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Congrats on your new role! That is awesome. Goodness....things I wish I knew earlier...is there a character limit on these posts?? haha. Making whiskey is the fun and romantic part about the business. Selling it is the hard part. It is a hell of a lot easier to scale a distillery than it is distillery sales. Understand your weaknesses and hire people that are better than you. People have been doing this for thousands of years. Good Lord, there aren't hardly any secrets so let people take pictures in your distillery! None of our brands, technicques, tactics, etc haven't been done before. "Unique" ideas you think you have don't make money; proper execution of a plan makes money. Learn how to say "no" and not feel bad about it. If it doesn't feel right for you or your business, use those 2 little letters together. Sometimes it's harder than it sounds. If it doesn't make sense, it proabaly doesn't make cents; and if it doesn't make cents, it doesn't make dollars. Make sure to take care of your house before you take care of someone else's. For God's sake, DON'T LET ANYONE EFF UP THE TTB REPORTING! It really isn't that hard, just +'s and -'s. Dot every i and cross every t as soon as an event happens. It's about attention to detail, not bookkeeping. Don't put it off and fall into the trap of "I'll get that later". The more PGs that go out the door, the bigger the magnifying glass. Make sure that when you delegate that responsibility, you trust, but verify. It's your butt on the line. Make sure there is redundancy in your system...not just the production equipment...people too. Cross-training is super important. If you lose a key person that is the only subject matter expert in your organization, how do you recover? A lesson that I am still learning: your time is your currency and you can't ever make any more of it. Spend it wisely. There are plenty of days you can find a reason to stay at the distillery until the wee hours of the morning. The truth is that the work will still be there when you get back in the morning but those hours won't be. Days go slow and years go fast. People talk about work-life balance and that is unbelieveably hard to find in a new distillery. Make sure you understand where that teeter-totter tips for you, your family, and your company. The point won't be the same for all 3 and it's up to you balance it. Most importantly, and you already know this, it's all about people. It took me far too long to realize that this business is ALL about relationships. I think that's enough for now. Probably time to go grab another glass of bourbon and prophesize a bit more! haha. Congrats again and great post! Making the post alone says a lot about you. Cheers!

This is NOT a paid post - I just wanted to let everyone know how much appreciate the way Larry and his team do business. We've used StillDragon equipment ever since we started production in 2016. While you can spend a lot more, we've produced the 2023 Best Small Batch Bourbon <5Yrs at San Francisco on their 4 plate columns mounted on a second-hand jacketed tank. Despite us being one of their smallest (and cheapest) customers they've stood by us with hand holding and advice every step of the way. We're what you might call a "High Maintenance" customer! We haven't even spent that much with them because we get most of our equipment off auction or used. They still make time to quote anything we need, sell us great quality for almost nothing compared to Vendome or Specific, and Larry knows as much about distilling as anyone I've ever met. On Saturday we were doing a mash and we ended up overloading the gearbox on our mash cooker/stripping still, which started shooting out smoking oil. Now Larry had only sold us the gearbox and seal assembly, so this was not a huge purchase, and the sale was 2+ years ago. I called Larry panicking around 11am on a SATURDAY, and he immediately sprang into action to help us figure out what was going on, how we could get this to limp through the mash, and how to get a replacement if needed, which he quoted within 30 minutes after making sure he had the replacement gearbox on the floor. He even provided a procedure for changing it out if we needed to. This overload was OUR FAULT (staff forgot to add Alpha-Amylase), but Larry never once suggested that we were on our own, this was too much trouble, or he'd get back to us Monday. He treated this like a warranty situation until we figured it out, and even then he offered us the parts for an incredibly reasonable replacement price with immediate shipping. If you want to work with a company that stands behind their customers, goes above and beyond, and genuinely makes you feel like you're not out there alone, buy their equipment. They're genuinely interested in long-term relationships with customers. If I'm buying new stuff - it's StillDragon 100%.

So I believe I was able to find a solution to the problem I was having. As I was comparing old (good) corks with new (bad) corks, I noticed the old ones felt a bit softer. So I purchased a durometer hardness tester and checked the actual hardness of the stoppers. The new stoppers were measurably harder/stiffer. After Tapi looked into it again they did confirm the material can have different density from the plant, and said we can specifically request a lower density stopper. So we had them run a new batch of lower density stoppers, and so far they seem to be working normally like they used to.

