FORGIVE THE LENGTH:
I just spent a couple days reading every single post in this entire thread. A commitment of time but wow. This should absolutely be required reading before anyone tries to get into this craft, and this has changed my approach in many ways. A whole new appreciation for the craft, the inherent dangers, the pitfalls and how not following the key rules can end up wrecking you (possibly literally).
It seems MOST of the scary and most-dangerous incidents came from walking away from the still, not paying attention to the still, or having product too close to ignition sources when spillage happened, etc. S happens, when you least expect it and when it never happened before, etc. Then there were some very scary newbie posts that show how too many people start before they actually study (and put themselves, their family and neighbors in danger).
Then there are all of the crazy fermenting accidents, lol...wow...I really hope to avoid those. Then there are the messed up batches, runs, cuts, etc.
Its clear that bad stuff can happen to even the most experienced and you should never, ever, ever get complacent.
Anyhow, FORGIVE THE LENGTH but for the sake of helping others, I compiled all of the best comments, tidbits and advice I took from this entire thread and am reposting. I will review them personally a handful of times and may even use themn to make myself some checklists. Some of these may be unclear to me or out of context, or specific to certain equipment, conditions, etc.
Thanks to everyone who shared and have helped this newbie.
SOME OF THE TAKE AWAYS AND BEST COMMENTS I NOTED:
Read, read, read and learn to walk before you run!!! Literally
NO MATTER HOW LONG YOU HAVE BEEN DISTILLING DO NOT BECOME CARELESS. IT COULD CAUSE A LOT OF DAMAGE AND MAYBE SERIOUS INJURY. This hobby is dealing with very flammable substances but none are more dangerous than stupid, careless 'accidents'.
Think safety first all the time. For the sake of yourself, and the sake of your loved ones. Safety is always the first and most important rule. Everything else comes second.
Have fun, enjoy the hell out this great hobby, but be safe.
Have your basic safety and emergency protocols in place -- fire suppression, fans/air flow, collection, storage, etc.
Never leave a running still unattended (x 1 billion) If you have to go out, shut it down completely.
Have a fire extinguisher (or 2) + a charged hose + a bucket of water on hand to save your arse. ALWAYS have a safety plan and be ready.
Don't run your still late at night when you're f'ing tired and may fall asleep, or have to abort
DO NOT take a phone call, answer the f'ing door or do anything that'll distract you from your run in any way. Just DON'T DO IT. 100% focus and dedication to your run, and everything else can wait. If you can't, shut off the gas, deal with whatever it is, and then go back and resume. When I turn the heat on I am never more than 4 steps away from my rig until it is done
1) Don't leave your rig...
2) Don't sit too close either...
3) Run it slow, so there is no need to adjust heat mid-stream and make sure to keep that condenser water cold...
4) Get the coolant flowing before the heat is turned on
Double check everything on your still, TWICE before filling or running.
If you're using tri claps, snug them down and do the twist, twist, pull, push to ensure the tri clover is seated right.
Once the temperature gets to a certain point it raises faster than one might expect...don't leave it unattended and turn your 'effing cooling on.
ALWAYS wear full pants and shoes, if possible.
Don't ever, ever, ever, drink while running a boiler.
Check your lines and tubes for obstructions before running, especially if you're been storing your stuff outside.
Make sure the condensing system is working properly at all times. Don't forget to turn on your water!
Turn the condenser on when you turn the fire on. Water is cheap. A new house or body not so much.
If you put your collection bottles into a pot or pan to catch the vapors and any spilled product...add water in the bottom to eliminate the fire hazard from spillage, as it renders the product nonflammable as soon as it hits the water.
If you're doing a long run, make sure you are rested and able to make the full run. Oh...and never run a still at a party. Idiots who know nothing about alcohol keep trying to prove how friggin brave they are by tasting pure.
If you store your equipment outside, make sure to seal it up. Wasps like to make nests in things like your 3/8" condenser and your outtake line.
Uhhh, don't light off fresh booze to test it...right next to your boiler, flame and full collection jars. Them flames can be really hard to see.
Always always have your condensor connected and running if the stills hot, even if your just running water through it.
When using flour paste, more is not better. If you glob it on, it can be too thick to cook completely before you come up to temp.
Backset is 'fing hot and will cause major burn injury! Be careful.
Keep animals and kids far away from your still! Accidents and unexpected crap happens.
Have all your required equipment on hand and ready to go before running.
