Longleaf Distilling

Does anyone have a good source for bulk syrups? Would love to source a rich syrup (2 parts sugar : 1 part water). 50 gallon drums would be great, but I’ve not come across a vendor like this.

@Kindred Spirits Thanks for the advice. That’s what I’m leaning towards primarily for the proofing issue. I really don’t want to have to redistill a sample of every barrel to find the new proof.

This may be a stupid question, but what is the guidance/tradition on barrel aging liqueurs? In all of my reading, I have never come across the subject and would like to store a few liqueurs in used barrels for finishing and bulk storage. More specifically, should the liqueurs be aged before dilution & sweetening or after? Does anyone have any experience with the comparative effects of both? For example, I could store a Nocino at 180PF and save a lot of volume, but I'm not sure how the barrel would react to that high of proof and concentrated walnut flavor. Alternatively, it could be diluted down to around 100 proof and sweetend before being stored. Any recommendations or advice?

As far as I know, storage of high proof spirits in poly is not allowed for more than 24 hrs after receiving. Our totes are SS and Dalkita designed our H-3 rated area. A small amount of venting into the room is fine fire us given our airflow volume. I just figured it wasn’t great practice to leave a cap loose on the tank top.

When storing high proof spirits in IBC totes in an environment with fluctuating temperatures, I'm assuming that the tote needs to be vented to avoid building pressure or vacuum. I've been looking around for tote vents and haven't found much on the topic. What is everyone else using? These vents look promising, but the pressure rating is 4 PSI while the tote is only rated for 1 PSI. Am missing something?

When it comes to sizing hosing for fluid transfer, I haven't been able to find much info on choosing a production hose diameter. Is there a rule of thumb for distillery hose sizing? We are a smallish distillery that will likely not process any quantities of spirits over 350 gallons at a time. We are not mashing in-house, so basically only liquids transfers from vessel to vessel. While I was originally looking at 2" hosing, 1" and 1.5" seems quite a bit cheaper and I'm wondering if it will support our needs. Our EP pump supports 15 Gal/Min with 3/4" NTP connections, but what about gravity fed flow rates from tank to tank? On this same note, any recommended hose vendors and manufacturers that I should look into?

We're gearing up to open our tasting room and I was wondering what people with public tasting rooms had to say about going cashless or card-only? I've run a retail store in the past and cash was a constant headache while only accounting for around 5% of transactions. From what I have been told, a bar-type environment is quite different. Can anyone chime in on their experience with dealing with cash in the tasting room?

Sorry to drum up an old topic, but since the Label Modernization Act changed the alcohol tolerance to +-0.3%, doesn't than mean that devices like the SNAP-41 are compliant now? Where is the list of approved devices? I haven't been able to find that anywhere.

We're about to pull the trigger on bottle purchasing and have been gathering options from domestic suppliers. We are going to have a vodka, gin, and 2-3 whiskeys in our line to start. I am weighing the pros and cons of utilizing the same bottle across all products vs. having 2-3 different styles. All bottles will be filled, labeled and corked in-house, so I can definitely see the logistical issues that having multiple styles could bring. There is also the issue with supply right now as well. Any of you good folks care to weight in with sage advice? What do you wish you had done differently?

Thanks for all the great input. The more I learn, the more I'm starting to chip away at all of the variables and start to find our way forward. I think it's going to be best to start with a tighter concentration, likely around gin, and expand as it makes sense. I'm looking forward to being inundated with new ideas in Portland and New Orleans!

@DrDistillation their facilities are pretty tiny so they started by distilling sugar for space reasons. They make their vodka in-house with it.

Thanks @dhdunbar for the clarification. Glad I asked. Is it common for bottles to be miss-labeled or have errors of omission like this? Their Gin also says "100% Neutral Spirits Distilled from Grain" on it but during the tour I was given to think that the spirit was sugar-based given that's all they distill on-site. I guess they just bring in NGS for that.

I just looked on the front of the bottle and it only says "Produced by Distillery Name". No mention of any other distillery.

