Basic Distilling Safety

[HookLine]

Yup, around 80% is the max you can get from a plain pot still, without going over 40% abv boiler charge. Want higher abv, then you need a thumper, or plates, or packing.

[Skylineracer329]

I just read the original post and, as a fireman, I have one thing to add. In the event a still does catch fire, the two types of extinguishers that are safe to use are BC or ABC. I don't know what these are called for our non-US friends. These extinguishers use a chemical powder that is safe to use on electrical and chemical fires.

Do not use water to extinguish an alcohol fire! Not only will it plain not work because its the alcohol vapors that are on fire, but it also runs the risk of spreading the burning alcohol all over the place and making your day much worse.

If your wallis on fire because your burning still is close to the wall, feel free to use water AFTER you have used the chemical extinguisher to put out the still.

All in all, your best bet is to evacuate the house/shed/garage and call the fire department.

[ipee7ABV]

I just read the original post and, as a fireman, I have one thing to add. In the event a still does catch fire, the two types of extinguishers that are safe to use are BC or ABC. I don't know what these are called for our non-US friends. These extinguishers use a chemical powder that is safe to use on electrical and chemical fires.

Do not use water to extinguish an alcohol fire! Not only will it plain not work because its the alcohol vapors that are on fire, but it also runs the risk of spreading the burning alcohol all over the place and making your day much worse.

If your wallis on fire because your burning still is close to the wall, feel free to use water AFTER you have used the chemical extinguisher to put out the still.

All in all, your best bet is to evacuate the house/shed/garage and call the fire department.

i do not belive this to be true there are members here that use a 5 gal bucket of water to use as a fire extinguisher. once the alcohol is diluted enough it will not burn.

[rad14701]

Do not use water to extinguish an alcohol fire! Not only will it plain not work because its the alcohol vapors that are on fire, but it also runs the risk of spreading the burning alcohol all over the place and making your day much worse.

Please don't give poor advice to our membership... Water is, in fact, a good method of extinguishing an alcohol fire... The cooling and diluting effect of water makes alcohol nonflammable because it no longer produces vapor and is at too low of a concentration to be flammable... If you don't believe me just do some independent research and experiments... You'll find that I'm correct... I was a firefighter and an EMT in the past myself...

[HolyBear]

A charged water hose works just fine... after everything is dowsed out and cooled off, you can use it ta clean out yer britches

[Durace11]

If I remember correctly Wacabi has first hand knowledge that this in fact works quite well...

[Canislupus]

I have a question concerning a safety issue. I see a lot of CM, LM, & VM stills with no form of pressure relief. Basically you are running a pressurized container (with your outlet valves closed awaiting equilibrium) as it comes up to temperature. I recently exchanged my rubber bung plug for a Tri-clover S.S. plate cover, tapped out to hold a Blichman thermometer. I don't have valving to restict pressure, but I'm thinking about putting a valve on to allow for VM operation. I have recently seen on the "Mile Hi" website that they carry a 5 PSI poppet pressure relief valve and I was wondering if any one has purchased this item, and what they thought of it.

I have a 25 Gallon Reflux / Revenoor, and it has a relief valve on the top of the tower already. It's a 1 PSI. I guess that's how it was designed back when.
Might sound weird, but before popping off a batch, I always blow into the Condenser to make sure it blows back at me, when I stop. At least I know it's clear.
You can always Tee off of the Upper Thermometer and add a Relief valve that way if you want.

[Canislupus]

I just read the original post and, as a fireman, I have one thing to add. In the event a still does catch fire, the two types of extinguishers that are safe to use are BC or ABC. I don't know what these are called for our non-US friends. These extinguishers use a chemical powder that is safe to use on electrical and chemical fires.

Do not use water to extinguish an alcohol fire! Not only will it plain not work because its the alcohol vapors that are on fire, but it also runs the risk of spreading the burning alcohol all over the place and making your day much worse.

If your wallis on fire because your burning still is close to the wall, feel free to use water AFTER you have used the chemical extinguisher to put out the still.