I would love to know how a 100 liter setup, costing probably as much as one 10 times its size, can be an economically viable way to produce spirits. Do the math: 100 liters of mash might yield 3 proof gallons of finished whiskey (it can't produce vodka). Assume aging loss of 10%, you'd have like 12, maybe 15 bottles of spirit. That's the yield for like 4 days of your labor. And that is, of course, assuming you are an exceptional at mashing and your ferments are perfect and your cuts are generous. No offense, but this pitch is better suited for homedistiller.org

I doubt anyone would say anything unless you brought it up. Barrels don't have tri clamps so you're not likely using them in every application anyways. Tri clamps are cheap and terribly convenient and useful though, so I don't why you wouldn't want them in as many places as possible. Avoid a wild hose spaying 100p spirit all over your DSP once and it's payed for itself.

Search 1.5" tri clamp butterfly valve internal seal, along with the brand name. Call TCW they are good at answering questions and will find you the right hose.

That's the one! Aaron added some awesome equipment to the lot. Cooker, heat exchanger, and centri-sifter look awesome. Not going to lie....thought about buying it back but when I mentioned it to the war department (my wife 😜), I was met with a resounding "eff-you!" 🤣

One island away!

Trying again to post a sketch of my continuous stripping still

Run.

The Primera AP550 is the one to use: https://www.primera.com/ap550-flat-surface-label-applicator-config.html Sometimes Primera even offers reconditioned units for those who need to economize, but you just need to get on a call list when they become available. Good luck!

Blackstrap is going to be problematic, it is a concentrate waste product that could contain any number of compounds or minerals likely to floc or settle, including potential clarifying and flocculation agents added during the sugar manufacturing process that end up in the blackstrap. Macerations can be problematic at low proof, fats or oils can come out of suspension and solidify, flocculate, etc. Sugars can often have anti-caking agents added to them that, depending on where you live, don't need to be disclosed. These can fall out over time. Even though your filtration is on the high end at .45 micron, we're talking about compounds far smaller than that. Moving from .45 to .1 would likely have zero impact. You could consider chill filtration during production, but again, if the issue is high mineral content (calcium or magnesium in blackstrap, your water, liquid sucrose, etc) - .1 micron is big enough to drive a truckload of ion through. I'd put my money on the blackstrap, because that's essentially a giant wildcard. I'd say maceration as the second.

Paul says everything correctly 🙂 but hot water can be only 22 degrees Celsius 🙂 (i.e. "ambient air temperature") Vacuum allows you not to have heaters at all, but to use the air temperature for heating (or a solar collector) and the water temperature (a well or a river nearby) for cooling.

Here Is an article that was just published on The Spirits Business website. American single malt: what’s the delay?

Nothing's officially changed yet. I expect a final rule in 2024 but there's no guarantee. Till then, old "Malt Whiskey" requirements would generally apply: Whisky produced at not exceeding 80% alcohol by volume (160 proof) from a fermented mash of not less than 51 percent malted barley and stored at not more than 62.5% alcohol by volume (125 proof) in charred new oak containers

Don't worry about needing a gin basket for gin, you can do a boiler charge gin very easily. If you need help with getting a recipe going feel free to reach out. I have helped a number of distilleries develop award-winning gins with their own native botanicals. If you want to add a gin basket later for some more "delicate" botanicals it should be easy to do so.

There are a few different ways including using sanitary tri clamp spools with a cap at one end and a valve at the other that are under vacuum that can be connecting to the still by a ball valve on the still so that a sample can be pulled from a closed system. Alexander Alex_Sor has a design for small stills where a different type of pump is used to pull vacuum on the still through an open system so that condensation occurs outside of vacuum. He gave me the basic design but I have never built one. His design solves the issue of needing a very expensive lab chiller for condensation. In a closed system where high vacuum is pulled so that the boiling point of ethanol is reduced to 80 degrees F the condensing temp is so low that a lab chiller that chills to -30 to -40 C is typically used and this adds a lot of expense and energy usage on the cooling side. I like to pull just enough vacuum to lower the boiling point of ethanol to 155 degrees F so that hot water can be used to heat the still and 35F to 53F coolant can be used in the condenser.

