adamOVD

We started with pretty simular capacities and bottle prices about 6 months ago. We have been in the black every month, even after paying ourselves a basic salary. Only reason though is because we have a ton of sweat equity into the place, and took the time and effort to build a very nice, although small tasting room and are making money on cocktails and very limited food menu. It does also become a full time gig for a few people at that point. Our business model changed quite a bit over the year and a half build out process, but I'm pretty sure we settled on the best route for our size. Also depends on the laws in your state as to what you can do in a tasting room. Best of luck if you move foward.

@Storm King Distilling Co. Thanks for posting the solution after you figured it out. Did the same thing yesterday. Ran too much water to the deph while pulling hearts. Towards the end of the hearts cut the plates would all stack and then a flood of distillate would come out, and the plates would unstack. Then repeat again. My finished hearts cut ended up being 180 proof running through 5 plates, when it usually ends up being around 165 proof. I also have a pinhole leak in my condenser. Sounds like we have a lot of common problems. Learning something every day.

Thanks @bluefloss. Everything you said makes sense. I'm gonna replace some of the steel wool with copper mesh to hopefully get a bit more refux, and keep the plates on top so I can watch the reflux like you mentioned. Im really close to holding 95% through the entire run. I am running a dephlem, my still charge is right about 40%.

In the beginning to compress the heads at the top of the column and lessen your heads cut, and during the hearts cut so the equilibrium of the still holds the tails low in the column and increases your hearts cut. You really have to understand what is happening in the column to understand what effect the dephleg is having. You could write a whole book on the subject.

@slickfloss No, I have a long section of packed column (5'), and a short section of plated column (5 plates). I am wondering what section to put on top of which, as it is all modular. I strip first so am not worried about cleaning grain. The first time I ran with the plates on bottom they all flooded, but I was probably putting too much heat into the boiler. I'm getting 95%, if I run it correctly, with the plates on top, and can see what is happening at the top of the column, but would be stoked to have a faster more stable take off. I'm not sure what RAP is. Spiral prismatic packing and copper mesh are the only things I've read about working better than steel wool. Thanks. I'd like to avoid putting packing in the plate section because I don't want to break the downcomer when I stuff it in.

When using both packing and plates and aiming for 190P, which is better to have on top? I have a 4" column with 5' of packed, and five plates, using a dephlem. to control take off. I've been running with the plates on top, but read in a post recently the advise to pack the top plates to someone having a hard time reaching neutral. In my mind it seems like the plates would more easily flood if on the bottom. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedback. When I have run without the agitator, I do run the agitator until the plates begin to stack, then turn it off. Then very carefully turn it back on when I hit tails, as it wants to send a surging flood of spirits through the column when turned on.

Been making a couple different types of rums lately. I 've been doing it on the molasses in a single pass though plates. Since it is a jacketed still, and there are no solids, I can run with or without the agitator running. With agitation helps to stop the surging, which one of my rums struggles with (I think because of the type of yeast). Without seems to make my hearts cut smaller and my heads cut larger, but I haven't played around enough to be certain. Any advise on when you do or don't agitate? Thanks.

Would line 17B of the production report (Physical inventory of unfinished spirits) also be where you report any feints on hand during inventory?

Plates are a whole lot sexier, but running a long column with packing material in it is a whole lot cheaper if the budget is tight, and can have an even higher theoretical plate value. You can still run the plates on top to keep things sexy looking.

@Silk City Distillers I think I've heard this before, but don't remember why people felt that way. What is the reasoning? Interesting note on counter flow heat exchangers, I recently read that a certain duck's vascular system serves as one, to help isolate the cold to it's legs when standing on the ice.

SlickFloss makes some good points. Having just got out of the brewing industry, going back to endless packaging days, and measuring dissolved oxygen levels isn't so appealing. Cleaning the residual flavors of cola, ginger beer, or other sweet syrupy mixers out of your packaging lines is going to be terrible as well.

Thanks dhdunbar I was pretty sure it would be a no go. It would be cool though.

I was thinking of having a crowler machine in the tasting room, not the dsp, and mixing cocktails to go in it. Haven't researched the legalities yet though.

Awesome. Thanks guys, that makes life way easier.