Does anyone know if the manufactures sorted a fix out for this or do i have to worry about scalding once I invest in the product. And Colin – you are bang on – we need a bigger boat!

Humm looks like I can expect to have th kitchen power washed with spirits at some point……

Is it something for the future Jimmy?

I think my prob was due to lack of magic rings ..my latest effort i put a handful of ceramic rings from my old fish pump/ filter and it worked ok again…

Thanks for this help tips and tricks page by the way….very grateful.

The still got upto pressure and temp and my missus noticed the lid with bubbles and liquid escaping…i went in to look and WHOOOSSSS!!! LID EXPLODED OFF!!! jeeez what a mess…

The only thing that was different is i have lost a few of the ceramic rings that came with it over the last 2 mths….i have since replaced them but yet to do another run..

Shouldnt thsi still have some sort of fixable lid on…even if used for water distillation as its advertised!! this should not happen….the seal used to make the thing airtight is THE ONLY thing holding the lid on!!!!

Its a shame because the overall design is fine (if a little expensive!)….

If guys here are using tape and belts! to keep the lid on that suggests a design fault to me.

As for the basic operation its fine…it does the job…..maybe a mark TWO version could implement some added features to alleviate the exploding lid problem!

In fact, I’ve had to use several strips of electrical tape to keep the top from flying off and I’ve gotten the kitchen area showered with liquid. [Wifey was not a happy camper!]

My recent fix: I grabbed an old military belt with the brass buckle and wrapped the entire EasyStill with the belt. That keeps the lid from flying off, but I still got liquid coming out as it hissed, burped and threatened a melt-down. Looks like I’ll be ordering a set of Raschig rings for my still.

My wash is clearer than ever, too, as I’m less eager and tend to give the wash at least a week to ten days to clear, but the overboiling problem has arrived and the only cure is probably the rings.

As I surmised before, I think the modifications made to the EasyStill have alleviated this overheating problem.

Call me a sap for spending $265 USD on the EasyStill but I’m very happy with it (so far). I got exactly what I wanted: cheap ($1.60 USD/750ml) and drinkable ethanol from a discreet tabletop appliance. I see a ROI (Return On Investment) within the year. Color me contented, Mates!

It seems that it’s to do with the surface tension of the bubbles that are produced by the boiling process i.e. normally, individual bubbles will rise to the top of the liquid in the still, bursting individually.

Now I don’t recall if it’s a reduction or increase of surface tension, but the bubbles can join up, and when they rise up to the top of the heated liquid surface, they obviously burst, but that can sometimes cause enough of a pressure build up to lift the lid and “burp” the still.

I’ve had this twice, on the first occassion I’d distilled a “turbo sugar” wash in my reflux still, but because of the presence of either sugar that hadn’t fermented or yeast nutrient that hadn’t been eaten up by the yeast, the distillate was a little cloudy.

I managed to remove some of this cloudiness by running the distillate through a “Z filter”, but not all. So when it was heating up again, this time in my “smart” still, it got to a point where it “told” my partner that it wasn’t happy with a little burp, I went to the kitchen and as I leaned across to cut the power it burped again, except this time it showered me and the kitchen in about 3 litres of 85% alcohol.

Luckily, hot alcohol cools very rapidly i.e. a small amount flung from a cup will be cool in the distance of a couple of metres. The net result of this was that I experienced a “sunburn scald” across my arm and down the side of my chest. Just red skin and a little soreness (and the added bonus that alcohol of that purity is one hell of a good cleaning liquid).

On the second occasion, knowing that it normally takes about an hour and a half to heat to the point, where I see some distillate condensing out of the still, I was “running” 4 litres of cider (hard cider for those in the US), but it didn’t like the fact that the cider had only partially cleared (naturally) at the end of the ferment. That didn’t hit me, it just blew the top off the still and showered the kitchen – which stank of cider for about 3 days after.

I’ve since found out that one of the ways of curing this problem is as per the article (the “cider accident” actually had some broken glass in the bottom of the still to act as the rings/boiling chips).

Also, the inclusion of a substance called “Distillers Conditioner” to the batch before it’s distilled can also (help) prevent this problem – it should be available through your distillation supplies provider.