battery driven sauce stirrer as an agitator

[der wo]

Just for fun. But it really happened.
Recently in the Austrian distilling forum:

"Ich habe letztes Jahr eine Pfirsischmaische gebrannt und mir ist die Maische angebrannt. Vor einem Monat habe ich mir einen Soßenrührer gekauft (den mit drei Füßen mit Batteriebetrieb den man angeblich kommplett in die Soße stellen kann) benutzt, leider hat er die Hitze in der Destille nicht ausgehalten und hatt sich vervormt und ist ummgefallen."
Translated:
"Last year I distilled peaches and it scorched. Now I have buyed a sauce stirrer (with three legs and battery driven, which is allowed to stand completely in a boiling sauce) and used it in my still. Unfortunately it didn't stand the heat, deformed and fell over."

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It wasn't a joke.

[Kareltje]

Leider hat er die Hitze nicht ausgehalten.......


But my next question: how did he find out? I suppose he got his boiler including his stirrer closed. So he only could find out after finishing his run.

And on the other hand: a sauce stirrer that can not withstand 100 degr C? In cooking sometimes temperatures are getting higher than 100 C. A heated oil or fat can reach easily 150 C.

[der wo]

Yes he finished the run, but had "keine lust auf Plastigschnaps"...
Here the link to the thread:
http://www.schnapsbrennen.at/diskussion ... 4104451-01" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I don't think, it's a fake, because he also asked questions, he not only wrote about the stirrer.

Yes, why did the stirrer melt?

Either: He managed to scorch a peach mash, although peach mashes are not very thick and he mashed with much sugar and turbo yeast, what results in a very thin mash, because of all the alcohol. So I think he heated really much and the stirrer fell over because of the boiling action and perhaps not every part of the stirrer can stand 100°C.

Or: He added the maximum sugar for turbo yeast and didn't calculate with the sugar from the peaches. So the sugar content was much too high even for turbo yeast and it didn't ferment very well. At the end he had only little alcohol but much remaning sugar, what tends to scorching. That he writes, his mashes have 25% alcohol (what is impossible), tells me (because I have read many those statements), that he is using a crappy vinometer and has much unfermented sugar. And scorching temps are very high. Look at the pics and videos of smoke coming out of a condenser.
Perhaps the electronic of the stirrer failed because of the vapor and then it scorched?

[cuginosgrizzo]

I do confess: I thought of using the same kind of poor man agitator. Just briefly, then I dismissed the idea...

[der wo]

I often think crazy things. But it's a long way from thinking it to buying such a stirrer, place it in the still and turn the heat on.
Yes, why not? If everything outside is stainless steel and the seals are teflon. Or copper and flour paste

Edit: Or wrap the whole stirrer in ptfe tape.