If you use "fores" for BBQ starter fluid, be very f'ing careful. The vapor alone could cause the bottle to blow.
Uhhh, don't store your finished product in a furnace room, for obvious reasons. In fact, you shouldn't store large quantities of product in your house at all. Put them in the shed. DO not store in 5-6 gallon carboys or multiple gallon jugs in your basement.
Keep a log of everything you do in your batches, ferments, runs, etc.
CLEAN YOUR STILL CORRECTLY BEFORE RUNNING
You're eventually going to have a fermentation accident – make sure you're prepared and store it in a place/way that you're better able to clean.
You might not want to try to syphon out of a hot boiler with your mouth, for obvious reasons.
Even heavy welding gloves are no match for a fresh off the propane hot boiler. Drain and fill valves are a really good idea.
Shattering carboys can cut the hell out of you and send you to the emergency room. Be careful if you use them.
Good Lord – no, you can't distill straight from a carboy.
Some say always keep 5 gallon carboys in milk crates. Lots more protection and built in handles.
If you use large carboys with your low wines, you seem to be bound to break one eventually.
Some also say do not use glass carboy for mash. They break, make a mess and may injure you badly. Only use plastic fermenters.
You might not want to dump hot slop in the middle of the yard.
Probably a good idea to cask the size that fits your pot.
Don't distill anything with an artificial extract - it will taste like ass.
This hobby is ALL about TIME. If it has touched oak, at first it will taste raw, then like warmed over crap, then not-too-bad, then OK, then better, then great, then more than great. Give it time. If you made a little too much, you can give it even more time. Then you have got it right. Ferment, distill, AGE.
If you run too hot and too long into the tails on a strip run, you might end up with a whole lot of burnt-on, black gunk.
Always, always, always store molasses containers upright.
Having spirits in different colored containers can help a lot.
Write on the containers what the hell is in there, every time, no exceptions!
There is a golden rule about "NO PLASTICS OR RUBBER IN STILLS", for a reason.
If you don't wash a fermenter and leave it out in the shed with the old yeast and a little wash still in it
, you will be growing a new life form before you know it and it'll smell like death and be super fun to clean.
You really shouldn't be cleaning out the copper condenser with anything caustic or corrosive in any way (yes, vinegar counts). Corrosive stuff will remove the oxide layer (patina) from the inside and make your distillate taste metallic. The patina doesn't leach away in alcohol, but fresh copper will to some extent. My philosophy to cleaning (after the break-in period) is to run hot water through the condenser every 3-4 runs, or immediately if there is a foamover. If there is any packing , run hot water through it after every other run, and also if it's been sitting idle for a long time. As for the outside, polish initially for pictures, then let the patina form and only dust it.
Put the heads and tails you've saved in the still with the next run.
If you put too much oak, you will end up with what tasted like a liquid tree. You will have to rerun or dilute.
Leave the lid cracked when storing backset.
Don't have the end of your condenser down inside your collection jar. If you turn of your still off and walk away...you will donate your collection back to the still.
Use DISTILLED WATER or quality filtered spring water for ferments, not rain water.
DOUBLE CHECK YOUR DRAIN VALVES ON FEREMENTERS AND BOILERS BEFORE USING.
Don't let your S freeze outside and then attempt to run it.
Secure those condenser hoses!!
Don't forget to aerate your wash.
Don't decide to have a fag and sit down, on the worn out fermenter to smoke it. It may not hold your fat ass.
Do not add more sugar to an actively fermenting wash, unless you like cleaning.
If you need to add PH to a wash that stalled, don't add too much calcium carbonate too fast. You can put out a car fire with all the foam that will be created.
Letting your wash clear until the yeast and trub drops and then siphoning into the boiler is the best method. It's even better if you rack into secondaries, let it clear again, and then rack into your boiler.
To take SG of wash, strain samples through a rag or something to get a better reading.
- Put a container under fermenting vessels to help prevent in case of accidents.
- Check for leaks before running.
- Run water when heating.
- Stop collecting at 40% ABV.
Rinse arm after run - if it pukes you can use a long bottle brush (used to clean milk equipment) and water.
To clean a burnt boiler:
Try oxiclean, also known as sodium percarbonate, or powdered brewery wash (PBW). Mix it as per the directions and let it soak for a day, it is amazing stuff.
Slow down and exercise some patience.
Leave room for expansion in all containers – ¾ full.
