Ryefarmer

I applaud innovation and all this is potentially workable. At the same time, as I read through the posts, I am struck by the complexities and costs for a gallon of vodka a week, which probably will not be much better than a mid range shelf vodka (as already stated). If it's single malt then the complexity level increases quite a bit. It can take years to master a good grain recipe. So who is the market aimed at? Amateur home hobby distillers who do not care about time or costs seem to me to be only market; (and it well may be a valuable market). 

But I suspect that part of the home distillation hobby is not just for the liquor but for the "craft" value. Taking too much "craft" away diminishes the challenge and resulting satisfaction.Times are a changin', though; and this old bearded farmer knows better then to say never to any innovation. A younger, more tech hungry (and fast food trained) customer may be the niche. I don't know.

I do know that your dialogue could be brought down to earth a little so we "simple" folk can better envision the product. Remember, some of your costumers are going to be looking their wives in the eye and listening to "YOU PAID HOW MUCH FOR IT??? To make WHAT??? You're going to put it WHERE??? WHY??? Science speak won't mean much then.

Anyway, good luck.

We are located in Tulelake, Cal., in the Cascades NE of Mount Shasta.

We grow soft white currently and hard red in the past. The taste characteristics are similar but the hard red is higher in protein and has a stronger gluten. Plus it mills quite a bit harder. I can't say for sure but the soft white, being higher in carbs and breaks down easier, may yield better.  It's the grain of choice for a local dairy who's cows eat and convert it much better than hard red. (and remember...cows are good methane producers)  

Tried your wife's hair dryer yet? Most of 'em put out 1800 watts. May or may not take the duty cycle.

I'm pretty new also. Welcome to the community.

This article may help a bit. It's about peaches but probably similar to apricots.

Possibly butyric or isovaleric acid??? Many seeds have trace amounts and it doesn't take much. Just a guess.

13 minutes ago, indyspirits said:

Hmm. That's not the impression we've gotten. Wonder if it's that a barrel full of dry-ish stillage is a helluva lot easier to move around than a barrel of wet.  I'm definitely going to make some calls.

We raise cattle and have used fuel ethanol stillage in the past. There are several reasons we like it dry. First, we bought it by the semi load and didn't want to pay for water. Second, we mixed it with dry feed in a ration and the dryer it was the better it mixed. Cows can bloat fairly easy with wet product where-as pigs have a better time digesting it.

Thank you OSD.

Bump.

No California craft distillers sell in Oregon?

I understand with the new California craft distilling law spirits may not be sold directly to retailers in California but can be exported. This may sound like a stupid question but can anyone clarify whether we can sell directly to Oregons OLCC? We are right on the California side of the  Oregon border and may have an easier time marketing in Oregon that California.

Thanks

Yeah, Great packaging. Welcome.

Dangit. I guess our wine must suck....we haven't received one yet. You guys that got one sure are lucky. Guess we might-as-well nix the distillery plans

I also thank you Paul. You show great class. We will certainly put your company at the top of the list for our needs.

Hi Justiin,

I'm just a newbie here too but doing abut the same thing you are doing. We have a vineyard and winery as well. I don't have much seniority to welcome you on the site but I do anyway. We are also looking at the same time frame. Good luck.

That amount shouldn't be hard to put aside in the future. Organic land around here is high dollar land and I suspect organic rye would have to be in excess of $700 a ton. (yeah I know!!) whereas regular rye is going for $160 a ton. This year we tried selling 30 tons to our local organic dairy who buys the rest of our grain and to the local grain marketer and neither one of them wanted it. so it is not an attractive grain for many farmers to grow around here. Most of it is hayed off and fed. It was only when we tasted the whiskey that we began to think maybe we ought to get into it. It would work well with the winery and some of it is grown on the same piece of ground the winery (and future distillery) is on.

I look forward to possible future dealings.

Hi Ryankf,

Most of the rye we have left now is outside on the ground going to the cows and is too weathered. So there is little available now. But could be in the future. We do raise quite a bit of organic grain (wheat and barley) and we are organic certified. Up until now we've only put rye on outlying and not so good lands 'cause it'll grow anywhere and provide good weed control. But we sure are reconsidering putting more in. It is pretty good rye gown at high altitude in volcanic soils and makes a very complex sweet and spicy drink.

The problem growing rye commercially. for us anyway. is that it is a pretty low yield crop and large amounts haven't been cost effective to grow. We have typically dumped around 30 tons a year (a truck load) to the cows (but they really don't like it much except for the stuff we hay). That would be sufficient for our little operation but isn't very much for some or most distilleries. My brother and I are talking about more in this year and have discussed the commercial avenue but haven't yet decided. I afraid we would  have to price our self out of the markets if we grew commercial organic rye.

At any rate I really can't commit right now but if you are interested I can keep in touch with you. How much do you think you would need?

Thanks for the replies.We appreciate and value the suggestions.

Hi all,

It looks as if we are going to be building a 300 gal all copper pot still for our up-and coming distillery. We have a good shop, welding equipment and welders. What we don't really know is what type and gauge of copper we need to use for this application. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks

In our winery we were required by the county officials to put in a separate septic (more correctly an underground holding) tank for our wine refuse liquids because they are generally quite acidic and we were told they will interfere with the septic action in the regular septic tank. I don't know for sure but I would assume the same would apply for brandy backset.

Hi,

I'm another newbie. I'm on a 3 generation family farm in Northern California. My family also owns a winery and we would like to start making brandy. But we also grow lots of rye (more than the cows can eat). It grows like a weed here and it doesn't sell real well so we would like to make rye spirits as well. Others have used it a little and it makes great whiskey. It would also be great to use much of the equipment of the winery in off season. We are currently in the process of permitting and are about to receive our DBA which is different than the winery.

I've spent the last few days traveling the website and really appreciate the info I have found.

Ryefarmer