While visiting a distillery here in GA, I was asking questions about the distillery's new Bottled in Bond Bourbon and was surprised when the tour guide said that it was not distilled on-site! They had a (very) large Midwestern distillery make up their mash bill, ship them the distilled spirits, and then they barreled and aged them on-site. I'm hoping that the tour guide misspoke, but she seemed to know what she was talking about down to the exact mash bill. How can a spirit be called 'Bottled in Bond' if it wasn't distilled in the bonded area? Am I just reading the text incorrectly? Wikipedia says: "To be labeled as bottled-in-bond or bonded, the liquor must be the product of one distillation season (January–June or July–December) by one distiller at one distillery. It must have been aged in a federally bonded warehouse under U.S. government supervision for at least four years and bottled at 100 (U.S.) proof (50% alcohol by volume). The bottled product's label must identify the distillery where it was distilled and, if different, where it was bottled." The first sentence seems to contradict the last in that if it is distilled by a third party it would require a label, but wouldn't be BnB. I can't seem to find the actual legal text of the act.

@Golden Beaver Distillery Wow that's a fancy whiskey bottle. I'm really not sold on the name either. It does seem a bit too lighthearted or on-the-nose for what we want to accomplish. Also, here are a number of breweries around town that I don't want to step on the toes of, one of which is 'Macon Beer Co.' That's a bit too close for comfort. Honestly, we had to figure out a placeholder name for conference signups and forum names and that's what stuck for the time being. We're going to do the smart thing and have a marketing firm develop our brand from the ground up. @DrDistillation We already have a Ocmulgee Brew Pub, Piedmont Brew Pub, and Fall Line Brewery locally. Maybe your next career is in marketing. I have been leaning towards something using 'spirits' and something pointing to our 'Southern' roots. Having 'Macon' in the name seems like more of a liability than an asset to me. Outside of Middle Georgia, I'm not sure that anyone A. gives a damn about Macon and/or B. even knows where Macon is, much less it's history.

It's definitely time for us to get our menu nailed down. Part of the issue is that we just have too many good options! The more I think about it, I think a traditional pot still may be the direction to go. I think if I had my way I would just make Japanese style single-malts, but I'm afraid I don't have the experience nor the time. @DrDistillation I've definitely been doing lots of research on setups by visiting local distilleries, but I like your idea about using video as a resource.

@DrDistillation We're still in our early planning stages and I'm doing my research now decide what equipment we need to be pursuing. Ideally, I would like our still to be versatile enough to handle multiple product types so I was leaning towards a pot still with a 4 plate column. I'm also developing Gantt charts to try to understand how our production schedule would work and how equipment size/combinations effects production. I am still hazy on the benefits of having both a stripping still and spirit still. I understand the additional flexibility having both could offer, but if capacity isn't the issue, what would the other benefits be other than increased cost and maintenance? As far as our product lineup goes, we're still trying to pin that down. Of course we will start with Vodka (likely from NGS base) and Gin (in-house) but want to be able to offer a bolder Rye, complex Straight Whiskey, and a Bourbon. I'm still debating on the future of single-malts (peated or not). I could definitely see us producing some liquors as well. That's a lot of balls to juggle on a single system. @Silk City Distillers Thanks for the info! In your experience, is there a noticeable different in flavor profile between a single-run whiskey and doing a double run? Do you do single runs for all of your whiskeys?

I've seen a few stills with plates that can be removed/turned mid-distillation and I read that with some Rum producers, will plate during the heads for good separation, then let them go wide open for the hearts. They then close them back up and reestablish equilibrium for a tighter tails separation. Seemed like an interesting concept. Just wondering what proof doing a single-heart run like that would produce.

It seems that most whiskey is made using a double run method through a pot still, but why not a single run through a plated column? This seems like a simple question, but I haven't been able to find a good answer anywhere. What are the effects on flavor? How many plates would be necessary to distill a 9-10% wash up to 130 proof in a single run? I am trying to configure our first distillation setup and am weighing the usefulness of a 4-5 plate column still. It seems like doing a single run would be much more efficient with both time and energy.

Hello from Macon, GA. I am deep into developing a business plan for a new distillery based in Macon and I've been reading through posts for the better part of 3 months now. The distillery business is relatively new to me so I feel like I've been drinking from a fire hose. Our plans are slowly starting to take shape and the info posted by everyone here has been invaluable. I look forward to participating a bit more directly, but I've just been getting myself to the point where I can ask an intelligent question that hasn't already been posted a dozen other times. This business has quite the learning curve. We aren't fixed on the 'Macon Booze' name and would love some feedback. It seems a bit cheeky to me, but it's memorable. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom, must-have resources, or distillery start-up advice, please let it rip. I'm sure everyone has something they wish they would have done differently and we're wide open to new ideas. Cheers!