Boston Molassacre

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Boston Molassacre

Postby Sam. » Mon May 07, 2018 4:14 pm

Not sure if many of you have seen this, I only heard of it today. Probably a good reason not to leave molasses in a sealed vessel in large quantities!

https://americacomesalive.com/2012/01/0 ... olassacre/
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby bluc » Mon May 07, 2018 4:19 pm

Yea shocking hey imagine being uptown and getting swamped by a wave of molasses..would not be pleasant experience, no chance of swimming in that..
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby Lowie » Mon May 07, 2018 4:33 pm

Don't reckon we will ever get to 2.5M gallons in suburbia :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby Sam. » Mon May 07, 2018 4:37 pm

Lowie wrote:Don't reckon we will ever get to 2.5M gallons in suburbia :handgestures-thumbupleft:


Very true, but my point was a sealed vessel potentially exploding if the molasses was fermenting inside ;-)
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby The Stig » Mon May 07, 2018 4:57 pm

I left a bucket full in the tray of my Triton (with canopy) for a week until I seen black shit on the garage floor , not knowing what it was I started looking for the oil leak.
Surprise, 20lt of black goop in the tray, bucket still upright but lid popped and molasses everywhere.
Much washing and a few years later she still smells sweet :laughing-rolling:
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby bluc » Mon May 07, 2018 5:00 pm

I had a cube bust loud bang in middle night ( I laughed saying my fermenter probably exploded) :laughing-rolling: followed by lots cleaning next day. :angry-banghead: Lose lids only now..
Last edited by bluc on Mon May 07, 2018 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby warramungas » Mon May 07, 2018 11:56 pm

I had heard about this one a fair while back. 10 million liters of molasses (not sure why it was hot) hurtling down the street at you at 35 miles an hour I reckon would cause you to drop your version of 'mud'.

Without trying to hijack the thread I think my favourite (sounds bad but there's gotta be a really good one out there) American disaster would have to be the Texas City Explosion. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
Another great example of not understanding the risks with material handling.

Largest man made non nuclear explosion in history.
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby Sam. » Tue May 08, 2018 7:00 am

Woah that was one massive fuckup in Texas!!

I reckon the molasses would have been hot as I suspect the whole lot would have been fermenting, and a ferment that size is going to generate some serious heat.
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby wynnum1 » Tue May 08, 2018 9:15 am

warramungas wrote:I had heard about this one a fair while back. 10 million liters of molasses (not sure why it was hot) hurtling down the street at you at 35 miles an hour I reckon would cause you to drop your version of 'mud'.

Without trying to hijack the thread I think my favourite (sounds bad but there's gotta be a really good one out there) American disaster would have to be the Texas City Explosion. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
Another great example of not understanding the risks with material handling.

Largest man made non nuclear explosion in history.



Halifax Explosion On the morning of December 6, 1917, a ship detonated in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, unleashing a blast equivalent to about 3,000 tons of TNT. that seems to be the biggest explosion probably been others but probably kept secret plus they use explosives in place of nuclear weapons tests.
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby warramungas » Wed May 09, 2018 4:45 am

wynnum1 wrote:
warramungas wrote:I had heard about this one a fair while back. 10 million liters of molasses (not sure why it was hot) hurtling down the street at you at 35 miles an hour I reckon would cause you to drop your version of 'mud'.

Without trying to hijack the thread I think my favourite (sounds bad but there's gotta be a really good one out there) American disaster would have to be the Texas City Explosion. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster
Another great example of not understanding the risks with material handling.

Largest man made non nuclear explosion in history.



Halifax Explosion On the morning of December 6, 1917, a ship detonated in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, unleashing a blast equivalent to about 3,000 tons of TNT. that seems to be the biggest explosion probably been others but probably kept secret plus they use explosives in place of nuclear weapons tests.


I stand corrected. Much bigger. Shoulda put on that guard ship.
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Re: Boston Molassacre

Postby ed9362 » Fri May 11, 2018 12:06 pm

as far as industrial accidents/ releases they all pale in comparison to the bopahl disaster.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

back on topic i finished a cube of bundaberg refinery molasses and decided to throw some water in the cube along with the dregs and use it as a door stop. after a few weeks i noticed that the cube had swollen up like a football and was ready to blow. i relived the pressure and it went back to its normal shape but over the next few weeks i had to relieve the pressure in that cube every now and then to stop it swelling. my only guess was that some wild yeast had gotten in and started fermenting what little molasses was in the cube.
if i hadn't have realised the pressure increase it could have been quite the mess to clean up
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