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Help! My telescope is full of wine!

Siriusmeg

By Siriusmeg
in The Astro Lounge

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Siriusmeg

Siriusmeg

Posted
Posted

Ok, well not completely full but...

I posted the other day about the fact that my telescopes are proudly on display in the dining room. So is the OH's large collection of homebrew (can you see where this is going..?) We were happliy relaxing in front of Dr Who when the youngest daughter (too scared to watch) came into the living room to say "Daddy, one of your bottles just popped". All over my 200p/eq5. Raspberry wine was splattered everywhere, but the force of the explosion has sent it through the focuser into the OTA - drips and splatters down as far as the primary mirror. Short of drinking the rest of the (add own expletive) wine, has anyone got any suggestions? Bit too late to suggest keeping them apart I'm afraid :rolleyes:

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ronin

ronin

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I suspect it means a strip down of the OTA at least, then clean the mirror and a good wipe clean of everything. You will need to clean the mirror mount as you do not want that getting corrosion in it. Much the same goes for the EQ5 although that has side plates for some protection.

You will have to clean the mirror if raspberry wine has hit it, and I would do it as soon as possible, the wine will have alcohol in it and a couple of acids and they will attack the mirror coatings pretty fast if they have got there.

In a way I hope it is cloudy for the next couple of weeks for you.

Did he not use Potassium Sorbate to kill off the yeast, or was it the classic mistake of using a campden tablet - which does not actually kill yeast off so it can restart fermentation.

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

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I would strip it down tonight and rinse of the mirror, ideally in distilled water but if you don't have any, rinse it off with ordinary water and a drop of mild detergent. As soon as you can, get some distilled water and re-do it. At the risk of starting a whole new debate ( :eek: ), de-ionised water is not the same as distilled water and IMHO is not as good as the latter for this purpose.

As Ronin has said, you must also get rid of all traces from the mirror cell too.

Do you need any help? - I'm thinking here more of drinking that pesky wine than sorting out the 'scope ........

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melsky

melsky

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I would go with the get in there quick with the distilled water (I suppose it's a bit too late to suggest a long straw)

hopefully you'll get it sorted and I'll see you on Monday.

Mel

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Siriusmeg

Siriusmeg

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All stripped down & rinsed off, will get distilled water in the morning to repeat properly. Bit stressed, could do with a drink & not too impressed with OH's suggestion of "just give the scope a lick!" He may not survive the night :mad:

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Siriusmeg

Siriusmeg

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OH has just suggested saving a bottle for SGL9 so you can all try the offending drink. Bet I know what would happen in the car on the way there though - all that bouncing around with volatile wine :rolleyes: Think he'd better move it ALL to the shed.

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ezekiel

ezekiel

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If the worst comes to the worst and your unable to get ur scope clean, then fill yourself with said wine....makes everything seem better somehow (if only for the short term ^^)

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glowjet

glowjet

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So your focuser was not capped off ? it would seem. That must be a first though, "telescope attacked by rampant Raspberry wine". Hope everything turns out ok for you and there are no damaging after effects :)

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DaveS

DaveS

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I wonder why his bottles popped. Not fermented right out? And possibly not racked properly.

Back in the day I made a fair bit of home-brew but never had corks popping.

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Siriusmeg

Siriusmeg

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So your focuser was not capped off ? it would seem. That must be a first though, "telescope attacked by rampant Raspberry wine". Hope everything turns out ok for you and there are no damaging after effects :)

Yes it was all capped but still managed to seep through - it took a pretty direct hit! It's looking a bit better today though the scope is now in bits for a deep clean :shocked:

If the worst comes to the worst and your unable to get ur scope clean, then fill yourself with said wine....makes everything seem better somehow (if only for the short term ^^)

OH suggested that but I couldn't face it. I never want to see or smell a rasberry again!

Sounds like a good excuse to upgrade to me :evil6:

The irony of this is that we had just got back from IAS where I'd decided

  • Not to upgrade for a while
  • Not to bother buying baader wonder fluid as I'd "probably never need it".

My new stress - where on earth do you get distilled water?? All I can find is de-ionised water. I may have to distill some myself!

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DaveS

DaveS

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My new stress - where on earth do you get distilled water?? All I can find is de-ionised water. I may have to distill some myself!

You could try a good pharmacist. Ask for "purified water" it will be of BP quality.

Many years ago when I first started working at my school we had a rubbish / cheap deioniser and an equally rubbish still. When the deioniser exhausted its cartridge I needed pure water in a hurry, fortunately the local pharmacist could do me a 5l can quite cheaply.

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Scooot

Scooot

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You could try a good pharmacist. Ask for "purified water" it will be of BP quality.

Many years ago when I first started working at my school we had a rubbish / cheap deioniser and an equally rubbish still. When the deioniser exhausted its cartridge I needed pure water in a hurry, fortunately the local pharmacist could do me a 5l can quite cheaply.

heres some

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Litre-Jerry-Distilled-Water-Company/dp/B003Q8RL78/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368987479&sr=8-1&keywords=water+distilled

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spiff

spiff

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Ok, well not completely full but...

I posted the other day about the fact that my telescopes are proudly on display in the dining room. So is the OH's large collection of homebrew (can you see where this is going..?) We were happliy relaxing in front of Dr Who when the youngest daughter (too scared to watch) came into the living room to say "Daddy, one of your bottles just popped". All over my 200p/eq5. Raspberry wine was splattered everywhere, but the force of the explosion has sent it through the focuser into the OTA - drips and splatters down as far as the primary mirror. Short of drinking the rest of the (add own expletive) wine, has anyone got any suggestions? Bit too late to suggest keeping them apart I'm afraid :rolleyes:

Ouch. That is why my scope stays safely hidden away, taken out for stargazing and the occasional showing off. Hope you get it all fixed.

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