All in all, your best bet is to evacuate the house/shed/garage and call the fire department.

i do not belive this to be true there are members here that use a 5 gal bucket of water to use as a fire extinguisher. once the alcohol is diluted enough it will not burn.

You are absolutely CORRECT on the "Kick the 5 Gallon Bucket" precaution. I keep mine about 6 or so feet running distance from my Machine, and all I'd have to do is boot the chair it's on... 5 Gallons of dilution all over the brick floor, then there's the Halon extinguisher right next to it. Overkill... Nah, just tryin to be safe.

[GunnerOIF2003]

If a vapor leak is discovered in your rig during a run, flour dough mixed 4 parts flour to 3 parts water makes an excellent temporary patch and will allow you to complete your run before repairing the leak more permanently. I normally use this to seal the joints on my pot still and usually have a bit extra after setting things up. I keep it on hand until the run is over just in case.

Old family secret; add some table salt to the mix above and it will make a better, tougher seal for leaks. ~ Gunner

[thatguy1]

If you ever have over 40% ABV in your still, make sure you use low temperatures on your burner and bring the heat up gently. Ethanol's autoignition temperature is 363c (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow), Acetone's autoignition temperature is 465c (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow).

I'm not recommending that you ever put over 40% in your still, but if you do, keep the temperature low. Don't put your burner on high and bring it up to temperature quickly... that is a recipe for disaster because the liquid in the bottom closest to the burner can get much hotter before the top liquid comes up to the proper temperature. If there are not enough nucleation points in your pot, you run the chance of your mixture super heating and could rise to the auto ignition temps before it starts to boil.

The auto ignition temperature is simply the temperature in which a chemical such as ethanol needs to reach to ignite without the presence of an open flame. So, unless you're a chemist or understand the process of basic chemistry well, the easiest way to stay safe is dilute to 40%. If you require high concentrations, it's safer to build a still that can produce those concentrations with 40% in the mixture vessel.

Play safe kids..

tg

[The Wanderer]

This is my first post, so please be gentle! I'd like to start by saying what an excellent forum this is and to thank Uncle Jesse and everyone else for their great work!

I have been preparing some neutral spirit for blending to make a very basic whiskey. I diluted it to 80% and left it in glass on lightly toasted Kentucky barrel chips for around six weeks. I decided to decant it into a glass carboy this morning in order to leave it to condition for another couple of months.

I was using a Young's Auto Siphon, but got distracted for a few seconds after I had put the siphon 1/2 way into the carboy. I left it there for about ten minutes and then came back and finished off the siphoning.

When I finished siphoning the plastic at the bottom of the siphon tube was covered with a white deposit, or had been 'eaten' by the whiskey leaving it appearing opaque. See photo.

Clearly I am concerned that there is a safety issue with my whiskey and to know what caused this situation. Do you have any advice?

The Wanderer

[frozenthunderbolt]

I was using a Young's Auto Siphon, but got distracted for a few seconds after I had put the siphon 1/2 way into the carboy. I left it there for about ten minutes and then came back and finished off the siphoning.

When I finished siphoning the plastic at the bottom of the siphon tube was covered with a white deposit, or had been 'eaten' by the whiskey leaving it appearing opaque. See photo.

Clearly I am concerned that there is a safety issue with my whiskey and to know what caused this situation. Do you have any advice?

The Wanderer

Don't use plastics with spirits see "http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =35&t=5090" no#8

[The Wanderer]

Edited

[frozenthunderbolt]

Hi FTB and others,

Thank you for your response. I've read through Jesse's rules and cannot change something that has happened in the past. I will change my ways in future.

Do you have any helpful suggestions as to what I should do with the 15L of spirit into which I dipped the siphon? Can I drink it? Can I rescue it?

Many thanks,

TW

15 L!!! gutted - it'll make a lot of fire lighter

[Fruit Squeezer]

Never too late to post about safety I hope.
An important thing to note is that a still can be shut-down mid run, if safety calls for it.
It's not worth running in unsafe conditions to save a batch. Everything can be cooled down, mixed back together, and run again, when safe to do so.
I use the stove to warm my wash to ~120F (hot shower temp) then I move the pot to an electric plate to have better temp control, less chance of flare-up, and the ability to shut down immediately with a turn of the knob.
(One advantage of starting out small*3gal pot & worm).

