They're a significant fire hazard which is why ATF regulations for stills require them to be located at least 100 feet from a residence.

I live in a city with 2 distilleries. You can smell when they're dealing with the mash because everyone in town can smell it. Also, we all get some black mold (not the really bad one) all over our siding which I think is some byproduct of the fermentation step.

My father worked in the oil business. As a chemical engineer, he was brewing his own moonshine (Poitín [pronounced 'poh-cheen'] in Ireland, Sidiki [means 'friend'] in Arabic language countries) since he was in university. In Saudi Arabia, there were frequent home fires in the western-expatriate communities. Newspapers reported them as "unattended cooking pot" fires. It happened several times per year in the Ras Tanura community they last lived in.

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cs02rm0 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

Crikey. My dad (and just about every other westerner) used to brew sid down the road in Dhahran, I never heard of fires from it.

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beedeebeedee 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Thanks for sharing your comment. I was skeptical about your claim that black mold would be a consequence of living near a distillery, but in fact, it is. It is called Whiskey Fungus and is related to the aging of the spirits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baudoinia

	▲	Tangurena2 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yep, that's it. They all look the same with a human eyeball. Or I need better eye glasses. > The fungus can be removed from buildings using high pressure water jets, bleach, etc. According to a report from the Kentucky government, it has not been shown to cause anything other than cosmetic effects thanks to its mode of nutrition via the carboniferous atmosphere, rather than the decay of building materials in general. It reaches higher up the siding than I can reach with household cleaners. It makes the house look dirty. Which I really don't care about, since most folks in the neighborhood have the same schmutz on their homes. It doesn't seem to like cement, so sidewalks & foundations aren't affected (that I can see).