Streven

I had a local brewery age some imperial stout in one of our 53 gal bourbon barrels and they dumped today. I am planning to do a finished whiskey in those barrels for 6 months or so. To make sure I understand the post above, your recommendation is no washing / rinsing of the barrel prior to filling with whiskey. Just fill and then filter down to 0.1 micron prior to bottling? Thanks!

Thank you for the great information!

We are preparing to begin dumping our first whiskey and looking for a filtration resource. I had been in communication with Alex Findlow of Findlow Filtration but received a message that he unfortunately passed away last month. My main concern is filtering to prevent any sediment / haziness from settling in over time. Can anyone recommend a resource I can contact regarding best methods with the equipment I have available - ErtelAlsop 10-plate filter press and sediment filter housing? Or in general if anyone is using similar equipment and has any suggestions I would appreciate it.

Update: After last run I filled the mash tun with hot water off the condenser. Added Brew Clean (comparable to PBW) and let agitator run overnight. Result was a clean tank. I will alternate with acid as suggested and hopefully avoid the need to disassemble to remove buildup in the future.

Thanks guys. There is not a port for a spray ball so pressure washer would probably need to be the next attempt. I think that will help, but there will still be some areas where the pressurized water won't hit like the undersize of the cooling coil. I will also try using citric.

Looking for some advice on possible cleaning options for my 150 gal mash tun. I'm mashing bourbon in this unit and it has cooling coil inside the tank. The cooling coil is a pain to clean around. I haven't found a great way to get the tank fully cleaned without disassembling it which I'm currently doing after about 3-4 runs because I start to see some build up in spots that are not easily reached. When assembled it's difficult to reach quite a few areas between the coil and inner tank wall. I'm using Kettle Wash from Ace Chemical which is a high alkaline cleaner. I've tried to fill the tank half way with water and mix in the kettle wash and heat and let soak hoping to remove residue without scrubbing but that has not been effective. So I'm curious if there are any stronger cleaners that anyone recommend I try? Or any other techniques. I don't have room in the distillery for a heat exchanger so I don't want to go that route. The other option I'm considering is removing the coil altogether and flooding the steam jacket with water for cooling. Would make cleaning easier, but I need to check with the manufacturer before attempting that. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know! Thank you.

Rusty, Thank you for the recommendations. I'm going to Amazon now to purchase. Take care.

Can anyone recommend any good books on brandy, or specifically apple brandy? I've read through the brandy forum and there is some excellent information. Just looking for something a little more comprehensive.

Thank you for the feedback. Jedd Haas - yes, I was quoted 1.00 for the box and 1.45 for the partition (2.45 total). After further review, I think I can use the existing partitions from the 12-pack box, so I hope to avoid having to order more. I will check out boxmaker and also have another packaging company sending a sample from a "stock" size box to see if that will be an option.

Does anyone have a good source for 6 pack boxes and partitions for Pirimal 750ml Nordic bottles? I'm purchasing these bottles, but they come in 12-pack boxes. The price I'm getting for the 6-pack boxes and partitions is approximately $1.00 for the box and $1.45 for the partition (if ordering 1,000 at a time). I don't HAVE to do the 6-pack boxes, but if I do decide on this, I was curious if this pricing seems in line with what others are getting.

I am getting ready to place our first order of barrels and have narrowed down to Kelvin and ISC (Independent Stave Company). There is some more recent feedback on Kelvin on the forum, but I noticed the information from this thread on ISC is a few years old. Does anyone using ISC have some recent feedback? Or if anyone has any comparisons between ISC or Kelvin (product quality, accuracy of lead times, customer service, positive / negative experience, etc.).

I have the same result if only adjusting water without grain. 2 tablespoons will drop PH by about 1.5 (100 gallons). However, once grain is added and adjusting, then it was taking about a cup or more of citric. I am adjusting PH prior to each enzyme with grain in so that’s why so much citric was required as far as I can tell.

Newbie question regarding PH adjustment (down) with citric: Last weekend I did my first bourbon mash (150 gallons - 200 lbs of corn flour / 50 lbs rye / 5 lbs malt). Using enzymes from BSG (hitempase and Amylo 300) I was using citric to drop the PH from in the mid 6 range down to the 4.0 range for Amylo. I don't have my notes in front of me, but I'm pretty sure it took about a cup (or more) of citric to drop the PH. Does this seem right? I don't know what I was expecting, but it seemed like a large amount of citric and I started to worry that maybe I needed to let the mash rest longer before rechecking PH after adding citric. I was probably only waiting 5 minutes or so. I have no basis for comparison at this point, so just thought I would ask some of you with more experience if this seems right, or if I'm way off. Any feedback is appreciated.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a thermometer in the 40 - 100 degree range with a 1/4 degree subdivision as described in Section 30.22 of the gauging manual? I have a glass thermometer, but the range is wide, so it makes it difficult for accurate reading. Any good digital models anyone can recommend? I have a local lab that I'll use to do the calibration.

I have for sale a like-new McDonnell & Miller Series 67 LWCO. Float style. I installed on my new boiler, but realized I actually needed a pump controller instead of this LWCO. It was purchased new, hooked up, then disconnected before it was ever used. I paid $260 for it new and will sell for $100. PM me if interested.