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Rum

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Everything posted by Rum

  1. Michael - a few questions: How adjustable is the shelf? Does it only adjust in increments based on the holes I see on the sides? Or is there a way to fine tune it more? If only the holes, how large is the minimum increment for adjustment? At what proof of spirit would you recommend the air pump? How do you recommend cleaning the unit (reservoir in particular) after bottling a product with strong flavors? Is there a drain on the bottom of the reservoir?
  2. Managed to get this one working with a little superglue. Would still like to know good backup suppliers for parts though.
  3. We need to get the little blue gasket for our enolmaster. Our normal source won't have it for a few months. Any suggestions on where to buy? Anyone have a spare to sell?
  4. Just an fyi... if your first attempt is rejected the TTB will give you the reasons. You do not go to the end of the line when you resubmit the changes. In our experience it is relatively quick to get the changes reviewed. It's waiting for the first review that seems to take a long time.
  5. No vapor loss. I don't think that it's going to prove to be a leak in the condenser. I would expect to get some hearts in the first spirits run in that case, just less of them. I noticed a little white substance on the wall of one of the fermentors at the top of the wash this morning. I'm guessing that it's an infection causing it. Even though we follow regular cleaning procedures there are always a few little spots that might allow something undesirable to take hold. I've spent the entire morning dissembling, cleaning, bleaching, etc... Steam cleaning all tanks/hoses. Taking pumps apart for cleaning. Etc, etc, etc etc. At least the taste of the rum hasn't been affected. Just the final amount.
  6. Thanks for all the answers. I think the next step is to do a breakdown and thorough cleaning. My usual cleaning process is to use PBW at about 70 C followed by a hot water rinse. The still also gets a citric acid wash and an extra rinse.
  7. I do collect way down into tails normally. But I also clean the still on a regularly scheduled basis. It has a full CIP system. The only part without CIP is the pre-condensor. I can pull the top off and take a look just to be sure. When it is going into tails so quickly it's not just flavor that I notice, the temp is where you would expect for tails. It's an interesting thought regarding the tails part of the problem, but I'd be surprised if being dirty would account for reduced output from my stripping runs.
  8. What kind of filters are you using? Do you rinse them well with RO water before putting the gin through? Calcium oxalate takes a few months to form. You might also see it when you proof down. Most plate filters are going to have calcium in them if not fully rinsed. It can also come from activated carbon that has not been rinsed properly. It is usually white and string-like, but I thought I'd mention it since it forms in about the same time frame you mentioned.
  9. Anyone run into this before? The yield from the stripping runs has dropped. On the spirits run there are no hearts. It goes into tails after heads. I can get hearts out of the tails when I run them though another spirits run, but the total yield has dropped. Same batch of molasses. Same batch of yeast. Same batch of nutrients. Held at the same temp (or very close) during fermentation. City water is used in the fermentation. Any ideas?
  10. Did you end up getting those pictures? I've been considering another bottling machine to replace our Enolmaster. It works great if you know what you are doing but the inexperienced temps will often get the fill level wrong by not pushing the bottle all the way up. I want something more foolproof for an inexperienced user.
  11. Thanks Sam. That's good info. We seal all of our bottles with a shrink wrap over a synthetic t-top. They are pretty air tight. I wasn't too clear about the heating. I was looking to do accelerated aging tests on a couple of bottles by heating them to 105 for a few months, not for production use. I just got a quote back on a desktop testing unit and it came in over $7000. I don't think we will be doing that test after all! We'll just put it in the trunk of a black car for a few months. In Florida that should provide plenty of heat to test accelerated aging.
  12. Thanks for the response. We currently have an infusion based spiced rum that we filter down as low as .22 micron. No sediment problems over time in that one, but it isn't oily. We were considering heating it to 105 degrees or so for a couple of months to see what happens. I want to make sure that it doesn't develop any off flavors over time. If a bottle ends up sitting on a shelf in a small store's back room for a few years I'd still prefer it to taste good when opened.
  13. Check with your local fire marshall as well. Ours could only go up to 12' by default. I'm not sure if we could go higher with an engineer involved or not.
  14. Any concerns with shelf life in a product made with macerated ingredients such as citrus or coconut? Without chill filtering you leave more of the natural oils in the product and it tastes great. Can the oils impact the long term shelf life? It would be in a 70 proof product.
  15. We used wax for a limited release bottling of about 350 bottles. I don't think that I would want to use it for high volumes. The look is very upscale but it is labor intensive. We used Reed wax. They did a great job of color matching the shrinks that we use on our standard bottles. We built a wood box with u-shaped holes/indents to hold the bottles over the pot of wax after dipping. They were allowed to drip for 10 to fifteen seconds before being dipped in cold water. I ended up doing a double dip to get the top thicker. We also used tape to create pull tabs before dipping. Reed Wax: 781-944-4640 Peter Griffin 978-500-9341 Picture of the wax dipped bottles attached.