Yeah if you ever need to upgrade out there you should look into a "bagasse-style" or other type of alternative fuel boiler where you could feed in raw materials to generate your steam for production. 100 gallons is the smallest I recommend for commercial clients, but even then it's tough to make things work economically for a setup that small unless making gins with GNS base. You have a special situation being on an island, which is a super cool distillery. Do you have a website? The unit the OP posted looks nice, but with what I imagine the cost would be, puts it in the hobby (with no price limit) category.

Enolmatic if you really want to save space and money. It should fill 400 bottles in a day easily if that's all you're doing.

You become a master distillery by calling yourself a master distiller haha. The title Master Distiller is more or less entirely self proclaimed and means little to nothing about someone's actual understanding of spirits distillation at this point!

There is a solution to spend more instead of a 36 kW heater. Its name is "vacuum distillation". if you need details, I can tell you.

Whiskey Tango has it right. Gin basket, Condenser on hearts collection tank and two compartment tank for heads and tails.

Gin basket - condenser with collection tank below? - tank for collecting heads. Would be my guess anyway

We are in a very different market but and we run 4 stills now 2 from a well known Chinese manufacturer, one euro and one American. I would disagree about the Chinese products we run them flat out 5 days a week and have done for over 3 years and they havent missed a beat and have always been very helpful with parts/ gaskets etc. The best advice I was given before we got in the game was that the still is the least important part of the equation, its what goes into the still thats important.....just my 2 cents:)

🤤DROOOOOOOOL!

we use PBW with our CIP

Some photos of equipment that we have completed in the last few weeks.

He's just purchasing some now so I won't have a report for a while.

Household paraffin wax is food-grade rated, so flavor taint will not happen. The cooper's traditional sealing compound is beeswax, however. First, heat the croze (the groove in the body of the barrel where the head meets) all the way around with a heat gun, then apply molten wax at the intersection of heading and the croze.

I understand Apple Brandy to not require oak vessel aging or an age statement. Time in a non-oak vessel (barrel) will not count towards an age statement and the usage of staves requires a label disclosure. DISCLOSURE “COLORED AND FLAVORED WITH WOOD _________” (insert chips, slabs, extracts, etc., as appropriate) is required on labels to indicate treatment with wood · APPLICATION Applies only to whisky and brandy treated – other than through contact with oak containers – with wood: In any manner or form, either directly or indirectly, e.g., chips, slabs, extracts, etc. nAt any point during the production or storage process, up to and including the time of bottling

What pressure is the gas line ie: low, medium or high? If it is medium or high pressure you have plenty. If it is low pressure, how far are you from the meter and could you upsize the piping from the meter into your space. I don't know where you are located, but here in Illinois gas is way cheaper.

First off, Southernhighlander is your guy. They sell the best gear for fair prices and the service for my system has been great. All I can tell you is our journey. I purchased a 250 gal still and ran it as an electric bain-marie as well as mashing in the still. I did that for a few years. Then I purchased a steam boiler and converted the still over to steam and bought a mash-tun. This year we are going to buy a 1000 gallon stripping still and use the 250 for spirit runs. So the 250 was a really good tool for us to grow. Year one we did about 25 barrels (1600 PG) last year we did 200 barrels (12,000 PG) on that same still. Next year with 1000 gal striping still and 250 gal spirit still we should have the capacity to make about 600 barrels. The biggest thing I would have changed is to go steam from the start and buy a bigger boiler than you need now. What I spent to get the electric up to snuff was about half of what a good boiler would have cost. Don't go into a building that does not have gas. I know a couple of other distillers who use propane and the cost is crazy. Happy to chat by phone, but Southernhighlander is about the best vendor I've dealt with at this level.

