Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

This must be a new one.
Packed away the still for a week or so, fired her up today for a sac run, all normal, no leaks etc, then next minute the breather on the parrot is gurgling then dribbling out product.
The alcometer hadn’t even shown its head....
shut her down, disconnected the parrot and sure enough the inlet pipe is full of ethanol and nothing in the parrot body.
Turns out a wasp or something decided to make a nest in the pipe and blocked the flow completely.
If I wasn’t there I would have had 95% ethanol pouring over the shed floor :handgestures-thumbdown:
Just posting to let everyone know the random shit that could happen and why it’s so important to never leave the still unattended
Look at the little fucker, he’s huge!!

:handgestures-thumbupleft: have been trying to work out a way to have try clamps on all opening so it can be sealed off for storage. Imaging if a wasp blocked a riser or downcomer :angry-banghead:
Or a gecko mouse or something crawled in their unnoticed

Thinking more on this I think it might be a good idea to run hose down from top before filling boiler...

Just go out and buy a big pelican case, or kingchrome if you want to cheap out, and notch out the foam insert to suit your still bits.
Nothing will get in there.

Or if you dont want to spend any money just wrap it in glad wrap, at least you will notice if anything has chewed through it.

Go down to red dot and buy a big plastic box and chuck all your bits in that.
I have a space case now without the foam but before that I just used a plastic storage box with a lid and had no problems. Tonnes of wasps where i was living. Gotta pull it down between runs for storage though.

bluc wrote::handgestures-thumbupleft: have been trying to work out a way to have try clamps on all opening so it can be sealed off for storage. Imaging if a wasp blocked a riser or downcomer :angry-banghead:
Or a gecko mouse or something crawled in their unnoticed

Ive had a gecko block the cooling system. took a while for me to work out what was happening. I thought my pump had shit itself.

Rush006 wrote:

bluc wrote::handgestures-thumbupleft: have been trying to work out a way to have try clamps on all opening so it can be sealed off for storage. Imaging if a wasp blocked a riser or downcomer :angry-banghead:
Or a gecko mouse or something crawled in their unnoticed

Ive had a gecko block the cooling system. took a while for me to work out what was happening. I thought my pump had shit itself.

Gecko can get in electronics and short out or lay there eggs plus they shit a lot.

Yea little buggers make hell of a mess here...and there's freakin 100's of em.. :handgestures-thumbdown:

Hey guys I split these posts off as the discussion is more about how to store a still rather than never leave it unattended, think that this topic deserves its own thread :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I’ve dug up out of my boxes of goodies some old caps/ plugs that seal off my parrot pipes nicely, just random chair stoppers or end caps that happen to fit the pipes, going to go to Clark rubber and get 1 more that will suit the top.
If I had my time again I would have saved the caps FSD supplied with my various bits

Just gave the bubbler a vinegar steam after a few months unused, there were a few cobwebs around it, so I gave the PC a good hose out, once the steam started properly, out pops a big White Tail. Off to the shops to buy a big box asap. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I like the look of the galvanised box at bunnings for bouf $70 but would still like to have end caps on all openings, no way nuthin is getting in past those suckers and maybe just rubber stoppers in the parrot and water pipe openings.. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

With modular stills, especially bubblers, it would be very easy to identify if creepy crawlies get in to your bits by submerging the plate modules in a bucket of water before assembly.

Capping the ends of the water pipes will stop internal blockages.

If you have made a tall boka that is one piece you could always plug the top hole with an ear plug or similar and buy a triclamp end cap for the still mount end, then just close off the takeoff valve, or again plug the outlet with an earplug.

If you have the space an old fridge or freezer can make a good storage container and there insulated and free.

If your gear is small enough, put it all in a tube or drum with 30-40% feints in it, nothing gonna live in that