  16. Castro Valley winery fined $115,000 for using volunteers Source: Mercury-News By Rebecca Parr 09/16/2014 A small-time vintner's use of volunteer workers has put him out of business after the state squeezed him like a late-summer grape for $115,000 in fines -- and sent a chill through the wine industry. The volunteers, some of them learning to make wine while helping out, were illegally unpaid laborers, and Westover Winery should have been paying them and paying worker taxes, the state Department of Industrial Relations said. "I didn't know it was illegal to use volunteers at a winery; it's a common practice," said winery owner Bill Smyth. State law prohibits for-profit businesses from using volunteers. "But not anymore," he said Monday. When word got around, several wineries sent their volunteers home. Westover was cited in July for not paying minimum wage, not providing wage statements and not paying workers' compensation insurance, said Peter Melton, a spokesman for the state. "These are not idle things. People should be paid for their labor. The workers' compensation violations are very serious. What happens if someone has a catastrophic injury at the winery?" he asked. And, he added, "It isn't fair to wineries that are paying their employees to have to compete against for-profit wineries that do not." Some in the industry were already aware of the risk. After learning in early 2013 that two member wineries were using volunteers, the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association told its members that for-profit businesses can't do that, said Chris Chandler, the association's executive director. The Wine Institute, which represents more than 1,000 California wineries, gives the same advice. "If our member wineries are using volunteers, they might want to reconsider," said Wendell Lee, its attorney and vice president. While he was not familiar with all the facts in the Westover case, Lee said the size of the fine surprised him. "It seems to be a case of a small-business owner who inadvertently thought it was OK" to use volunteers, he said. "It just seems the penalties shouldn't be so punitive as to put someone out of business." Smyth has paid some of the fines and is appealing the rest. Meanwhile, he and his wife, Jill, are holding a going-out-of-business sale and plan to shut down before the end of the year. The fines represent more than a decade's worth of profits for the winery, which nets about $11,000 a year, Smyth said. "There's just no money left; they've taken everything," he said. "We're a small winery, open only 10 hours a week. We didn't really need any helpers; we were just educating people about wine," he said. About half the people the state considered Westover employees were taking a free class at the Palomares Canyon Road winery. Students learned about growing vines, harvesting and blending grapes and marketing the finished product. "This was an incredible opportunity for me," said Peter Goodwin, a home winemaker from Walnut Creek who said he dreams of opening a winery with some friends. "I got to learn from someone who knows the business." The winery sometimes asked Goodwin if he wanted to assist in different tasks. "That's what I wanted, to be as involved as much as possible -- it was all about learning," he said. "I don't understand the state's action. It was my time, and I volunteered." Ken Tatum took the classes because he thought it would be fun to learn more about making wine and running a winery. The state fines were ridiculous and unfair, he said. "I should be able to volunteer my time," said the retired Castro Valley resident. Why, Tatum asked, didn't the state first warn Smyth that using volunteers was not OK? The law does not allow for warnings, Melton said. If Department of Industrial Relations representatives see violations, he said, they are required to issue citations.
  17. I wouldn't worry about it at all. That is a pretty minor inaccuracy compared to what you are likely to encounter in the future. We have had countless mistakes made in reporting. When it comes down to it most readers do not remember the details. Hopefully they come away with an interest in your product. James makes a good point. An information sheet/email will go a long ways towards accuracy but even that doesn't seem to guarantee there won't be mistakes. Nice article, btw.
  18. Depends on what you are trying to do but in general the cartridges are going to cost a lot more than plate and frame filters. We use plate and frame for production and cartridges for bottling.
  19. We use the same equipment from Jesse. I fill it pretty close to the top and then run RO water through it. We use about 300 liters or more to rinse it. After running the rum through we discard the carbon and start fresh next time. All of the rum goes through a plate filter to remove any carbon remnants before proofing.
  20. Had a great visit with Pete! He was even nice enough to teach me a bit about stopping barrel leaks and left me with a nice new hammer and chisel for knocking hoops into place. And he makes some damn good whiskey.
  21. The state is looking for us to make "best efforts" to abide by the rules. Given that there are interests who opposed craft distillers being able to sell any amount of spirits, I would not be surprised to find compliance being tested by someone. We would like to expand the law at a future date. Any craft distiller in the state getting caught breaking the rules will hamper that effort. We use an add-on product to our POS system that captures info on buyers by a scan of their drivers license. If they have purchased previously we can see the buying history. It also does an automatic age check for us. While it is definitely restrictive, it is far better than last year at this time when we couldn't sell any bottles direct to consumers.
  22. Correct. We can not self distribute in any form. We can sell two bottles per person per year through our tasting room.
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