BENDT Distilling Co. is seeking a Distiller to support all aspects of whiskey production. Responsibilities range the entire spirit production process and include assisting in grain selection, fermentation, distillation and barrel aging. The ideal candidate should possess the following profile: Passion for craft whiskey Understanding of equipment used throughout the distillation process - grain mills, mash tun, corn cooker, fermentation tanks, spirit stills, etc. Knowledge of and experience with the fermentation process Understanding of quality controls and assurance measures for beverage packaging Experience with warehousing operations, including forklift operating experience Ability to troubleshoot and resolve mechanical and/or process issues throughout the production process Organized with a meticulous attention to detail Understanding of raw material procurement and inventory management best practices Main responsibilities: Assist with day to day production operations as a member of our production team in alignment with state and federal regulatory requirements and industry best practices Document production activities and quality measures in operation logs and Distillery Management software Assist with production process improvements to achieve higher efficiencies and cost savings Meet quality controls and improve quality assurance measures Assist with research and development initiatives Manage raw material procurement to ensure material continuity and lower procurement cost Qualifications: 2+ years relevant industry experience Strong problem solving skills Be able to lift up-to 60 lb. on a consistent basis and stand for extended periods Work from heights and in confined spaces, with variable temperatures up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit Ability to work multiple shifts as needed for production scheduling, to include second shift as well as occasional weekends Must be 21+ and have reliable transportation to/from the distillery What Bendt Distilling Co. can offer you: An opportunity to work in a fun and fast-growing team within the craft distilled spirits industry Fantastic career development potential, paid time off and available benefits The chance to join a driven and enthusiastic environment with amazing team spirit Job Type: Full-time Salary: From $45,000.00+ per year, based on experience Benefits: 401(k) Dental insurance Employee discount Health insurance Paid time off Vision insurance Experience: Brewing or Distilling: 2 years (Preferred) Work Location: In person Please send resume to jacob@bendtdistillingco.com, or feel free to contact for more information

I am not gonna start chasing obscure codes and a lot of it is going to depend on where you are and if they blindly accept IBC/IFC or a hybridized version of them or something else completely but I think ultimately this is going to come down to 1) where you are in the country and 2) the individual spaces rating and overhead clearance. For instance I believe you could stack 6 high in the right place with the right racks (h3 room with XP fixtures) but I think you could probably do 5 or maybe even 6 high in the right room as well, for instance if you had enough clearance to be more than 5/6 feet from a non XP light fixture in an s1 or similar space. End of day the cheapest answer (if you don't get caught) is to do what you want but the best answer which is often cheapest down the line and actually legal is to get a variance to accommodate the storage that you want that best fits the reality of the limitations of the physical space you're in. Very few people on here have dotted their iOS and crossed their ts on ETOH storage compliance, and ultimately they're fine as long as no one ever comes knowing to check, with growth of industry in last few years we are bound to see some failures in facilities pretty soon that will lead to more scrutiny for compliance. I recommend to anyone who will listen, there's only one way to do things and thats the right way the first time.

You could use it as a base for most any kind of "distilled spirits specialty" product. Think cocktails/RTDs, seltzers, liqueurs, amaro, aquavit, bitters. You can also use it as a base for Distilled Gin (but not Compound Gin, which requires neutral > 190). Finally you can bottle it as-is and it'll fall under Distilled Spirits Specialty with a Statement of Composition - something like "Spirits Distilled from Sweet Potato".

For smaller folks: we use this one: https://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=49688 No issues with anything we've put in it - corn - etc. It goes well with corn, with everything else it's fast. It'll do 50lbs of corn in 10 minutes or less. It does make some dust. It's a minor pain to set up as the safety pressure sensor locks are temperamental. Just be careful with the feed. Start it closed then slowly open the feed. It will not start with grain in the chamber. We use the 2.5mm screen. We get really good conversion with it.

This is an interesting little read. https://www.mcbrayerlegacyspirits.com/2021/04/02/the-letter-behind-the-legacy-how-we-discovered-our-mash-bill/

The odds of you finding a vendome for sale used smaller than 500 gallons is minuscule at best unless you scour this site and every other avenue daily for the next 18 months. I have seen 3 Vendome pots come up for sale in the last 12 months only one of them was under 500 gallons. Vendome didn't invent the still, they've just been phenomenal metal workers for ages. They produce a very specific honed and amazing set of machines but even the cheapest spray cans make art worth millions, you don't always need to paint with a horsehair brush.

