The first thing I've built that I've been legitimately afraid of plugging in-

I've had a slight fear of large capacitors ever since I took apart a 220v camera flash circuit when I was a child... lesson learned.

Hence the cardboard box "blast shield" for lack of anything better... Yes, cardboard is flammable, thank you for pointing that out. But I decided I was much more prepared for a small electrical fire than for chemical burns. Safety glasses, bucket of water, and thick soled shoe (to stamp it out) at the ready, I [reluctantly] flipped the switch. Luckily my fears were much exaggerated, and nothing jumped except for the needle on the meter.

However, it's still not working right... I am getting 21.7v dc out of a 16.2v ac input... Possibly because there's no load... but until I figure out this over-voltage thing I'm reluctant to hook anything up to it...

Ideas?