Tell us about your mistakes.

[Ferment_It]

Lovin my one jar of stripper heart cut tho. You've converted another sugarhead...

[Jimbo]

well, do me this at least. And Im not condoning foreign oddities as a good thing, but I think sponges are pretty innocuous. Taste it, if it dont taste shite, run it again, the black chunks and cloudiness will disappear. The cloudiness is common anyway in a stripper, run deep. Throw some oak in it, bury it in the back of yoru cabinet for 6 months and tell no one about it, then you wont have to qualify it. WHen you pull it out later you may be pleasantly surprised. Be a shame to dump your first run when there may be nothing wrong with it,.

[Ferment_It]

It tastes good. Love the wheat. I do have one uncontaminated strip and makers mark oak staves ready to go... Just worried about glue in the sponge and my ability to keep myself from swillin it in 6 mo's

[Jimbo]

Dont drink it for 4 months. Seriously. There's magic that happens. Trust me on this one.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Ok, I'm really new to all this, so I'm still making all sorts of mistakes. But this one makes me very sad:
I have been saving all heads and tails for a feints run. I had almost 5 gallons saved up and ran it recently. I usually let the spirits air out for a day or two when I do a spirit run, but when I ran the feints, the entire spirit run tasted like heads. It had a sort of harsh menthol taste. All of it tasted like fire off the still. I got frustrated and pulled one quart out of the middle, just for future reference, and threw the rest right down the drain. Never gave it a chance to air out.
I just went back to that jar, after just a short time aging, and somehow it did something incredible with the air and oak, and it is easily my best spirit to date. So many layers of flavor, even a slight anise at about the 3 second mark. Really good. And I have no way to recreate it, and I have no idea how much of this sweet elixer I dumped down the drain in my haste. That's gonna haunt me for a while.

[Scribbler]

Sucks!!! But you CAN recreate it!!! Simply collect another five gallons if exactly the same proportions of heads and tails from exactly the same recipes you used in the first place - and bingo!!! It is chemistry!! Like a good hobbyist you kept clear notes on everything you did right? Right? Right?

Lol, yeah I feel your pain! In all practicality you are right: can't do it again... But in all likelihood you should be able to land in the same ballpark again and again!!! You paid for an education that will stick with you a long long time!!!

[Jimbo]

Big part of the fun in this hobby is the anticipation. Ya you screwed the pooch on that one cornh but your next feints run will be good too, in a different way probably but good. Age works wonders man, never dump anything until it sat on oak for 4 months. And even then you could keep it and make vodka out of it with a few more runs.

[MichiganCornhusker]

Like a good hobbyist you kept clear notes on everything you did right? Right? Right?

Um, yeah, another mistake.... Thought I'd remember...

[scuba stiller]

Ouch, MichiganCornhusker, that really hurts. Got a lump in my throat. Gotta go make a bloody marry to smooth the feeling out.

[whiskymonster]

Standard issue birdwatchers.
80l to about 10% ish.
Destined to become kahlua, panty dropper and a bottle to a cocktail bartender I work with to make his own bitters.
Problem is, I went into lidl to pick up supplies and got a brand of tomato paste I never heard of.

Tomato paste is tomato paste right?

Nope.
The whole run of about 6 litres of 95, once aired out and diluted tastes of pepper. And the pepper taste is getting stronger day by day.
Makes an awesome bloody mary, but the mrs is allergic to pepper amongst other things.

Works out at about 15 litres of 40%. I like the occasional bloody mary, but thats gonna get old fast.
Ill chuck it in the boiler again and see how it comes out.

Moral of the story: read the damned label!

[Red Rim]

Oh hell, if a little pepper is good, a lot of pepper is better.
You have prolly heard me say this before, but if you add jalapeños, habaneros, red peppers, green peppers and onions to that mix, it turns into the most delicious batch of heaven and hell that you can imagine. Bloody Mary mixer on steroids.

[shadylane]

I'm slowly running out of mistakes due to practice.
My friends, neighbors and kinfolks now supply the entertainment with their mistakes.

[Truckinbutch]

by shadylane » Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:51 pm

I'm slowly running out of mistakes due to practice.
I like the way you put that . Been following the same path .

[apdb]

I was getting setup to post a nice little picture of my new Blackberry Panty Dropper with a splash of apple juice... (Frickin Deadly BTW)......

Ice cold Blackberry Panty Dropper w/ a touch of apple juice approx 40%

FAAAAAAACCCKKKKKK!!!!!

[Odin]

Okay, so I did a few runs with a new catalyst without cleaning it properly. Darn. Just rechecked the drinks I made with it. All have some kind of hot taste I associate with the manufacturing process of the SPP (oil). Not good. But what a loss! I am going to flush 25 liters of genever down the drain, as well as 20 liters of vodka and 25 liters of pure rye whiskey, half of which I aged on JD wood.

This hurts.

Odin.

