Theft of low wines

[Mendel]

I live in an isolated, rural upper class neighborhood, and have been distilling on my patio with confidence no one can see me. I never leave an open flame unattended, but after spending a good part of my day stripping 6 gallons of not good enough to bottle wine into just under 2 gallons of low wine for Brandy, I turn off the flame, and walked away while I let everything rest a few minutes to cool down and collect any steam coming off the still. When I came back, my collection pot and everything appeared to be exactly where I left it - but it was completely empty!

The only conclusion I can reach is someone had been watching me, walked over, dumped my collection into a bucket, and walked away. I know they didn't dump it in my yard, as it had an incredibly strong smell. Whoever this thief was, they didn't touch my nearly $1000 worth of distilling equipment or a $400 grill has been on my the patio unattended every night, or even the pot I used for collecting. I am utterly baffled that anyone would do this.

Could it have been a fellow distiller who knew exactly what they were taking and wanted to save $50 or so buying juice? Could it be a kid or teenager? They'd have a hell of a hang over if they drank it - this was an exceptionally headsish batch, and never be able to hide the smell. I really hope no one manages to put themselves in the hospital, or that I have to deal with angry parents threatening to call the police or worse. Less learned - never ever walk away!

[Tummydoc]

Do you have kids?

[Mendel]

I do not have kids. I have neighbors that have kids.

[HDNB]

do you have neighbors that have drunk kids?

[cranky]

I would guess it was a neighbor kid. He saw you making moonshine and had no idea it was low wines to him it was just moonshine so he took it. I only distill in my garage so I'm certain nobody will see what I'm doing.

[cranky]

do you have neighbors that have drunk kids?

He does now

[Expat]

Yeah, someone swiped it; doubtful it's another stiller, and they'd probably want to chat instead.

Short term, I would suggest packing up your gear and putting out a couple of empty commercial liquor bottles. If anyone does come asking, the commercial stuff was taken.

[Tummydoc]

But if it was a kid, wouldn't they steal the collection vessel? What kid would sneak into your patio, with a container that holds 2 gallons, transfer the low wines, and leave your stuff undisturbed? That seems highly unlikely.

[pope]

Slow leak in the collection vessel, which happens to be set right on top of the patio drain?

[8Ball]

Do you live alone? If not, ...

[Mendel]

Slow leak in the collection vessel, which happens to be set right on top of the patio drain?

Collection vessel sat in a 10 gallon waterproof rubber-made bin with a small amount of water to aid cooling. Any kind of spill or leak would put the product in the bin, which I tasted as clean water. I agree the thought of someone bringing their own container seems unlikely - but what else is possible? It couldn't spill or leak without going into the rubbermade, and 2 gallons of 30% alcohol + 70% water did not evaporate in 20 minutes.

The next most likely possibility is passing aliens beamed my product directly aboard their ship.

There is a large group of older boys (they all own their own cars) right next door. I didn't think they were home at the time, and the mother came home a few hours later. But the only other kids in the immediate area are under 5. It is possible someone far away took it, as you have a much better view from the woods behind my house than the yards on my street.

If it is the teenagers, that isn't too bad. A large group of larger males makes it less likely anyone gets serious alcohol poisoning, and should be ok if they don't drive. This is safer than if they stole bottom shelf vodka - and drinking this is a harsh punishment making it less likely they do stupid things in the future.

[Mendel]

Yeah, someone swiped it; doubtful it's another stiller, and they'd probably want to chat instead.

Short term, I would suggest packing up your gear and putting out a couple of empty commercial liquor bottles. If anyone does come asking, the commercial stuff was taken.

I may do this. I do have some horribly cheap vodka that is cheaper to buy than make, and only gets used for cleaning and other non-drinking chemical applications. The problem is, it doesn't smell like the super concentrated cheap hobo wine that was taken. Something this strong and terrible smelling can only be made, never bought.

[jonnys_spirit]

Low wines? Dang. Better put those boys to work and give em a good schoolin.

[stillanoob]

Rural neighborhood? Anyway...

I'd be more worried about the future than the past. Now that they have gotten some free booze they will probably be back looking at some point. And they will be shooting their mouths. What a bummer, I feel for ya, now you will be paranoid.

[Corn Crib]

Remember popcorn saying someone was stealing his distiller's beer and Epsom salts fixed the problem, but this is different.

