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A home distilling experience can be fun, but sometimes, it could be a nightmare if you don’t observe the safety tips. Moonshiners pretty know that there are safety hazards involved in distillation processes. It may be the flammable vapors, the hot metal, the source of heat, and some other damages. When using a whiskey still you want to practice these safety tips:
Distill outside
When doing a distillation, you want to do it outside the house. The grain mash, when heated, it produces water vapor as well as alcohol vapor. While you need to seal leaks to prevent alcohol vapor from leaking through joints, you may find that flammable vapors can come out from the condenser coil. This could result in a fire incident in your home and for safety purposes it is advisable you do your distillation in a well-ventilated area.
Don’t horseplay or drink
When distilling your whiskey, you may be tempted to sip some, after all, it is your drink. However, you don’t drink when you operate a moonshine or whiskey still. Also, if there are others near the operating still, they should not drink too.
Make the right ‘cuts’
You need to learn when you should ‘cut’ the run or when to switch the distillate collection containers. Ideally, your first ‘cut’ occurs when you have the fore-shots and these will go straight to trash.
Use heat protective gears
It’s no joke operating still and with the high temperatures, you could get burned. So, ensure you are in gloves with high temperature insulation and you wear eye protection gear. People tend to forget that steam can be very hot and it can cause serious burns.
Taking these tips when using a whiskey still will ensure you have a smooth, interrupted process. At the end of the day, you won’t be lamenting why you attempted to distill your whiskey or moonshine at home.
If your whiskey distillation equipment is out of order, you need to obtain a new one.
