I had every intention of watching the first keeper run from start to finish but I had an emergency which took me away after having the burner running for 1/2 hour (I know now I should have turned to heat off). By the time I could get back, the temp was at 195, vapor was pouring out of the condenser. I immediately turned water on to the condenser and turned to heat as low as I could. I couldn't get the temp back below 186 so I just kept collecting until temp was 205. I had 12 pint jars 1/2 full. Testing showed between 50-65 %. My question is should I re-run the whole thing again, re-run what I collected after diluting to 40%, or keep what I have for my eventual reflux run? Or???? Thanks.

"

I have a 3 ft discharge line leading away from the burner and I have a fan pulling air from inside out. Going be a lot more careful in the future that's for sure."

"

Lesson Learned though I'm sure I'm not the first person to screw up like this. Maybe the first one to admit it. Thanks for the advice. I have it airing out now. I did notice the mid run 1/2 pints smelled like flavored vodka so am hopeful some can be salvaged. May dilute some tomorrow and do the ""taste test"" though do wish I had a nasty neighbor I could test it on LOL. Regards."

Ok Brudder we feels your pain here. Sound like you done good. Worst a person can get from drinking the whole run is a bad old hangover seems like is the prevalent theory. Ball parking should be fine. Coming into this hobby cold but not cold sober by any means..will say a person can make a bunch of friends real quick. It one step up from the refrigerated keg box. Very effective in the bloomer shucking contests from whut a person might notice. Salud!!

"

Good advice from you guys. I like Ratflinger's suggestion about refluxing it but my plan was to do 3 stripping runs then one reflux run from the combined stripping (after diluting to 40%). I'm going to go thru the cuts to see if I can determine the heads, hearts and tails just for the experience. Then I'll do what you suggest and rerun with my next stripping run. Thanks all for you input."

"

After starting my cleaning run in my garage just the thought of something going wrong I decided to clean out a metal outbuilding I had used for chickens years ago. My propane tank is behind 2 55 gal barrels than are filled with water (the propane supply line runs between them) my burner is on a concrete pad with a heat shield surrounding it, my discharge line from the condenser is about 2' from the flame of the burner. I have a water hose close by and I have a fan that exhausts the inside air to the outside which runs constantly. I don't have a fire extinguisher in the shed but there is one in my kitchen and garage that could be accessed within a minute.

Now I'm thinking what would be the harm starting the water earlier than the suggested 140 to eliminate this problem from happening again? Probably better to just turn off the burner and restart if you're called away. thoughts?"

Hey CC, best to have a fire extinguisher in the shed as water will spread the fire before it diluts the alcohol enough to put the flames out. Other than that your plans sound good. Turning the water on at a 140 won't hurt anything, unless you use a static water source then it heats your water up quicker.

"Sounds like you have the water situation under control. I use a 150 quart ice chest and 10 frozen 1 gal. milk jugs. That gets me through a reflux run, barely, and a pot run easily.
Have fun
."

Congrats on a good run and a tasty drink. I use mason or ball pint jars, put a coffee filter over the top and screw the lid ring on and let them sit for a couple days to let it mellow out and it seems to improve the flavor. Just something to try and see if it works for you.