I purchased my hammer mill through Pellet Masters http://www.pelletmasters.com/products/#hammermill I have the #198 5.3 Hp single phase. it has a fan built in and the unit has worked great for me. I ferment and distill on the grain. I mill all my grains: corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, millet. etc down to the consistency of flour as I have no need to lauter and my equipment is not set up to lauter.

As I seasoned brewer, but novice distiller, I have seen dozens of systems in place for grain handling, I would suggest the following.... Pneumatic - Less "damage" to the material being transported (more important with lautering barley mashes). Noisy and typically costly. Can be dusty if used with fine ground material, but not always. Usually works with few issues and minimal maintenance. Usually a better solution for larger operations. Screw Auger - A bit more damage to the material, but economical and relatively easy to install. Can have issues moving all of the finely ground materials depending on the elevations, etc. Not bad on maintenance, but can bind/buckle if not installed properly. Usually a good compromise for most operations. Cable/Chain Disc - Less damage to the material, but a bit bulkier/more complex to install. It moves most all material cleanly due to a cellular/peristaltic type design. Can be finicky on alignments and maintenance, sometimes. Works great for in-line additions of materials (blending). A relatively cheap option may be a "gran suction machine" from China....Its basically a small screw auger with a fixed or flexible transport tube. Another DIY solution could be a leaf blower with PVC fittings - "corn blower". Standard disclaimer, don't forget that grain dust is extremely flammable/explosive, and is just as dangerous as high proof spirits. Some may feel differently on this one - For mills, the previous is true. Hammer mills are better for corn, and probably rye and wheat kernels as well, compared to barley - however - this is primarily due to their ability to pulverize and expose the starch for better hydration/enzymatic action. IF you are planning to use exogenous enzymes to help starch conversion, I would suggest a hammer mill offers only the smallest advantage. The design of the hammer mill usually makes it a bit more reliable over long term (commercial-type) usage, where the knurled rollers on a roller mill will need re-worked over a period of time. Either machine is subject to bearings/motors/no grease/etc. Roller mills used to be a more economical option, but the market has leveled some.

Hey Al, do you have any of the butyric left? Here's a really cool experiment... take like 50l of some high proof alcohol (higher the better), add like 3ml of if butyric, and slowly (carefully) add a few drops of sulfuric, and give her a stir.... keep doing that until it goes from smelling like blue cheese to fruit. Eventually it'll start to smell like a nondescript fruit candy.... it's crazy!

Potential solutions for water impacting esterification efficiency like in a retort still would be to use a column in 100% reflux with sulfuric acid as the catalyst. The higher concentration of alcohol as you ascend the column preserves the esters, which will be trapped in the upper stages of the column (assuming you have sufficient plates and hold up volume). Did a few really fun experiments with Dow Amberlyst 15 esterification catalyst, packing a small column in reflux with slow takeoff.

Immediately upon macerating wormwood vaudevillian people of the night come out as a cacophony of disjointed instruments to Jazz at me like a shot of Malort betwixt propositions of sexual transactions

1) Set up the board game, and start playing 2) For the next 8-12 hours go clean your house, move 50# sacks around, fix your various broken appliances, and measure the density of various liquids and put them into bottles. Occasionally dick around on the internet. 3) Keep detailed records of everything you do for the Government. If the Government gets angry, it will suspend your game. 4) Occasionally check on the game board. If something goes wrong, it explodes and burns your house down. 5) When the game ends, clean up the gameboard and have a drink.

Man, you guys are TOUCHY. The alcohol part is easy peasy, it's hard finding: Platinum to filter vodka through. Diamonds to filter vodka through. An iceberg to melt down to proof the vodka with. Thinking about sending a team of explorers to the north pole to core drill for ice to be used to dilute the vodka. Or maybe some hidden spring in the depths of the Amazon, rumored to be the real fountain of youth. (Note: Not the actual jungle in South America, I'm talking about just buying some bottled water on Amazon.com). Jesus, maybe do both, and filter it through chakra stones, and have a reiki master infuse it with positive energy. And you are calling small producers who redistill GNS charlatans? You've actually seen the market, no?

