Thatch

This topic has been discussed at length. You might want to use the search function moving forward.

ABV from ferment is around 8%. I am currently waiting on parts to increase the height of the column. The manufacturer has been able to duplicate the issue using an all-malt wash and he believes the foam will only rise so high. The parts were shipped today from New Zealand. I'll post an update once we're had a chance to try again. As @Alex_Sorand @Silk City Distillershave mentioned in the thread, foaming is a fact of life with an all malt wash.

Old post but 4 gallons of water to 1 pound of grain

He wrote plastic "We a few plastic IBC totes"

IBC's may not be used for storage, they are only for shipping. https://www.dalkita.com/prohibition-on-flammable-liquids-in-plastic-totes/

Thanks Guys, sounds like we need to go to plan B If we do 100% wheat. Greatly appreciated!

Thanks Adam. Since we use a roller mill our grist is not going to be like flour. Hopefully that and the rice hulls will save the day from a stuck mash.

Bump. Input anyone?

This will be our first attempt at a malted wheat mash. Our normal mash is 100% malted barley. We use a roller mill. We lauter, sparge and vorlauf. We mash 800 lbs at a time. My questions are: What temperature for the mash water? Have many pounds of rice hulls do I need for 800 lbs of malted wheat? In general what do we need to watch for as far a differences between mashing malted barley vs malted wheat? All feedback is greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Separated is a YES, Enclosed is a NO. You must have a floor to ceiling wall separating the two.

Hi @GoldCreek, What everyone has written is 100% true. However, we have 2 - 500 liter electric stills from Genio that have served us very well. You are fortunate to be in Canada where a person who is very knowledgeable about electric stills resides. He can really discuss in depth what you need. I would recommend that you contact : Adam Szymkow adam@polonee.com POLONĒE DISTILLERY 289.700.2334 www.polonee.ca www.kannuk.ca CANADIAN DISTILLERY WITH POLISH ROOTS Adam is the factory rep for Genio in Canada. It is my understanding that Genio was the first iStill before the owners of each company had a falling out. Support from both the Genio factory as well as Adam has been terrific. Cheers,

For all you pump buyer out there you need to hear a story. We bought a Jabsco pump with a Lenze inverter from TCW several years ago. This pump has a remote with an umbilical cord. My people found a way to run the cart across the umbilical and pull it out of the contacts. Then they reprogrammed the pump via some youtube video they found. So, the pump could function but not with the remote. I called Michael @MichaelAtTCWand even though he had some family problems and had to call me from home, he got me back up and running within minutes. He is one of the many people who donate their expertise to this forum without asking for anything in return. IMHO, if you buy pumps from anyone else, your nuts! Okay guys and gals, give it up for Michael Caviness, lots of thumbs up for this post.

It's up to your AHJ. The building should be grandfathered in. Just because a building has an F-1/S-1 occupancy does not mean that they have to give you a certificate of occupancy for your distillery. This speaks to the issue of grandfathering. http://media.iccsafe.org/news/icc-enews/2016v13n16/2015bce_comm_p9-10.pdf

Sorry, my posts blend together. In a previous post I stated, we are fermenting OFF grain. We do lauter, sparge and vorlauf in our mash tun prior to pumping over to the fermenter. The screen is for a 2" tri-clamp fitting. I am also considering putting a mesh bag on our outlet valve to catch any debris before it goes to the fermenter. Our outlet goes to a grant and we pump from the grant to the fermenter. But, other folks are concerned about changing our flavor profile. I think we are leaving 99% of the solids behind and capturing that last 1% in a mesh bag can't do any harm. Any thoughts?

Thanks @Alex_Sor The most widely used product that contain Simethicone here is the US is FermCap - S. I have purchased some FermCap - S and I am have ordered a 40 mesh screen for my fermenter. FermCap - S is a 10% Simethicone solution. You wrote that I have to "stir + adding". That will not be possible since I have closed top fermenters. I will try to add it to the fermenter before adding the wash and before pitching the yeast. If that will not do the job than I will not be able to work with the "rocket" as it is currently constructed.

Thanks @Silk City Distillers I'm going to try @Alex_Sorsuggestions first. Just ordered a 40 mesh screen for the fermenter and on my way to pick up some FermCap S.

Thanks @Alex_SorWhen would I apply the anti foam? To the mash, to the ferment or stir it in prior to distillation? In making beer, I would apply anti-foam prior to the boil but in making spirits, my boil takes place in the still.

Okay, so what's my best bet to try, Simethicone, Alpha, Beta, if so, what dosage, taller column, hope that @Alex_Sor reads this post? Or, try them all? Fortunately our current stripping still is doing the job so there is no rush to get this "gnarly little rocket" up and running.

HI Slickfloss, there is still some confusion. This is a video of my still after construction and prior to shipping being tested with sugar wash. In the video it is being cooled with water. The two smaller columns are a steam generator and a water reservoir.

Thanks @SlickFloss. I don't know what is happening inside the still and neither does the manufacturer. We are using glycol as a coolant, not the wash. I'm going to try both FermCap S as well as a product from Munzing. The manufacturer is also looking at the possibility that he built the still too short. Enzymes are not on the table. The distillery is inside our malt house. We are happy with our conversion and our yield and we will not be changing our process to accommodate this new piece of equipment. At this point either the simethicone products work or the still will need to be modified to support our wash.

The manufacturer is starting to think it might be the still. We tried mixing baking soda with the wash to rid us of as much CO2 as possible (major foam over with 4 gallons of wash in a 5 gallon bucket) but it still puked. I'm not sure if puking is the correct term to use in this case, the problem is my distillate is still the color of my wash. The still was only tested with a sugar wash prior to leaving the manufacturer. He is thinking of adding another section to the column to provide more head space as a solution.

It is a continuous column (coffey still) made by a guy in New Zealand. There are no enzymes, this is an all malt mash. grist ratio = 4, yes, a tiny amount of dish washing liquid, it keeps the olive oil suspended.

Thanks @PeteB. What product are you using and at what dosage?

Our current operation calls for us to add 300 ml of olive oil to a 1350 liter ferment as a defoamer to an all malt wash. We strip 350 liters at a time in a bain marie stripping still, giving us 4 runs per ferment. We add 200 ml of olive oil plus a teaspoon of dish washing liquid to each stripping run. I'm not sure why we adopted this procedure since it seems to me that the addition of ALL the olive oil (1100 ml) would better feed the yeast. The real problem is, we are switching to a small continuous column (feed rate 100 liters/hour) for stripping and we are having a significant foaming problem (puking) which I believe we can overcome with adding all the olive oil to the ferment. Is there any reason I would NOT want to add all the olive oil to the ferment? Is there a better way to approach this problem?

If your not familiar with this FB group, it is sponsored by a brewing school in the UK. You might want to make a post here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/400189713900067/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=978800762705623