Home Distiller

The Baker wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 8:56 pm Get a lower emergency stop button on that furnace.

Geoff

thanks for your input Geoff. Might help to evidence your statement with a few more facts and who you are referring to? If a noob read a this " lowering a button" it doesn't help them much eh? Who are you speaking to and to what point are you referring and why ? Input is GREAT but some context is needed otherwise your input, in this circumstance, is useless mate.

Seems pretty clear he was referencing Salt Must Flows post where he said his emergency button was too high to reach (8' up?! Not much of a safety feature).

My machine shop never had one, but ive heard of shops that had a phone about a foot off the floor incase you were so injured you couldnt get up but could crawl. A phone at its normal location on the wall cant help you call for help if you cant reach it and youre bleeding to death. A furnace stop switch cant help you if its 8 feet off the ground and you cant reach it when your place is full of explosive vapors...

Skál wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 10:28 pm

The Baker wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 8:56 pm Get a lower emergency stop button on that furnace.

Geoff

thanks for your input Geoff. Might help to evidence your statement with a few more facts and who you are referring to? If a noob read a this " lowering a button" it doesn't help them much eh? Who are you speaking to and to what point are you referring and why ? Input is GREAT but some context is needed otherwise your input, in this circumstance, is useless mate.

He was referring to Salts post about his furnace

Posted at the same time as Metal

Metalking00,Sporacle more importantly The Baker I apologize if I appeared salty towards you. Certainly NOT my intention. Drunk and straight forward at the time. Given I'd just written my feck ups I hope you understand my 'tone ' wasn't being shytbaggy in the least although rereading I can understand some might take it that way.

Ill call 'cultural differences' XD don't try me or probably antifa?flat earthers? Some other ...! Joke! joke! joke! XD



Edit : just read back fully now (aware I was drunk as F at the time) I kinda think my point stands guys. That wasn't being salty, that's me saying add more info. The Baker knows what he's talking about and I wanted more. Add more info and the technicalities.
No one has to but when I read how someone fecks up all the details are useful and I suppose because I think this should be linked to essential reading for new people. You're right though!!! Perhaps " can you elaborate on the details and why are they factors ?" or similar wouldve been a better response. My bad, sorry, read on but not an excuse! This sounds sarcastic but isn't!

Skál

No probs.
Just thought my comment followed the thread.
I tend not to include the previous thread, or stuff that seems obvious, as happens a lot, if
it follows the previous comments.
Like, I think, 'well you just said that!...'

Regards,

Geoff

The Baker wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 8:56 pm Get a lower emergency stop button on that furnace.

Geoff

I hear ya. The reason I installed that switch on the furnace was so I can switch off the power in order to work on/service it while standing on a ladder. I can always turn it off at the thermostat, but the switch actually kills the power to it. I never considered it as an emergency stop, but in this case I could have benefited with one that is lower.

Getting married!!! Lol just joking sitting out in my building doing a run with the doors closed. Using a propane burner. Didn't know the fart fans turned off.

Shadowride69 wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 12:54 pm doing a run with the doors closed. Using a propane burner.

Trying to blow your self up ? Not exactly the safest way to go......get some ventilation happening, open some doors and windows.

Barely bumped my drain valve with my foot. Drip drip drip…

Hours later after the backset cooled, GIGANTIC puddle of stinky liquid everywhere.

The wife loved the smell!

BrewinBrian44 wrote: ↑Wed May 11, 2022 5:54 pm Barely bumped my drain valve with my foot. Drip drip drip…

Hours later after the backset cooled, GIGANTIC puddle of stinky liquid everywhere.

The wife loved the smell!

I bet NOT !

Well been babysitting Neutral run in 2” VM all arvo . Had a Demi under the spout as I was well into hearts an new there would be over 5 litres worth coming .
Just over 4 litres collected and it starts pissing down . Drains and gutters overflowing .
OK well I’m distilling under that carport and I can see everything , so start cleaning out the drains . All going well .Climb up ladder to see why gutters overflowing and get a strong wiff of Butanol …. The stuff that is concentrated reflux tails .

Jump down ladder and run to still and feel hot vapour coming out vent . Spoon the output and damn tails is coming out i to my collected 4 litres . Turns out my pump had sucked up some leaf /bud debris from the tree above it and it got stuck in narrow point in tap fitting . Thought I may have saved it in time but naah , tails contaminated whole batch so gotta rerun it again .

Take your eye off the job for 5 min

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Sun May 15, 2022 12:49 am Take your eye off the job for 5 min

Glad you caught it before it ran away.

A wasted afternoon...bugger!

It was a dark and stormy night. Checking wash activity with a torch, I dropped it in. Shrugged. Forgot about it.

Ferm finished, settled, racked off, stripped, sodium carbonated, spirit run, second run to polish it off (looking for very clean vodka).
Interesting taste, not off, not poor, just kinda interesting. Liked it. The whole crew drank the batch in a couple of days flat.

A few days later I went back to gather some trub for a new-start rum wash. Lithium rechargeable torch, split and swollen and looking rough as hell in the bottom of the bucket.

I didn't have the balls to either confess to everyone or use it to start the rum. Not all pirates are brave.

.... That's a good one! Thanks for sharing!

