Still Smarter

.........planning for this week ??.

Me this Tue...

I have 120 litres of wash finished and sitting in the garage, I need to get stuck into it and get it run. As they are all sugar washes, all being with a few different bits added I'm going to run the lot and pop the low wines in a cornie keg, I must admit I love seeing DJs all full, lined up waiting for a spirit run...but this lot will be better stored in a keg.


Ice.

I have some kombucha to bottle.

Also recalibrating my beer recipe to 48 bottles. My crates hold 12 bottles. Why make 23l recipes?

Monday setting three five gallon washes to make neutral.
Tuesday is coffee roasting day and a driving lesson.
Wednesday two driving lessons and a meeting of the Chessington
Massive down the pub to discus the price of Guiness and who is
working hardest.(not me).
Thursday going to the coast to blow out the cobwebbs, a nice long
walk and lunch in the Sealane Cafe.
Friday as yet undecided, watch this space and one driving lesson.

I have a small spirit run to do, looking forward to the results as have used a new whiskey yeast, will be interesting to compare it to my usual

Well done boys...stay safe.


Ice.

Got the corn safety net clearing in the garage clearing and it hasn’t started turning to snotty goop (yet!) so that’s in the pipeline.

All being well I’ll get it run at the weekend and get another batch on.

Pots wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 10:21 pm Got the corn safety net clearing in the garage clearing and it hasn’t started turning to snotty goop (yet!) so that’s in the pipeline.

All being well I’ll get it run at the weekend and get another batch on.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you this time....I've off to let the chooks out in about half an hour and then into the garage and get started, I need to be finished by 1ish as I'm cooking a chicken tagine tonight.

Ice.

gaza the instructor wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:21 am Friday as yet undecided, watch this space and one driving lesson.

Friday! Undecided. Nah. Baking day. 8 loafs for the week.

Mash wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 7:25 am

gaza the instructor wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 9:21 am Friday as yet undecided, watch this space and one driving lesson.

Friday! Undecided. Nah. Baking day. 8 loafs for the week.

What do you do then, in the freezer?

Ice.

Week old home baked bread!!
You must have chainsaw teeth Mash.
Q;- Do you still kiss Mrs Mash goodnight
or is it too dangerous?

You read stories about a still puking, never seen or had it happen to me until 10mins ago. Sat in the garage, the computer on my lap, keeping an eye on everything, when a movement in the sight glass popped up. It was a load of bubbles filling the glass and dropping back down, I knocked the power down from 3kw and set it at 2.5kw and it's now behaving itself....that's a first time for me....you live & learn.

Ice.

I have had an Airstill puke on me, and that was bad enough.
Cure was to fit a new lid gasket and do it more regular.

Icefever wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 6:11 am Keeping my fingers crossed for you this time....

Ice.

Cheers Ice, I'm keeping a close eye on it!

gaza the instructor wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:34 am I have had an Airstill puke on me, and that was bad enough.
Cure was to fit a new lid gasket and do it more regular.

I've seen a post where an Assie or US guy had a bad puke it shot over him, he says he was very lucky that day. Same as having a fire when you use gas for heating, that's when you realise you need a fire extinguisher.

Ice.

gaza the instructor wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:34 am I have had an Airstill puke on me, and that was bad enough.
Cure was to fit a new lid gasket and do it more regular.

Yeah me too.

Run a 750w distiller at full crack, they don't - inverse logic. It's all about superheating the liquid, until it can't take anymore, then "poof" you get the surge. Coins or a milk saver is what you need.

Icefever wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:42 am

gaza the instructor wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:34 am I have had an Airstill puke on me, and that was bad enough.
Cure was to fit a new lid gasket and do it more regular.

I've seen a post where an Assie or US guy had a bad puke it shot over him, he says he was very lucky that day. Same as having a fire when you use gas for heating, that's when you realise you need a fire extinguisher.

Ice.

And that ladies and gentlemen is why we don't use gas... The best of us can be caught out.

gaza the instructor wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 8:47 am Week old home baked bread!!
You must have chainsaw teeth Mash.
Q;- Do you still kiss Mrs Mash goodnight
or is it too dangerous?

Just a couple of trays of subs. Fresh bread every day.

Not only a near-miss with a puke yesterday, after I'd let the boiler cool down a little and went to empty it, I found the element covered in scorched sugar.
Not burnt (caramel) looked more like the inside of a kettle, the element is a tri-clamp so easy to take out and clean. Obviously, there was sugar leftover in the wash, it had dropped to 1.010 but it's been sat at that for a couple of weeks.

I never had this happen with the T500 with its covered element, there's a lot of sense in that, will have to be more careful in the future.


Ice.

Guess we're always learning.
I'm still waiting on my lentil and tp to finish. This one's taking a while as I forgot to adjust the pH and hadn't used any shell this time

Yes... WHAT am I doing! (or have I done!)
Looked in the shed, opened the freezer (fermenting Cabinet) and its black mouldy spots all over the place.
Have removed my blue barrels and washed them in bleach. They came clean fairly easily.
The white interior of the freezer is spotted and stained despite a bleach scrub.
I suppose I will need to give it another scrub or three over the next few weeks.

That will teach me to stop brewing for a few weeks!#
Just going to be a massive clean-up before starting again.

Oh well...

Ele.

Elecrafter wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:58 pm
Looked in the shed, opened the freezer (fermenting Cabinet) and its black mouldy spots all over the place

Ele.

I get a smidgen of mould around the door seal on my ferm fridge every now & then, I try to stay on top of it, I use the crap from the first 100 ml of a run...I find it works a treat.

Ice.

Elecrafter wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:58 pm Yes... WHAT am I doing! (or have I done!)
Looked in the shed, opened the freezer (fermenting Cabinet) and its black mouldy spots all over the place.

Wedge the lid open an inch to allow some airflow when no in use.

Good idea Ice.
I store all my barrels/bottles & drums etc with a splash of junkahol.

Jennysgin wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 7:30 am Guess we're always learning.
I'm still waiting on my lentil and tp to finish. This one's taking a while as I forgot to adjust the pH and hadn't used any shell this time

There's always something to bite you back with this hobby, I'm not sure if the oyster shell I added to two of the last sugar washes did anything??. They seemed to take forever, they were the strip run I did on Tue when I had the element scorched, they were clear but still had sugar left in them.

Ice.

Are the heating elements too dense?

Icefever wrote: Thu Mar 03, 2022 7:06 am
There's always something to bite you back with this hobby, I'm not sure if the oyster shell I added to two of the last sugar washes did anything??. They seemed to take forever, they were the strip run I did on Tue when I had the element scorched, they were clear but still had sugar left in them.

Ice.

I'm not 100% sure if it works either but doing nothing definitely isn't the most effective!