Yes. But... We must always guard against the danger of getting lost in the romanticism of nostalgia. We can respect the old ways and be thankful that we have the ability to stand on the shoulders of giants, but that doesn't mean that we should not push the limits, leveraging new technologies and new techniques, to create new, unique, and better products than our elders had before us. Just because they are the old ways, do not mean that they are the best ways. Don't mistake my words, I'm not saying that a new way is better because it's new, or that an old way isn't the best way. Just like our elders had the responsibility of growing and enriching their craft, so do we. If it means an old way must go, it must go. I believe the old artisans would approve. I'm sure I'm not the only one who reads this article as being condescending. I'm sure it wasn't written to come off as condescending, but it is nonetheless. I admit, it's nice to look back on the good old days. Everything was better back then, wasn't it? Men were men, honesty was a virtue, and someone's word actually meant something. Having studied neuroscience and cognitive psychology for many years, with a focus on emotion, memory, and cognitive bias, I can't help but read these kinds of nostalgic pieces and imagine how much of that retrospection was clouded by biases and flaws (or omissions) in our memories. There is a well known cognitive bias called Rosy Retrospection. Despite the cute name, it's the basis for those feelings of romantic nostalgia we have for the past. However, it also means that perhaps the past was not how we remember. I still remember the taste of the champagne that I sipped after toasting with my wife at our wedding reception, or the taste of that whiskey me and the boys sipped when getting the news that there was a little one on the way, god it was so good. The reality of it is, the good old days weren't. I'm not complaining that our brains have a propensity to fade unpleasant memories, and retain (and even embellish) the good ones. Life would be awful otherwise, wouldn't it? But, the old stories come together, and history is written with these biases. So when we look back, we need to understand that the negatives were probably omitted, and the positives are certainly more positive than they were. So, now we get to the truth, let's be realistic here. Commercial producers, even small ones, have been producing awful spirits for as long as people have been drinking them. You would be remiss to simply assume just because some producer produced something seventy five years ago, it was absolutely fantastic, magical, unparalleled in quality and without compare. Because, you know what, most of it was probably pretty bad. Craft was probably the last thing in many of their minds. Losing a batch to a raging bacterial infection meant your kids going hungry, so they produced it anyway. I've tasted lots of very old product, you know, the kind with fancy scores and reviews, when people fawn over names, and was amazed that after dozens of years your could still taste the fact that they didn't bother to take much of a heads cut, hell, any cut at all. The raw distillate was probably so god awful that it needed 25 years on oak just to be remotely drinkable. What I don't understand is, why make these overly broad, sweeping assumptions about the new breed of craft producers? Yet at the same time paying some kind of religious homage to those who came before? Frankly, neither deserve it.

Happy to share my method from a previous job. We won double gold at san francisco 2014 for our vodka. We filtered at 81 proof on granular activated carbon at room temperature. We used an activated carbon bag filter that holds your granular activated carbon. We pumped the 81 proof vodka ( slightly higher to accommodate any evaporative loss during filtration) over the carbon using our pump at high speed, which then was pumped onto the top of the tank (and was being pulled from the bottom) for a number of hours. We repeated the process as many times as was necessary to get to desired 'neutrality' while still keeping good flavor. Our filter setup was about 2 grand including fittings and hoses and a completely reasonable amount of activated carbon used per batch.

Hi Phil, You only fall victim to barrel contamination if you place your spirits within that cask. Trust your nose, you have some kind of funk in that barrel. Try a strong solution of soda ash in hot water, followed by even stronger citric acid solution, and you may be able to sweeten up that musty barrel. One should be able to smell either toasted oak, the product that once was in that barrel prior to it being emptied, or some of both. Also, avoid filling barrels that smell like acetone, as nail-polish remover will be the striking feature of your aged spirits. Make a planter out of that cask if it cannot be revived! I think all distillers should get handy with a hoop driver and hammer once in awhile, and take a head off of a barrel and inspect what is inside. It will make you appreciate the cooper's trade ever so much more! All the best, Rusty