TAKE NOTES. TAKE NOTES. TAKE MORE NOTES. READ YOUR NOTES. TAKE MORE NOTES. JOURNAL, REFERENCE, JOURNAL, READ, JOURNAL. WRITE SOME MORE....
You have plenty of time tending a run, make good use of it documenting the process.
Fermenting: always make sure your airlock tube is above the wash, not in it !!
UNPLUG POWER WHEN YOU'RE DONE
Double check drain valve on fermenter and boiler before adding mash!
Let your mash clear before running, or you will scorch.
Siphon from fermenting buckets into boiler, don't pour in all the crap in the bottom of the ferementer that you don't want in your boiler.
Do not accidentally or purposely drink your feints, lol
Give your product time to mature, there's magic that happens.
Wash your feed grade grains before using them.
Gallo jugs appear to have been made to explode or implode on you.
Don't take a shot of +190 proof neutral by accident.
Don't try to reuse chips by retoasting in the oven. Use them as charcoal starter instead...
Do not introduce a new component into the still without thoroughly cleaning it first.
Hot backset is...f'ing HOT. Be extremely careful if you like your skin and want to stay away from hospitals.
Word to the wise... use that "fanning-with-your-hand" technique they showed us back in high school chemistry to carefully check the smell before sticking your nose over any unknown cuts... especially the early stuff off the still!
Double check your still holes – drains, ferrules, etc., and make sure they're closed/sealed before you start racking!
Don't add crushed oyster shell to a 5-gallon bucket of backset...it grows.
Don't try a new recipe on 50 gallons. Don't wait till the end to put in shells. Don't use 30% backset. Don't try to use a 300w heater in a flour mash from a dead cold. Don't drop your new heater. Don't forget to stir your mash, especially when adding slaked lime. Don't add lime in 1 lb increments. Don't use ph strips (too subjective). Don't forget to keep a few packs of 1118 in the fridge-Ever-but most importantly during the change in the weather, when the temp can change in the garage at any point. Don't squeeze until you know you are ready to run. That just breaks your heart.
If you rack a cloudy wash into my boiler the night before a run, yeast will settle to the bottom and scorch during the run.
only live load and start the fire when you know that you will be able to stay the course . That scorchy shit settles fast without heat .
Leave head room in your jugs! Oh and again, don't use Gallo crap glass jugs!
Don't shut the run down too early – you won't go deep enough to the tails to get to the really tastey low purity output. Always set aside enough time to properly complete the run!
Don't be in a hurry and pour hot backset in your mash mix as you will probably kill the yeast.
Don't keep blowtorches around your still.
Shit always happen when you walk away from your still .
Low wines come up to temp sooner than a strip run and their vapor is higher proof.
Don't still in the basement, around your kids and leave them to go make a sandwich - WTF
A vacuum relief will prevent you from collapsing a still and pressure relief is a must for some.
If your product is leaving the dick hot it's partly evaporating and your cooling method is way inadequate and you really need to address that.
Try and keep extra of hydrometers, proof and tralle, pH meters.
Don't leave an open fermenter open post-ferment for too long, unless you want to participate in ajn angels share.
Some say don't store in glass over 5 liters and make sure the demijohns have a handle and netting on the bottom half
Do not use something in a wash with artificial flavors.
Your cooling pump in my reservoir will give out when you least expect it...that's another reason why you need to keep an eye on your S at all times!
Don't get distracted - even if you are in the same room!al
Never think of adding high abv spirit back to a fully heated boiler through column or by removing column and adding to boiler. Expect an ejection of high abv 96% vapour like air from a tomb in an 80s horror film. Even at 50/50 similar effect.
Make damn sure the still is properly shut down before you leave it and never leave it running unattended. It's a good idea to always end by unplugging the controller.
Soap should not be used anywhere in the distillation process, as to the best cleaner, if required, is just plain white vinegar. Don't need to a vinegar run again to clean things.. just some vinegar, some hot water, and a rag will do the job, same for clean the raiser or column..
You can use Buret cleaning brushs to clean condenser tubes
16 gauge shotgun brass wire brushes for cleaning, and having others in a smaller size, can be the best tool for cleaning tubes with. A (long) piece of copper wire twisted up with a cloth or bristles on the end might also work...
The nose knows best......listen to what its telling you.
Always listen to Dnder...and Punkin...(and I'm sure there are others)
...ummm...one part of the worlds misconception of what Amer... 
