jenschmunk@gmail.com

Did you managed to figure out what went wrong in your procedure? I have an identical situation and have repitched YN, heated up with aquarium heaters AND repitched yeast and have moved from 1.034 to 1.030 in a few days. Tips?

Hmm...my basket is entirely made of perforated copper. I'm assuming I have the same issue then?

I know this is a REALLY old post, but I have a similar problem. My gins aren't turning out too light, just lighter. I checked the botanicals immediately afterward and they are very warm, some damp, but most very dry-like dusty dry! Am I putting too much in the basket? I ran approx 300L of 80proof. It turned out okay, but I'm concerned I'm losing flavor from the basket.

Hi Paul, Sorry I missed this message! Yes he did. He was such a great help and yes, we got it going! It still floods badly into the second bubble plate on the second column, BUT we are running! Thank you again!!

Well said Paul! Thank you very much for helping me through this disaster. It is so very much appreciated! Jen

Hi Thatch! Paul, Mike and Meerkat have been absolutely incredible help! I have to say, I ran my still for the 1st time successfully using both columns today with their help! I owe them the world! They 1000% deserve the Championship trophy! Thank you SO SO much guys!!

Hi! The trays appear quite dry as far as I can see. I can see the odd drip in a couple of them, but the base of each tray is quite dry. How do I fix this?

Hi Paul, Yes absolutely I would sign that disclosure agreement. We wont be speaking to Hawke again anyhow. I will be calling. Thank you very much

Those are aquatherm pipes for the glycol cooling system. They aren't insulated yet so for now they are exposed.

Hi Tom, I have pulled all the valves out and they are properly pointed. Where the handle is pointing on the 3 way is where it is closed off.

Hi! Thank you so much for your reply. It appears the coolant is piped individually. Here is a pic

The temperature of the first dephlag was around 50 deg celcius. Here are images of the ways my calves were opened. The first image is the 1st column. The 3 way valve is closed to the right, forcing the steam downward to the base of the first column. The valve that opens/closed at the top of the dephleg to the main steam pipe is open. The second image is of the second column. I have the valve closed to the right, thus pushing the steam returned from the 1st column, downward toward the base of the second column. The valve at the top of the second dephleg is open as well direction steam back to the main steam pipe. I have the valve to the gin basket closed off and the exit valve is open so the steam that has built up inside the basket from the backflow can exit. There are no shut off valves on the back of the backflow to prevent this. I have a backflow pipe that is attached at the base of each column and the gun basket that is open as well. Does anything look off?

I have turned off the cooling to the dephleg because it seems to be the only way to get the second column to heat up. The water coming out is hot, yes.

Hi! Thanks for the reply. I do not have antifoam in the pot and haven't seen any foam build up at all. The thermometers are both standard(not digital) and in degree celcius.

Hi everyone! I'm in desperate need of some advice. I bought an electric 600L pot still with a whiskey helmet and 2 side by side 7 plate columns from Hawke Probate Distillation services. I am having an extremely hard time getting my system to function properly. The second column won't get up to temp unless I overheat the still and then it pukes. Tonight, after my millionth attempt, suddenly I noticed the dephleg on the second column was at 90celcius and the column was only at 40celcius. What is happening?! Can anyone give me suggestions as to what to try next? If someone has a similar 2 column system, perhaps you could walk me through your process and maybe I'll catch something that I'm missing. I'm absolutely desperate as my supplier has decided to neglect his duty in supporting his client and backing up his product. Please help! Much much appreciated ! Jen

Oh boy...does that mean I've been wasting botanicals during each run? I took a gin course a few months a ago and that was the quantity we had used. Yeesh. So now, if I adjust my quantity (71.3g/L) to about half of what it was, will I still get the same result flavor wise?

Hi Indy, I'm interested to know how you managed to scale up your recipe? We are using a 20L alembic still, but only running 1.5L trials each time. I've mastered the botanicals in my last trial run, but now how do I scale up to a 600L(150ish gallon) still? Am I crazy to think that multiplying my 1.5L by 400 is a place to start? That sounds ridiculously insane to me as calculating botanical costs for a 600L seems to add up to $556/run in botanicals. This seems nuts, no? I used 107g of botanicals in my 1.5L batch.

Ok thank you. That's what I figured. I will just used them to store excess grains. Thanks

Yes, they are painted on the exterior.

Anyone else have any suggestions on what to do with the heads? I've heard of selling them to a marijuana plant to create hash oil...what other options do we have?

Haha! Ya no kidding! Yuck. I can't even imagine. Good advice. I'll keep looking.

That sounds like a good option as well. I was hoping to collect all in one tank, but that might just work. I would then have to dump into a proofing tank of sorts, which then I still have to find. Does anyone know where money trees grow? I could use one right about now. Haha! Thoughts on these food grade plastic barrels for collection? I'm searching for 500L plastic storage tanks for proofing. Am I heading in the right direction?

Hi! Thank you for your reply. We managed to find these barrels for $25 each. They are in fantastic condition. Do you think it's safe to collect distillate in them? How do I know? I haven't cleaned them out yet. There's still some palm oil chunks left in them, but very clean otherwise. Would TSP be a good cleaner for them? What do you collect in now? I'm on a tight budget and you're right, SS drums are impossible to find cheap. Suggestions?

Yes you are correct, I meant drums thank you for the links. I'm hoping to keep the drum cost under $100/drum. I think in the meantime, I might use them for grain storage, but would be disappointed if they could have been used for temporary spirit storage.

Hi! I'm looking for some advice. I just purchased 4 -45gal food grade barrels that we previously used for palm and coconut oil. They are rated food grade as they have what appears to be a sprayed lining in them. I need something to collect my distillate off the still and for proofing down. Would this be sufficient? I can't find any info on the coating of the barrels and am worried that I jumped the gun and bought something that I can't use for this purpose. What do you all use ? I need something that is affordable as we are a small-ish distillery(150gallon still). Thanks!