BRDC

Thank you to everyone for the interest, however this piece of equipment has sold.

Cheers,

Winston

We currently have two 550 Gallon jacketed open top tanks for sale. They were produced by Custom Metalcraft in MO and are jacketed on one side. We are asking $4,500 per tank OBO. Please PM me if you are interested.

Cheers,

Winston

Hey Jerome. The still his jacketed for a low pressure steam boiler. We only distill grain in and this still is great for that, though you can also distill grain out very well in this equipment. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Cheers, Winston

We are upgrading our system and selling our 615 gallon combination pot/column still. We used this to make everything from vodka to whiskey. It is all currently dissembled and being cleaned. This still was used for 1.5 years. All of the parts are marked with a corresponding diagram of the still. 

We are currently asking $60,000 for the complete still. Please PM me if you are interested.

Cheers,

Winston 

Mike. Do you have a potato processor?

I have worked with potatos before. They can get a little interesting if you don't handle them correctly. To give you a good direction, can you provide some more details other than potato and 160 gal? What type of potatoes do you want to work with?(flaked, whole, sweet, etc) What type of cooker do you use? What is your heat source? I am sure that I am missing some stuff. Would love to help.

We currently use TricoreBraun for our closures. Ours are just a single color synthetic, but I do remember seeing custom branded metal type closures. PM me if  you want my specific contact there. 

Stillcreek, we have found anywhere from 28% to 35% between us and the distributor and between them and the retailer. It is very market dependent. I have one state with 4 different FOBs and the same shelf price. Our goal is to keep the shelf price the same across different markets. In order to do this, we have had to sacrifice in some markets on our margins.  We have found that the smaller markets require less of a margin and are easier to negotiate with than the larger markets. Hope this helps. Cheers, Winston.

We actually built our own with SS piping and a small pump to move the product. It is based on the concept of "the solution to pollution is dilution". We recirculate our vodka through 12x30 mesh activated carbon until we reach our desired flavor profile. If you use this method, I would suggest to flood the pipes from the bottom instead of the top. If you go from the top, you will ether compact or channel your carbon slowing you down and reducing the effectiveness of not having contact with all of your carbon. Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Winston

We use the acid washed. We have found that it performs a little better and our set-up allows our filter to remain flooded so the carbon does not dry out. Also if you use multiple pipes like we do, a 40 mesh screen gasket is adequate to keep the carbon in place. 

We use a 12x30 mesh granular carbon. buyactivatedcharcoal.com is a great source as they can do 50# sacks and 2,000# super sacks. They have the best pricing that I have been able to find. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Winston

If you are doing close top fermentation with an airlock, bugs should not be a problem. However if you are doing it open top, porch screening material can be easily cut to fit and provide an excellent bug barrier. 

It is basically a cascade system pumped into the bottom of one pipe out of the top and then into the bottom of the next. Don't skimp on quality hoses and clamps. A good deal of pressure can build up and the last thing you want is to have vodka running down the drain. 

Bulk Apocraphy has the best priced food grade small order citric acid we have found. 

On 4/11/2016 at 11:57 AM, dhdunbar said:

How to get in trouble with craft distillers? Talk honestly about vodka. Vodka is colorless, odorless, tasteless, without distinctive character. Vodka with character is an oxymoron. There is nothing a craft distillery can do to make vodka that is really is vodka that a large, industrial distillery cannot do better.

The vodka denotes a product that cannot stand out from any other. Craft in vodka therefore connotes small and local production. If people are willing to pay a price for small and local, then craft vodka will have a market. Grey Goose succeeded by taking the same vodka that sold for $19 a bottle, which was the same vodka, in a different label, that sold for even less than that, and raising the price by $10 a bottle over the premium competitors to $29. Vodka is marketing plain and simple. Grey Goose and Absolute are both losing share. The reasons people buy products changes over time.

I went into a distillery one time, as a tourist. Made no claims about anything. They said taste our vodka. I asked why I would ever want to do that, since it shouldn't have a taste. They said, oh, but we put a little bit of rye whiskey in it. I said don't tell TTB. What they had was probably a blended whiskey. It is the sort of thing that causes craft people to point their nose toward the sky. Who would want to dilute whiskey with NSG? It seems someone wanting to craft vodka with character. So, do it and call it vodka and you are a craft distiller. Do it and call it whiskey and your peddling diluted product. It makes perfect sense to me.

If this was really true Ketel One would taste like Dark Eyes...... just saying

We use a very fine coconut shell charcoal. 

We built a pretty awesome vodka filtration system that basically floods ss pipes filled with the carbon. We let it recirculate a tote tank until our flavor profile is achieved. In our experience, it is much easier to ensure a consistent flavor profile by proofing it down to your bottle proof prior to filtering, or proof out your samples. The higher alcohol contents are just too overwhelming to test for quality/consistency. 

We use food grade citric acid. It does not take much at all.

We started out with a 25k sqft building. Right now it is too big, but it is easier to grow into a space than have to move. 

Our building is relatively old and was vacant for about six years before we moved in. Getting an old building back in shape is a chore. You will have plumbing, electrical, fire safety,etc. the list goes on and on for old buildings. Also, if you are in a metropolitan area, be prepared for code enforcement. It is a good idea to learn what building codes that are applicable to a distillery. Most of our inspectors here have not ever seen one. They tried to require us to be a H-1 building which would have cost a significant amount. However, because we were educated, we were able to demonstrate how we were actually a F-1 building which we were built out to be. 

Hey Spirited

We are currently using both Poly and stainless tanks. They definately have a lifespan longer than three years, but I do see the wear on the poly tanks much more than the ss ones. 

Wit a clear spirit, I would suggest a 1 micron filter because you will see some cloudiness with anything much larger. 

Back in the fall of 2014 it took us 36 days from submission. 

Have you thought about fermenting and distilling grain in? This works excellent for us. 

The biggest difficulties with small scale charcoal filtering is compacting and channeling. You can easily solve that problem, get a better flow rate, and maximize your charcoal's usability by forcing the vodka up from the bottom instead of the top of your filter. 

We are a vodka distillery that opened our doors in 2014.