Tell us about your mistakes.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Okay, I got a new one.

When distress aging your booze ah la Odin (heating to 45 degrees then releasing top on bottle) Remember IF THE BOTTLE IS TO HOT TO PICK UP BY THE GLASS IT IS TOO HOT INSIDE.

Being the idiot i am i picked it up by the cork (not so stupid as to risk exploding bottles due to sealed bottles) the cork shot off and the alcohol inside flash boiled covering me and a good part of my study with boiling alcohol (crappy tequila ish that i made) and hot alcohol vapors.

Given how fast alcohol evaporates and cools i was lucky - only an irritating burn on the hand that picked up the bottle - no blister. And one hell of a shock when the stuff hit me in the face

[MitchyBourbon]

Well... About three weeks ago I made a molasses wash with 2 gallons of black strap and 10 lbs of brown sugar. When i was done I had 15 gallons of wash that I had split up in 3 separate 6 gallon better bottles. I left them in the kitchen for the first day or two so I could keep an eye on them. On day 2 my wife asked very sweetly if I might know of a better place to keep these disgusting gurgling jugs. So I said "soitainly". At that she smiled, grabbed her purse and went shopping. Now, I have a garage a lot of guys would love, it has 4 stalls and more cabinets and counter space than my wifes kitchen. So where do I put my 3 fermenters? I lined them very neatly in the middle of my wife's empty car stall. I had planned on clearing a space on the counter for them but I got side tracked. A few hours later my wife came home, she walked into the tv room where I was watching a baseball game or something and very sweetly said "I think I ran over something in the garage".

Doh!

[AndyC]

Mitch

Well at least YOU didn't run it over.


Nyuk nyuk nyuk

[yankeeclear]

Last night I experienced my worst disaster to date. I was clarifying 35 lbs of sugar in a 5 gal stock pot over a gas cooker last night in the garage. Air temperature was ~25 F and the heat up was coming along slower than I would have liked. The sugar was mostly dissolved but far from clear so I figured I had time to organize a few things while I waited. Not three minutes later I heard "spurt, splat! spurt, splat!" from behind me. I turned and saw a slow moving flow of molten sugar sputtering out of the pot and moving across the concrete floor. I immediately killed the gas but not soon enough as ~2/3 of the volume was already out of the pot. There was sugar all lover the pot, cooker, floor, utility shelving, loose items on the floor, etc. Cleanup was not fun but fortunately the cold air/floor slowed the flow - it would have been ten times worse if it was a hot, summer afternoon!

Morals: Don't cover your clarifying sugar, don't take your eyes off of it for a moment! The boiling sugar increases exponentially in volume as it captures the air bubbles and turns into a foam and will be out of the vessel in a heartbeat.

<shame faced>

[Odin]

Frozen,

Caution: distress aging your likker may distress age you too.

Odin.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Frozen,

Caution: distress aging your likker may distress age you too.

Odin.

LMAO - yep.

I still use your technique though - works great.

I'm just a bit more careful to have less full bottles and not to heat it too high!

[NY Chris]

I recently had an experience I won't soon forget. I have run my pot still a few times without any problems, cleaning runs and sacrificial alcohol run all went well without a hiccup.
I have a homebuilt pot still that has a lid and lyrn arm to a worm in a bucket condenser.The lid is just inserted into the collar on the top of the pot and I have been sealing it with flour paste. Always worked great.
Yesterday while running a wash I was getting it up to temperature and starting drip. Just then the lid blew off the pot!!!
a waterfall of fire seened to roll out and across the floor. I quickly shut down the propane and extinguished the fire or (vice versa i cant remember) with a water extinguisher, which extinguished the fire instantly, as fast as the fire started it was extinguished, happened so fast I can bearly remember the details. Just glad I wasn't standing close by or I may have gotten burned.

After changing my undershorts, I think I may have narrowed down the problems I had that day.

I may have been running the still to hard, creating to much steam and overpowering my set up.

Too rapid expansion as, Rad put it

I came to this conclusion after a successful run the same day after running the still much slower, the still ran good with the cap staying on the whole run.

I ran the still hard until I felt heat running down the arm, then backed it way off. I kept it low the whole run and It worked great.

Learning the scary hard way, not good. So run slow, safer.

Chris

[yankeeclear]

NY Chris, I too was recently reminded that things can go wrong in a hurry. Stay sharp and on task!

[ipee7ABV]

i knocked over my glass measuring cup. no big deal it was $2 at wall mart. i picked up most of the glass and finished the run. a few days later i was making cuts and running the next batch. well i found a 1in sliver. it went into my big toe while making a jar change. still is in the basement. no big deal not the first time i cut my self. finished the jar change and pulled the sliver out. big mistake. i think it did more damage coming out than going in. blood all over. now i have no towel can't walk to one without getting blood all over the carpet. call out the the boy. head phones on 2 floors above me. took a small mason jar put it over my big toe and hobbled upstairs to do the repair. i now vac all the glass. lesson learned.