Relatively boring:
1. I forgot to sanitize a fermentation bucket It was not pretty.
2. I hooked up a PC and RC to the same fresh water supply and it just didn't work at all: Impossible to control and gain stability in the column! I was still figuring out how to get a reflux run going. Stillerboy patiently straightened me out that time!
3. <stay tuned>

Dumping mash from the kettle to the ferm bucket, without checking for conversion, had to wait until the 2nd batch was done, before re-dumping and heating the first batch back up, but volume wise, had to split it out, was quite a pain in the ass. That batch later got an infection, real bad nail polish remover smell when distilling it, honestly the foreshots from that by smell alone almost knocked me on my ass. Anyways final product is drinkable but not sharable.

Rrmuf wrote: ↑Thu Jun 30, 2022 5:01 am Stillerboy patiently straightened me out that time!

Ha Ha.. patiently ! ? ? lol

Mars

According to the forum search function, I might have a *New" mistake...

I'm 7 days into a 20L batch of TFFV (my 5th) and I'm stuck at SG 1.020, ph 3.75, and 78°F. Another batch, made in a another bucket, but at the same time, has finished at a SG of 0.998.

I decided to increase the ph, add some more yeast, and give it some more time.

Having read a number of posts about ph problems, I decided to add some calcium carbonate. There was a good price for food grade powdered calcium carbonate on Amazon with one day delivery. It was that, or buy a bag of gound shells from the feed store, sometime next week.

The package arrived this afternoon, just after I got home from work. I added 2 tsp (1/2 tsp at a time); but my ph meter wasn't reacting as expected. Re-checking the bag, I noticed that some bone-head at the warehouse slapped a bar-coded inventory lable saying "Calcium Carbonate" over the actual package label for SODIUM SULFATE.

I added enough baking soda to get back to ph 5.1, and added 25g of bakers yeast that I bloomed in 100ml of mash with 1tsp of sugar. I figured I could waste a little extra yeast.

However, now I'm still a little worried about the Sodium Sulfate. The package is still marked "food grade", and according to Wikipedia, its been used a a laxative and cattle feed supplement - AND it's insoluble in ethanol. Unfortunately, it's also used in laundry detergent. I wondering about what it might do to my still.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Should I just dump the batch down the drain?

Please let me know if I need to repost this elsewhere in the forum

Thanks

Like your funnel @yummyrum did you make it?

pikliz wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 7:13 pm Does anyone have any thoughts? Should I just dump the batch down the drain?

I doubt anyone here has had the same problem, so do your own homework. I suspect it's probably safe.

Adding Calcium Carbonate in powdered form is not the easiest method of keeping pH under control. Try using the Google Search to find easier solutions.

bluc wrote: ↑Fri Jul 29, 2022 9:14 pm Like your funnel @yummyrum did you make it?

No bluc , I bought it years ago from the local Tip …. Think it was the best $1.00 I ever spent

I love that thing . Its been spun and has a rolled rim .

Noice!!

I don’t call them mistakes.. I refer to them as “learning opportunities”! Fair dinkum, after all my learning opportunities I should know more (or better)! Never leave a still unattended. Never rush blending or blend while drinking. No need to ask me how I know this

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Sat Jul 30, 2022 1:21 am No bluc , I bought it years ago from the local Tip …. Think it was the best $1.00 I ever spent

bluc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 30, 2022 1:35 amNoice!!

I was guessing that it was one of those copper jobs that Punkin sold in sets years ago.

Just learn to make frustums and funnels will be a fun project.

Anyway my mistake was taking permanent job as my fellow workers were oxygen wasters that just kept prodding yet when I bit back I was the one in the wrong. So duly quit last Friday and never felt better as there is plenty of work around and my laborhire mob want me back as their No.1 employee

Saltbush Bill wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 12:40 am

Yummyrum wrote: ↑Sat Jul 30, 2022 1:21 am No bluc , I bought it years ago from the local Tip …. Think it was the best $1.00 I ever spent

bluc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 30, 2022 1:35 amNoice!!

I was guessing that it was one of those copper jobs that Punkin sold in sets years ago.

Maybe , maybe not . This thing when I bought it had been obviously used for a long ling time to pour dirty engine oil or the likes . I wouldn’t have thought that a Punkin purchaser would have treated the funnel to such tasks .

I think my funnel predates Punkin and one of its friends is what inspired him to make a few .

Looks too small for the funnels Punkin (and others) used to sell.
Was a popular item, along with the bubbleball.

Edit: oh hey I forgot all about the small copper funnels haha.
Just opened my own damn cabinet and there it was.
Yeah , I'm the dude that wonders around the parking lot looking for where I parked.

LWTCS wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:11 pm
Yeah , I'm the dude that wonders around the parking lot looking for where I parked.

I made a worst mistake than that.
A while back, I forgot my wife dropped me off at the library.
When I went outside looking for the truck, I thought it had been stolen and called the police.
Thank God she drove up before the Cops found and pulled her over for a stolen vehicle.

shadylane wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 5:02 pm

LWTCS wrote: ↑Sun Jul 31, 2022 4:11 pm
Yeah , I'm the dude that wonders around the parking lot looking for where I parked.

I made a worst mistake than that.
A while back, I forgot my wife dropped me off at the library.
When I went outside looking for the truck, I thought it had been stolen and called the police.
Thank God she drove up before the Cops found and pulled her over for a stolen vehicle.

Oh that's funny. No offense intended lol.
Sounds like a page from my playbook honestly.