@Skaalvenn, how does your Fire Marshall feel about an ignition source that close to your still? I'm not 100% with the hazardous area classification (HAC) systems in the USA.
In Australia and New Zealand we are governed by the Workplace Health and Safety act (the law) and secondly Australian and New Zealand Standards AS/NZS 60079 - explosive atmospheres.
Firstly, the Australian Standards are not law however IN OUR CASE THEY ARE.
Why? Well, when a law such as the Workplace Health and Safety act references an Australian Standard that standard now becomes law.
Essentially for us we can't have an ignition source within the hazardous area classification zone. A flame under a still for example falls into that area.
All electricals within and above the hazardous zone must comply with the AS/NZS 60079. Basically much like the ATEX (American) standards we need to comply with IECEx (European) for all of our electricals. For example a standard incandescent light bulb above your distilling area is not acceptable.
All electrical work carried out must be done by a HAC certified electrician, all work must be reported to Work Safe in your state and Work Safe reserve the right to inspect your installation prior to you being allowed to energise your project.
AS/NZS 60079 - Explosive atmospheres, covers off much of the building layout, design, installation, assessment and controls of explosive atmospheres. Which they say is any flammable liquid or vapour (Hazardous Chemical - see https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au). A flammable liquid and in our case a hazardous chemical is anything at or above 20%abv or 40%proof.
In addition to these standards there are standards regarding the design of pressure vessels and the venting of pressure vessels etc.
Just like in the Silver Trails incident, just because standards exist....it doesn't mean that every distillery built is going to comply with them. It all comes down to the knowledge of the approving authorities, the design architects and engineers, the distillery CEO and the rest of the team involved. All of which costs a lot of money if you are going to get it right, compliance is not cheap.
Non-compliance is ultimately more expensive in the long run if you blow-up your distillery and kill people. Or if your lucky and that doesn't happen, Work Safe/Safe Work Australia walk in and immediately shut you down or slap you with a 14days to comply notice.
The purpose of my rant? "Bootstrap budget" and "Distillery" are ALMOST at polar opposites to each other. If this is the path you wish to take then seek a great deal of counsel before hand and make sure you are 100% aware of the requirements under your laws before you spend a single cent. It's much cheaper to design compliance into your plan than to retrospectively plan to comply.
Cheers,
Mech.