lost for SF. Myerfire you must feel like a whore in church.
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. John Steinbeck
Hey thanks for the concern Hack. I had made serverall runs with this boiler before with no problem. It had never leaked in the place it was leaking. I had not even started pulling shine from the take off, it was heating up. It wont happen again, that baby is in the trash. It was a very cheap stock pot that was converted with latches on the lid. It was just not a good set up. I dont think I will have that problem again. My pony keg should be here today.
Kentucky shinner wrote:I tried a spirit run today with my new bok and had so many leaks in my damn boiler that I think I lost most of my alcohol. I looked down and around the edge of the lid was a blue fire. It looked like a damn refinery... I shut everything down and when I thought it was cool I took the lid off to see if I could seal it.. It was not cool...
I seem to have learned quite a bit from your Boka-Build Shinner, rolling a 1.5" + 2" coil, Cutting and preparing the slantplate assembly, soldering the parts together, cleaning up the assembly with a dremel, Thermo location, cleaning run info, BOMB DE-FUSING..... , etc; etc;, Glad your OK mate. It's one lesson I do not want you or any other members to learn the hard way. OK another lesson learned... Please be safe buddy..
EDIT: Your new boiler will drastically reduce the need to run into this problem in the future. But it wont eliminate it.
Enough I sound like my Dad...lol
hay man thanks. I am really glad to have my keg. I can make all my conections much easier and much tighter. The boiler I was using came with a still that I bought off ebay. the boiler was a really cheap stock pot with some latches attached to the side. It seemed that every time you thought it was sealed and running good you would find a leak and have to add more paste. The problem the other day was it was a leak that you could not see. It was nothing but alcohol vapor. When i get the fittings I need next week for my keg I will post more pics. I have also made a much longer Leibig condenser for my pot still head which will also fit on my keg when i am finished. I will post more pics when I get all set up.
I hope others novices can learn from my close call. I know there are more than likely some on here that say what a dumbass, thats ok though because there are others that may read about the incident and save themselves from a possible accident.
Talk about a waste This guy is running in a soapbox derby!!!
Attachments
Daddy used, to say " Any landing you can walk away from is a good one"
Calculations don't mean shit when compared to the real world practical experience of many...RAD 9/2010
I tried to rescue an 8 gal keg from this very fate. She had been shot twice with a .45 before I got to her. Bleeding pretty bad, I applied pressure and elevated the wound. It was too late. She passed away peacefully with me at her side. I cried for days.... Heartless Bastards.
Kentucky shinner wrote:finally found me a pony Keg today... it is being shipped, boy I need it. I tried a spirit run today with my new bok and had so many leaks in my damn boiler that I think I lost most of my alcohol. I looked down and around the edge of the lid was a blue fire. It looked like a damn refinery... I shut everything down and when I thought it was cool I took the lid off to see if I could seal it.. It was not cool... all of the vapor went into the air... wont happen any more. I went to ebay bit the bullet and ordered a pony keg.
I have another batch fermenting as we speak...
Holy Shit! You're lucky not to be blowed up right now. Maybe you need to review some of the carefully compiled safety stickies in the novice section? A water run or a vinegar cleaning run should have discovered those leaks before you made an alcohol run. Also, keeping a bit of extra flour paste on hand could have fixed your leaks without wasting the rest of your run. Don't take this the wrong way, I'd just like to see my fellow hobbyists being able to enjoy their product without injuring themselves.
I always have flour paste handy. My lyne arm has a couple of leaks and my soldering skills are rat shit so I leave it and fix up before stilling, rather that stuffing up the soldering that I did manage. But, one never knows if a bit of paste may drop off - it never has - but as the Boy Scouts say, "Be Prepared".
Good lesson, KD and you lived to tell us.
blanik
Simple potstiller. Slow, single run.
(50 litre, propane heated pot still. Coil in bucket condenser - No thermometer, No carbon) The Reading Lounge AND the Rules We Live By should be compulsory reading
MuleKicker wrote:I tried to rescue an 8 gal keg from this very fate. She had been shot twice with a .45 before I got to her. Bleeding pretty bad, I applied pressure and elevated the wound. It was too late. She passed away peacefully with me at her side. I cried for days.... Heartless Bastards.
sorry for your loss. dont feel bad, you did all you could. id like to say shes in a better place now...but i know shed be happier with you in her life.
My sincere condolences
"Learnin to still is alot like eating a dinosaur...ya gotta do it a bite at a time"