[natineah]

NY Chris, I too was recently reminded that things can go wrong in a hurry. Stay sharp and on task!

That's right, but things can really happen without you wanting it to happen even if you're not taking anything in a hurry.

[hoody79]

Jusr read the first 26 pages of this great thread, but the battery is going dead so with the chance ill repeat someones elses advice...

Using methenol to frac gas wells i was told, Tie a bit of paper towel around every joint...

Not saying every still or every joint should have it, but if there is any question of a fire at least youll be able to see it straight away...

[magnetic_tarantula]

Jusr read the first 26 pages of this great thread, but the battery is going dead so with the chance ill repeat someones elses advice....

Ditto. Worthy of taking the time to read. I never thought how I did things was that dangerous. I can see now how terribly wrong all those things could have gone.

1.Alembic on the stove, let it run low and slow unattended for "short" periods of time
2.dogs tail destroyed a 6 gallon glass carboy(yeah it hits that fucking hard)
3.no fire extinguisher
4.didn't tighten my tri-clamp once temp got too high started blowing high proof vapor out of the joint(luckily in an open area and was paying attention)
5.ever soldered anything in bare feet where your foot was underneath the end of the pipe opening? Yeah, don't do it it fuckin hurts.
6.ever stepped on a goathead barefoot while carrying your prized hearts cut in a mason jar? Yeah don't do it.
In fact ALWAYS WEAR SHOES, EVERYWHERE......at the rate im going im sleeping in the buff with my boots on.

[HellBilly]

Nothing really new but I will share my story. I brew beer, and my first time brewing a strong beer (barleywine), I did not take into consideration that a small airlock could get clogged. At the time I was fermenting in a closet in our spare room, brewed the beer, put bucket in closet, and closed the door thinking all was good. Came to check it out a few days later, the airlock had clogged from the violent fermentation, and the lid blew spewing brown sticky beer sugar goo everywhere!

LOL... of course after it was a few days most of it had dried, I still have to repair the closet from removing dried on hardened sugar/hops lumps from the walls.

Needless to say I always use a blow off tube for the first few days of fermentation now.... just in case.

[hoody79]

Dont see if your running to hard for your condensor on a column still with a cigarete lighter... Yeah im that stupid

But i found out where i was losing heads...

[tkalfaoglu]

Since I only did I batch so far, I'm yet to make a legendary mistake, but my first mash looked really funny - I couldn't find a baloon to cover the top (no kids in house), so I found a substitute in a bedside drawer. It looked real funny fully erect -t

[tkalfaoglu]

@ OMD - Definately not. the microwave has developed arcing problems since then so I owe the wife another new one.

Wait, maybe it's just the side panel that needs replacing. My microwave had started arcing, and there is a small removable panel on the side near where the microwave gun is, which feels like made out of plastic..
That panel is suppose to do that when it gets really grimy. They just replaced that $1 piece and it runs fine. -t

[njscofflaw]

Let a wash sit and oxidize for 3 weeks due to still problems. Running it produced some pretty rancid tasting crap .

[Condensifier]

Three weeks doesn't seem like a long time to let a wash sit. I've let them sit a lot longer and they came out okay but I usually rack to another container after it starts to clear.

Are you sure it didn't puke or something? Maybe do a spirit run with it and it will come out better.

[njscofflaw]

Three weeks doesn't seem like a long time to let a wash sit. I've let them sit a lot longer and they came out okay but I usually rack to another container after it starts to clear.

Are you sure it didn't puke or something? Maybe do a spirit run with it and it will come out better.

It was a 4 gallon wash sitting in a 6 1/2 gallon carboy. It only started to darken in the last few days (looked like a chardonnay when I transferred it to the carboy) and when I went to rack it off last night it was like a dark roasted coffee in color. Looking back on my logbook it actually sat for a few days over a month.

[jeepkidd]

I finally finished wiring my still to run electric after having everything ready and waiting for a long time.

After testing it out and seeing that it was working perfectly, I set the heat sink to the controller with epoxy and left it to dry.

Anxious to test out the system, I figured I'd strip a batch with full power so I could leave the controller alone and let the epoxy dry properly.

Wow, 5500W is FAST, I was up to temp in no time, then had to turn my cooling water up because it was running so fast. Cooling fell behind even with the tap open all the way and I started getting steam. I had to unplug the still and let it cool, but quite a bit of steam built up anyway. Strong alcohol smell and had to vent out for quite a while.

