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Connor

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  1. Hi guys, just wanted to get a quick update in. We are up and running! Check us out at www.AlmendraWinery.com Here's the still in its final state
  2. Thanks jamesbednar, I was hoping to get a solid number for what I could expect for dilution. That helps a lot. Any idea what kind of water pre-treatment would be involved?
  3. Hello all, I'm looking at using direct steam injection for heating our 660 gallon alembic still. I don't want to use direct fire nor do we want to build a jacket. I was hoping to get some opinions and expertise on the matter from you all. Does anyone have experience with direct injection with their still? What are your thoughts on quality, pro's, and con's of the system? What requirements are there for producing clean steam? How is it done and what should I make our HVAC guy aware of? How big of boiler would you recommend? Cheers, Connor
  4. I want to cook bourbon grain in and am worried about too much scorching in the pot with direct flame. We're going to mount an agitator to keep things moving, do you think I'm being a little paranoid about it scorching?
  5. Hi Guys, What do you guys think would be the best way to add a steam jacket/coils to our still? Cheers, Connor
  6. Yeah it would purely be just a way to start. Once we get rolling we definitely plan on getting dedicated pieces for fermentation. I'm just wondering if its possible, sounds like it though? I'm mostly worried about the steam jacket and if it could be doubled as a glycol jacket.
  7. Anyone have any experience with doing this? My idea is to get a steam jacketed mash tun then just leave the mash in the tank, pitch yeast, and ferment. The steam jacket could then be used with cold water to get down to pitching temperature and glycol to manage temperature during ferment. I'm not worried about tying up the mash tun for a week or so while it ferments. We are not planning on doing more than one run every other week or so.
  8. These are great ideas, thank you so much for your help guys. Anyone know where to find 5-6" copper bolts? They need to be copper to prevent electrolysis. I'm having a rough time coming across the like. I suppose I could probably use nylon bolts...
  9. Hey guys, I'm wondering if someone with some copper experience can help me with a project I'm doing. I'm replacing the condenser coil supports in our still. Currently they are made of wood and have severely rotted away. Nowadays Prulho makes all the supports out of copper pipe and we would like to do the same. Here is a picture of how they do it. I have been in contact with Prulho and they say that the dents are made with a disc grinder. My question is how can a disc grinder make those dents without cutting through the pipe? As you can see the dents go much further in than the thickness of the pipe which you can observe by the bolt holes. Any ideas? Or a better way of doing it? Cheers, Connor
  10. Bravo, I would be very interested in how this turns out for you. Could you send me your final build and results when/if you go this route?
  11. ASD, I've thought about the steam jacket route and contacted some manufactures but no one has ever gotten back to me. Any idea of how this would be done and who could do it? We have a shop guy that can fab something quick if its simple enough.
  12. Thanks guys! If you are interested at looking at its progress check out my post "Hello from Northern California" in the Welcome and Introduce Yourselves forum. Matt, the ports from left to right on the still are a sightglass, CIP system, arrival of wash, and blowoff valve. The only other port that you can't see is another sightglass on the front. Were looking at the back of the still in the picture posted. I don't think we will be using the arrival of wash port as our main method of filling because that comes from the preheater and we would like to load directly into the boiler. To load we will probably just be using the front sightglass. That leaves the back sightglass port for options. The still also does not come apart, so any sort of agitator would have to be inserted through the top unless we want to cut it open. I just don't see this happening, maybe you have another idea that I'm not seeing. Clearwater, we definitely want to do bourbon. I've actually already started looking into the LSS. From the email they sent me yesterday though they were saying that their base model was $29k? I wonder if their prices went up. Maybe we can find a used model...
  13. After a couple weeks of elbow grease and sore shoulders I shot this yesterday, I think I'm finally finished (more or less)!
  14. I'm sure we could find someone closer but the reason we are going with the one in WA is because they are very close friends of ours and the price would be almost negligible. Plus its an excuse to visit the Portland area every once in a while.... Its only an 8 hour trip between us though, so a very easy day drive. They are right on the border of OR/WA and we are in Northern CA. If the wort was chilled overnight before the trip I think it would make it home and we could pitch as soon as we rolled in. I think? Thoughts please. So as far as legalities are concerned, this is completely doable? Would we have to even declare anything special on our taxes?
  15. Hi Guys, Were looking at sourcing our wort from a microbrewery for our first couple of years to keep costs down. The microbrewery is in Washington and we are located in California. Does anyone know the legalities of this kind of operation and what we would need to report? Cheers, Connor
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