[CatCrap]

Dont forget it on the stove. If you Preheat it on the stove.. and overshoot that 120 mark, or it climbs faster than you expect, probably ignite. Like flambe with liquor when cooking. Hot pan, full of shrimps, add liquor.. voila, flames. I suppose if you have an electric stove, it could be less likely to ignite, still.. i'd avoid producing alcohol fumes on a stove top. To be honest, i thought about your idea for a couple minutes when it crossed my mind once. I decided it was probably not a good idea. Also then I have to transfer 6-7 gallons of 120 degree wash to the still. No thanks. Sure as fuck not going to siphon that.


Edit:

Didn't read carefully and see that i think you use that same pot to distill. So you put the column head on then? Things heat up much faster with a lid on top, you might be costing yourself time? Not sure i totally understand your process/reasoning/thought process sir.

[Fruit Squeezer]

Yes. Same vessel for heating and distilling.
(3 gal. Pot and worm)
There is no alcohol vapor at 120°F

At ~120°F, I move the pot from the gas stove, to the electric hot plate (induction type, no glowing coil), connect the condenser, and slowly heat the remaining 48-50°F to get the foreshots.

I like to make single run brandy, so slow is of the essence (pun]

My process is so slow, I have plenty of time for moving things around, making adjustments, and taking readings.
I preffer to make love with my hooch, as opposed to stripping it down and violently having my way with it.
-not that there's anything wrong with that- lol

[Le Garagiste]

During one of my early runs, a few years ago, with my original beer keg boiler and copper reflux column I had a near disaster. I had poured fresh distillate into my proofing cylinder to check the ABV. This was great. I was several jars in and well over 80% I reached for my note pad. As I looked up at the alcohol metre the test cylinder was sagging over slowly..
Horror. The freaking plastic wine and beer SG cylinder was melting at the base in reaction to the strong ethanol. I did manage to get it all into a steel bowl.
So now I own a glass ABV testing cylinder and it always sits inside a pot. So the advice on this thread really is spot on.

[Sunshineer]

Check your equipment carefully before each run. Make sure all the openings and pathways are not blocked, and any valves are working. Set the whole still up, including connecting the coolant system up fully and testing it, before turning on the heat source for the still.

I have experienced this one in a rather scary way when I first started out, with our first (poorly designed) still. While we were distilling a friend noticed that our pot (55gal drum) was starting to bulge, the take off port on the column had partially plugged and pressure started building up in the pot. Luckily he noticed or I don't want to imagine what would have happened, I opened the other cap on the pot to release the pressure and a 20 foot high plume of steam and apple shot out for quite a few seconds... It looked like a rocket going off upside down.

We were just lucky no one was hurt....
Lesson learned, "Make sure there is no way for any pressure to build up!"

You only get one boom ex demolitions expert.

[sadie33]

I hope it's okay to ask a ? about safety issue here.
I would never have thought about the wipe up cloth. I am very new and only have a vodka (50/50) cleaning run and one stripping run under my belt. When I did wipe up a little spill, I used my kitchen cloth, rinsed it under hot water and continued to use it. Is that okay? Now I will have a coffee can with a lid to put it in, but then what? Do you clean it when you're done?

[Steve Broady]

I distill in my kitchen, on an electric stove top. No open flame. I also keep my collection jars in a small stainless tray under the spout, so that even if anything spills or overflows, it’s still contained. Other than that, I take no special precautions. Anything that gets on the counter gets cleaned up the same way as anything else in the kitchen. A quick wipe with a sponge or paper towel is about all that it needs.

For a stove top pot still, that ought to be sufficient in my opinion. If you’re spilling enough high proof alcohol to be a serious safety hazard, then stop sampling while you’re stilling! Obviously, keep a fire extinguisher handy, and remember that a little water will quickly cut any spilled alcohol down below the point of flammability.