[endwrench]

Big mistake with my first "high temp" fermentation! I've brewed beer for many years and did most of it open without an airlock. Never had a problem with it (at low temps). I did a simple Birdwatchers sugar wash (10 gallons) which I left alone in a small room at 92°F. I had to go out of town and came back 12 days later. Well, what I found was a little less than 8.5 gallons of product. It evaporated! And guess what part evaporated first? Yep, the alcohol! I went ahead and ran it and only got about 3 qrts. Oh well, live and learn

endwrench

[mash rookie]

I SHOT MY THUMB WITH A 9/16” STAPLE. Doing some upholstery work today I was distracted by my 33 yo son and shot a staple right through my thumb. I was stapled to a piece of plywood. Luckily there was a tack/staple remover in arms reach. I stretched over, grabbed it and pried my thumb and staple loose from the wood. I than grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers close by and yanked the staple out of my thumb. It just missed the bone. Whew. I proceeded inside where my RN girlfriend wrapped it up while lecturing me about hurting myself before my scheduled shoulder surgery in the morning. Damn, I’m glad it makes small holes. They upholstery job is coming out sweet.

[yankeeclear]

I SHOT MY THUMB WITH A 9/16” STAPLE. Doing some upholstery work today I was distracted by my 33 yo son and shot a staple right through my thumb. I was stapled to a piece of plywood. Luckily there was a tack/staple remover in arms reach. I stretched over, grabbed it and pried my thumb and staple loose from the wood. I than grabbed a pair of needle nose pliers close by and yanked the staple out of my thumb. It just missed the bone. Whew. I proceeded inside where my RN girlfriend wrapped it up while lecturing me about hurting myself before my scheduled shoulder surgery in the morning. Damn, I’m glad it makes small holes. They upholstery job is coming out sweet.

Damn!

Good luck wiht the surgery - maybe you can save a few bucks and offer to close yourself - KA-CHINK!!

[GuyFawkes]

Since I only did I batch so far, I'm yet to make a legendary mistake, but my first mash looked really funny - I couldn't find a baloon to cover the top (no kids in house), so I found a substitute in a bedside drawer. It looked real funny fully erect -t

FOR THE WIN

I also learned the perils of DUI...... distilling under the influence! Tried to do a run after a pipe burst in my house so we had no running water. Figured by the morning I wouldn't do a run just because I wouldn't feel comfortable not having emergency cooling water (using my old worm condenser). After a few (or 20) drinks and some buddies over, I decided my pool was all the water I needed.

Chlorine, as I think most everyone knows, doesn't get along with copper. My worm developed a beautiful patina though! Don't worry, the fruit of that run was never consumed, it got used as weed killer. Better safe than sorry

[jeepkidd]

After converting my still to 5500W electric instead of using a propane burner, I got excited to try it out before I finished my controller. I figured I'd just do a stripping run... well, 5500W heated up my little 8gal boiler in 12min, then started steaming out the liebig. I turned up my cooling water and waited a few seconds to let the steam stop... the steam only came harder. So I unplugged the still and let it cool down.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Caught red handed
We can add sharpening a machete to the list of things NOT to do when home alone running your still.
It's really hard to apply pressure to the thumb you have split 1/2 way up the nail bed AND get a bandage to stick at the same time by your self . . .
I was due a new scar anyways . . . haven't managed to slice myself in over a year

[Odin]

Frozenthunderbolt, that does not look good. Hope you get all the movement and strength back in that thumb!

As for me ... we had a party last weekend, celebrating me & my daughters birthdays. I decided ... not to drink my own likker, but to drink beer instead. I finished the evening with a glass of Bombay Saphire Gin and Clontarf Irish Whiskey. Both were very, very disappointing.

And I woke up with the mother of all head aches.

Odin.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Cheers odin - I seem to have missed all the tendons so luckily at the moment it is just irritating rather than incapacitating Cheers though

[magnetic_tarantula]

[img]Caught red handed
We can add sharpening a machete to the list of things NOT to do when home alone running your still.
It's really hard to apply pressure to the thumb you have split 1/2 way up the nail bed AND get a bandage to stick at the same time by your self . . .
I was due a new scar anyways . . . haven't managed to slice myself in over a year

Fucking machetes. I sliced my shin with a parang a couple years ago. It looked about like that. My sock filled up with blood.

[frozenthunderbolt]

Fucking machetes. I sliced my shin with a parang a couple years ago. It looked about like that. My sock filled up with blood.

I love mine! In a decent environement it would be all i need to survive - it's my favourite tool.

The one that bit me was a new one though; haddn't had a taste of me yet - a gladius style one from cold steel - came really rough finished, but has now turned out well with a decent edge!