Happens once, it is likely to happen again. Trail cameras can be fun in what you may find going on.

[CoogeeBoy]

How about this: your pipe running to your collection pot had dipped into the low wines.
As the still cooled, it created a vacuum and sucked the low wines back into the still.

[Chauncey]

How about this: your pipe running to your collection pot had dipped into the low wines.
As the still cooled, it created a vacuum and sucked the low wines back into the still.

Thats what i thought

[pope]

How about this: your pipe running to your collection pot had dipped into the low wines.
As the still cooled, it created a vacuum and sucked the low wines back into the still.

This has some potential. I hope Mendel can confirm or dispel this theory.

[Teddysad]

One of my “students” had exactly this happen last week. He had a silicon hose running from the still outlet into the collection jar and when he switched off the hose end was down inside the distillate. 10 minutes later he came back to see the last of the distillate being sucked back into the still.

[Saltbush Bill]

He had a silicon hose running from the still outlet into the collection jar

Best talk to your " student" about that, this forum does not condone the use of silicon tubing on outlets or anywhere else it can come into contact with Alcohol.

[CoogeeBoy]

Phew! I thought I might have been out of my depth on this one!

[Mendel]

How about this: your pipe running to your collection pot had dipped into the low wines.
As the still cooled, it created a vacuum and sucked the low wines back into the still.

Clever, but not possible. The pot was completely empty, and the hose was not on the bottom.

[NZChris]

You should still check the abv of the backset if you still have some.

[CoogeeBoy]

Clever, but not possible. The pot was completely empty, and the hose was not on the bottom.

Dang! No cigar for me then.

[NZChris]

Clever, but not possible. The pot was completely empty, and the hose was not on the bottom.

But there was a hose and nobody was watching what happened, no cameras, no pics of the setup... so I wouldn't be in a hurry to discount anything. Having low wines 'stolen' off your patio is very weird and unlikely.

[dragon613]

I think someone bringing their own container is far more likely than anything else suggested, now ask yourself "who or why would someone do that as opposed to grabbing collection pot?'

Because whoever took it thought ahead, they anticipated the suspicion this would bring and didn't want to be caught with your pot as evidence, theyve been watching you for a while thinking about this, too bad it's too late to fingerprint the pot, I bet they didn't think to wear gloves,

Dollars to doughnuts it was the teens next door, and I'd recommend you confront their parents about it, they need to know YOU know it was THEM, otherwise your painting a big Target on yourself, they were nervous when they planned to bring their own bucket, keep em nervous and they won't tell anyone, otherwise even if you never distill again your house might get broken into by the friends of thos teens.

Sorry if I sound paranoid but that's the way youve got to be when your living in a bad news city like mine, also sometimes you've got to sit in your yard from 12 to 4am for a few days to find out where your tools are going, then when you catch your "rat" if you want your stuff back, your gonna have to step on em a bit, if you've got a job where you need to be up early leave the "bad dog" sleeping under the truck in the yard

[Chauncey]

Probably dont go talk to the parents. Because if it was someone else or something else - talking to them about such activity, well that paints a target on ya. Move the operation to the lake house(colloquialism for any other locale) or switch to electric and rock it indoors. Also, i dont think that's the most likely scenario, bucks to beignets.

[dragon613]

Maybe not, lol sometimes I forget I'm not a detective, im a worry wart by nature so I've already thought up a million and 1 ways I could be unlucky enough to get in trouble, and pre-emptively moved my whole operation to a reclusive spot in the woods near by friends house, nowhere near my house, and while it still isn't perfect I sleep a lot better knowing that there's nothing here ncriminating here when I lay down

[Zeotropic]

How about this: your pipe running to your collection pot had dipped into the low wines.
As the still cooled, it created a vacuum and sucked the low wines back into the still.

Clever, but not possible. The pot was completely empty, and the hose was not on the bottom.

I wonder if he ever figured out what happened because it looks like he hasn't signed in since this post i quoted.

[jake_jimmylegs]

If it was really as bad as he claimed, he probably won't have to worry about it happening again.
Rural area... were there any pigs, horses, goats around?
There was a hose present and in the liquid, your claim of it not touching the bottom of the vessel is probably just a foible of your memory and it got sucked into the boiler.