1 dead 3 critical

[bcg1976]

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensl ... 2o0q4.html

The language in this subsequent article is a little more balanced and does not mention methanol.

It’s understood the investigation will look at the amount of alcohol the men consumed, and whether they had taken any other substances.

Would be good to test what they were drinking. Now where did I leave that spectrophotometer...

A combination of post-mortem and looking at the kit that made the hooch will probably be it. In line with MacStill, pure speculation so it will be interesting to read the coroner's report down the line and see what the findings are and whether incorrect distillation was a factor.

[C2H6O]

Here is an update..... The home brew may have contained antifreeze


http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensl ... 2o0q4.html

[Lupus]

Reading the previous articles, I assumed it was moonshine made by the guys. And the articles suggested grappa.

The latest article now raises the possibility of wine or shine. And the addition of antifreeze suggests the stuff may not have been made by the boys. Who in their right mind would use antifreeze in their own product?

Another case of an unscrupulous moonshiner trying to get a little more kick in their product? Or kids after a quick high?

[Canadoz]

Reading the previous articles, I assumed it was moonshine made by the guys. And the articles suggested grappa.

The latest article now raises the possibility of wine or shine. And the addition of antifreeze suggests the stuff may not have been made by the boys. Who in their right mind would use antifreeze in their own product?

Another case of an unscrupulous moonshiner trying to get a little more kick in their product? Or kids after a quick high?

:think:
hmmmmm.

Maybe they had leaky homemade equipment and were using an old car radiator to cool their cooling water? It's conceivable that if the coolant water, contaminated with antifreeze from the rad was somehow entering the product path that they could have been unwittingly contaminating it with the antifreeze.... pretty long odds but it seems remotely possible.

I'd think they'd almost have to be intentionally using antifreeze in their coolant to get high enough concentrations to cause death though. and it would have to be entering the product at the product condenser, it's boiling point is nearly 200 C

If it was intentionally added, who'd put antifreeze in moonshine? what on earth for?

Another possibility is they built parts of the still with used parts from a car cooling system?

[bcg1976]

If it was an old radiator, heavy metal poisoning would be another contributing factor. As the old shine saying goes, Red makes you dead...

I agree on the amount required for a lethal dose of antifreeze. I noticed that in the article. 30ml of Methanol is a lethal dose. The journo doesn't know his arse from his elbow (or he got brutalised by a subbie) and they'ev mixed themMethanol LDLO with the ethylene glycol one. You've got to drink a fair bit of antifreeze to tank your kidneys and peg out.

I nearly posted on that earlier but didn't want to sound like a know-it-all :-) Whoops

[bcg1976]

Using it as a condensor that is...

[Linno]

its hard to say until the reports are done but i personally think its a good time to be a bit more careful with the labeling and placement of the bottles or containers that we use for our foreshots and feints - if you keep them for fire lighters or such. it seems by all reports they have been doing this for a long time so you would assume that bad distilling habits would have made them sick before this. it may be a case of bad labelling or the placement of the "bad' too close to the 'good' that has caused this. either way a terrible thing to happen.

[jamjar]

A THIRD man has died after consuming homemade spirits at a property in Ballandean, near Stanthorpe, in Queensland, at the weekend.

Vincent Summers, 26, died in the Princess Alexandra Hospital last night where his friend, Joshua Lynam, 26, remains in a serious condition this morning.

The homemade concoction is believed to be responsible for the deaths of Joshua's 21-year-old brother, Joel and friend Bryan Wilmot, 30.

Police have continued to comb the rural Ballandean property for clues which could help shine further light on the tragedy, which has already been labelled the worst home brewing accident in Australian history.

Police have also seized a quantity of alcohol from the property with tests to be carried out.

[kingy]

I tip my foreshots on the driveway , sometimes even set fire to it.
Or it goes straight into the metho bottle for the missus to clean with.
I would never even think about sticking it in a bottle that looks drinkable.

I feel real sorry for the boys and there family.

Hope people learn from this.

[blond.chap]

I tip my foreshots on the driveway , sometimes even set fire to it.
Or it goes straight into the metho bottle for the missus to clean with.
I would never even think about sticking it in a bottle that looks drinkable.

I feel real sorry for the boys and there family.

Hope people learn from this.

Careful setting fire to it, the flame is invisible and burns hot.

[hrute]

the age has a new report, its saying the father was distilling for bio-diesel additive

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news ... 2o2yj.html

[kingy]

I tip my foreshots on the driveway , sometimes even set fire to it.
Or it goes straight into the metho bottle for the missus to clean with.
I would never even think about sticking it in a bottle that looks drinkable.

I feel real sorry for the boys and there family.

Hope people learn from this.

Careful setting fire to it, the flame is invisible and burns hot.

Yea it shows why distilling can be dangerous, it's a very clean hot flame. And a small amount burns for a while to. Not something I'd do for fun. It was just an experiment to see how it burnt

[1 2many]

Looks as though the third man will survive, looks as though they drunk the wrong stuff

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/201 ... -home-brew

[cdbrown]

Careful setting fire to it, the flame is invisible and burns hot.

I tipped the foreshots from my stripping run on the pavers and lit it up last night - nice blue flame which generated a decent amount of heat and burned for quite a while. Guessing it wasn't all methanol based on a coloured flame. But yes - pure methanol fire is very dangerous http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a3MD5s0mKc

[cdbrown]

But the story is typical of mainstream media publishing stories without any real fact. It's gone from a bunch of blokes drinking a bad batch of home brew (which makes it sound like beer), grappa, grappa with antifreeze and now the likely reason is they grabbed the wrong jar thinking it was the grappa, but instead was probably pure methanol to make bio-diesel.

[Hobo]

Don't expect any true fact from the media, but if these guys were into making Biodiesel, the Methanol is mixed with Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) and is now a nerve toxin.
Dip your finger tip into this mix, all the nerves in your finger tip will die and you will never feel anything again.
If these blokes drank this mixture that would be a very deadly situation.
Sad ending for a number of families, it really pays to do your homework and know what you are dealing with.
Condolences

[Yummyrum]

Hey Hobo is this pure fact or one for myth busters
"Dip your finger tip into this mix, all the nerves in your finger tip will die and you will never feel anything again. "

[bcg1976]

He's very right. Sodium Methoxide is the compound created (to memory - my chemistry is as rough as guts) and will make you like the guy from the end of Robocop in a very short order.

[snoozer]

There was a case of 4 young guys drinking "home brewed grappa" they distilled last saturday night that killed 3 of the 4 involved. Initial reports said they'd drunk grappa they made from distilled wine, I found this hard to believe as I know the guy who has survived as he'd bought the local homebrew store from my mate and was almost certain he would not have distilled it without removing the foreshots. I mean its basic beginners knowledge to throw away the first X ml isn't it?
Then the reports changed saying the 2 brothers father distilled a batch for use in biodiesel which made sense as no foreshots/heads would have been separated out. They mistook it for drinking spirit.
Its a tragic event and we're gonna have 3 funerals in town here in the next week or so, very sad. BUT, the reaction here now is that police are cracking down, I had an 18 gallon keg in at the local welders yesterday, it was outside on display and the cops saw it and stopped by to question him about who owned it etc. Luckily it was for my brewery not my still. But it does reinforce the importance of safe practice...

[crow]

Biodiesel :shock: how the hell could they not taste the difference ?
I'm thinking these poor guys might have been a bit sloshed before they started drinking that