[heartcut]

Put some ribs on the BBQ. Stayed right there for the next 10 minutes, spraying water on the flare-ups and turned them once. Went back in the house long enough to pour some whiskey in my glass and when I returned there was a conflagration in the pit. Started to lift the lid, but the fire would have sent me to the eroom and burned the lanai. Sprayed water in the case for a few minutes, got the fire out and the 2 racks looked like a horror movie scene. No saving that. Ordered pizza and wings delivered. Might have to carry a bottle out with me next time.

[Sungy]

Put some ribs on the BBQ. Stayed right there for the next 10 minutes, spraying water on the flare-ups and turned them once. Went back in the house long enough to pour some whiskey in my glass and when I returned there was a conflagration in the pit. Started to lift the lid, but the fire would have sent me to the eroom and burned the lanai. Sprayed water in the case for a few minutes, got the fire out and the 2 racks looked like a horror movie scene. No saving that. Ordered pizza and wings delivered. Might have to carry a bottle out with me next time.

Been there and done that!!!!!

[jedneck]

Put some ribs on the BBQ. Stayed right there for the next 10 minutes, spraying water on the flare-ups and turned them once. Went back in the house long enough to pour some whiskey in my glass and when I returned there was a conflagration in the pit. Started to lift the lid, but the fire would have sent me to the eroom and burned the lanai. Sprayed water in the case for a few minutes, got the fire out and the 2 racks looked like a horror movie scene. No saving that. Ordered pizza and wings delivered. Might have to carry a bottle out with me next time.

That's one you only make once. Bottle tags along or kids gopher the bottle.

[Bigbob]

Was that a gas grill? I did that once on one of those. Give me a weber every time.

[googe]

Did something similar not long ago heartcut!, went in the get a drink, lamb chops had caught fire from all the fat!, turned the gas off, put the lid down, didn't do anything as the vent holes in the bbq just fed the fire!. Had flames 5 foot high coming out of the bbq, black.marks all over the house wall with some blistered paint, the entire back yard was full of smoke, surprised the neighbour didn't call the fire brigade . Had to use an extinguisher eventually. Went back inside puffing and panting smelling like smoke, no one had any idea what happened, to busy enjoying them.selves lol.

[W Pappy]

Never cook over coals and gas hiss hiss should take u about 6 to 7 hrs to do ribs always cook on cool side.245 to 250F

[T-Pee]

Bottom line...never leave the grill. Rule #1 for grilling.

tp

[The KYChemist]

Set my rig up, last night. I triple checked every single connection FOUR times!! Came into the kitchen this morning, groggily, to fire things up. When I walked in, I felt a squish-squish-squish, with each step. I had a nice puddle on the floor. I went straight to my drain valve and element. Both were completely dry on the bottom. The liquid on the floor had no smell to it. Looked over at the coolant exit line... Drip-drip-drip... Phew... I had a small mess to clean up, but could've been worse. Next time, drape the coolant line into the sink, and tighten the supply valve all the way.

[Tokoroa_Shiner]

Set up my burner wrong, so it didn't burn as hot. Had a real yellow and orange flame. Lots of soot. Charged my keg with 40L of cornflake wash. About 13%abv. Took 2 1/2 hrs till first drops. Took 250ml fores. 8 hrs later didn't have very much. Tipped out what was left in boiler. Watered distillate collected down to 40%abv to get 4L. All heads, but still better then the turbo yeast neutral and flavourings I get from my dad. New burner now. Burns nice and blue and hot. Sticker on it says 4.5 kW.

[W Pappy]

I do believe the good lord fancied wine, you don't hear too much about his youth.It took him a couple years to get the hang of things.

[jedneck]

Stuck my nose rite in a jar of fresh made horseradish, I can breathe now.

[T-Pee]

Probably blind, though.

tp

[jedneck]

I'll be able to see to make bloody Marys

[whiskymonster]

Latest wash is a variation on the cornflakes and all bran recipes with a few ryvita for fun.

I try to leave it alone until I think its about done.

Its been fermenting for 8 days now, and should have been ready for running today.

Stopped bubbling, flakes have mostly sunk, seems nicely clear.
Tastes slightly sweet though. Check SG, 1.020.
Stalled. Damnit!
Tested pH, and its down to about 3.
OK. Out comes a new packet of bicarb.
I don't usually spoon it in, I sprinkle it on top little by little and let the fizz die down before I add more.
I dont know if it was slightly damp or something, but most of the packet jumped out in one lump.

It fell into the wash seemingly in slow motion .
Several seconds pass, and nothing.
Did I get away with this?

Nope.
The surface instantly turned to a mass of foam and overflowed.
It seemed like the whole 80l wash was trying to escape the trash can at once.
I now have 10l of sugary cornflake mix all over the dining room carpet.
And the walls. And the dog.
I have a mop, and about 15 mins before the Mrs gets home from work.

If I never post again, I'd like to say that its been fun guys.
Its just a shame there isn't enough whisky in the attic to cover my wake!

[T-Pee]

Had the same thing happen only I survived it with the fermenters in the spare bathroom tub.

Been nice knowin' ya.

tp