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Thanks for all the knowledgeable advice. I also envision a 1000 gallon poly water tank with a float valve to even out demand on our well. If the water in the cooling loop gets too hot, I could put some of that room temperature water from the reservoir tank into the condenser and replace it with water circulating through the cooling loop to get me through the run. Like you mentioned, I could lose some hot water into the cooker. Just got to figure out how to plumb it. I'm thinking about maybe 600 ft of slinky pipe in the ground. In 3' slinky loops, that should fit into a 100' trench. I could always add more if I had to. Doesn't seem like the condenser on a 2-300 gallon still would require all that much cold water. Anybody have any more thoughts?

I have seen an increasing amount of fairly basic jobs, such as small-sized vineyard management, asking for specialized degrees. I would hope these positions offer flexibility to their applicants in this regard. Credentialism is a serious and real issue that is costing an entire generation much more money and time than it did to their parents and grandparents. I would not trust a highschool graduate to be my heart surgeon, but I'd certainly trust one who showed incentive and interest in learning to distill a spirit.

What he said ^^^^ She was just being defensive. There are a lot of people interested in being a distiller so she probably hears that a lot. I will say that my personal experience is that you get about 50/50 with people being friendly about it and not. Luckily @Huffy2k is local to me and has been really open and friendly. I have stopped out at his place a couple times and he's always been welcoming. Other people in the area weren't as much. Do you need a master's degree in Chemistry? No. I know several distillers that make money that don't have the slightest clue as to chemistry. They pick a mash bill and repeat it. If they encounter a problem they dump whatever it is they are working on and start again. If you have a good bio/chem background you can adjust and probably save whatever it is you're working on and save money. It also helps with the repeatably of the process / consistency of the product. Distilling is a limited though complicated subject. Any reasonably intelligent person can pick up a couple books and learn. That knowledge is what allows distillers to make nuanced changes to make a flavor different, or to know when a step can be ignored to save money, or increase efficiency.

Masters in chemistry, while helpful, is far from necessary. What you really need is a process engineering consultant for about a year, a stellar marketing company, compliance officer, and CFO. Oh, and a shit-ton of money. Distilling is by far the easiest thing about running a distillery (and probably, after the first year, the most boring).