Southernhighlander

Geekspirits, Dehner and PetB are both right. That false bottom and your tank will both be destroyed if you use a pump like that and the screen clogs.

If you are going to spend the money on a centrifugal sifter, why not spend it on a jacketed still so that you can distill on the grain. Personally I prefer corn based spirits distilled on the grain. I have tasted corn based spirits distilled off the grain and to me it tastes like it is missing something.

Hi Starcat, We do still controllers. Email me paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com

The number of different flavor profiles that can be obtained with botanicals is virtually endless and many Gin distillers want to start with a clean pallet so they use a neutral spirit. http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-still.co

Below is a picture of one of our 300 gallon Pro Series Vodka stills that one of our delivery trucks is delivering to a distillery in NM today. My employee will also be assembling the still on site. We have 2 delivery trucks and they stay very busy.

I agree with Foreshot. States are getting friendlier to distilleries. Mo changed it's liquor laws in 2009 to become one of the best states for distillery start ups. Home distilling is legal in MO. You can hold both a distributors licence and a distillers licence. You automatically get a by the drink and carry out licence with your state DSP. There are no limits to what you can sell at your distillery and you do not have to sell it to the state government and buy it back. Some people will say that it does not matter that home distilling is legal in MO, because it is not legal under federal law. It does matter. My county sheriff has no problem with it. My county prosecutor says he enforces state law so as long as the state laws are fallowed it is fine with him. Most importantly, I called the state ATC (alcohol tobacco control) officer for my area and he told me that as long as state laws are fallowed, a person can make up to 200 gallons per year of distilled spirits for consumption by the family on that families property. Typical scenario: Lady next door calls local law enforcement and says her neighbor is making moonshine. Local law enforcement goes out to the guys house and asks some questions to make sure that he is fallowing state law and if he is, they leave him alone. The lady is still not satisfied so she calls the TTB or federal ATF and says; "My neighbor is making moonshine in his back yard". The federal ATF fallows protocol tells the lady to call the alcohol enforcement agency for the state of MO. The lady calls them and they do the same thing as local law enforcement. I'm not saying that it is not possible to be charged by the feds for home distilling in MO. I'm just saying that it's not very likely. Before the Civil war, states could nullify federal law and it can be argued by the states that under the constitution nullification is still legal. Also there is precedent now, because several states have in effect nullified federal laws concerning cannabis. Because of my business I would never home distill. I hold a fuel ethanol DSP and within the next year we will open our distillery and I will have a beverage ethanol DSP. MO statute 311.005 "No person at least twenty-one years of age shall be required to obtain a license to manufacture intoxicating liquor... for personal or family use" I apologize for getting off the subject and I know that many DSP holders do not like the idea of home distilling, but I personally think that legal home distilling will help the industry, because home distilling gets more people interested in distilled spirits and therefore they will buy more distilled spirits. As far as everything coming crashing down around our ears at some point. I don't think that is going to happen, unless we have a major down turn in the economy and even then I think that our industry will do better than most, because in that situation people tend to drink even more. In the near future you will see more distilleries fail because there are more distilleries to fail. Also, in the distilling industry, because we have so many people coming into our industry who have no background in distilling, I think that we may end up with more failures than other industries. Also, I think that you need to have equal parts business sense and creative drive. I have talked to a few people that have way more creative drive than business sense and I think that those people are more apt to fail. There is nothing wrong with being extremely creative as long as you have good business sense. Also if you are not going to keep your day job and you do not have another source of income you need to start with at least a 300 gallon still. A 75 gallon $60,000.00 German still is not going to produce enough to make a good living. It is much better to start with a 300 gallon still that costs $22,000.00 that will produce just as good and last just as long. I am very confident that we have years of growth ahead in this industry, so confident in fact that we will be opening our distillery and distilling school in the next year and we will be starting a cooperage within the next year as well. http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-still.co

Hi rick, If you are going to distill from corn, then the best way to go is to distill on the grain. As several experienced people here have mentioned that pump and screen method is not going to work and you need to cook corn mash 190F to 200F. The only good way to cook corn mash is in a jacketed vessel or a steam injected vessel, otherwise you will scorch it. I have the equipment that will meet your needs at very reasonable prices. Call me at 417-778-6100 email paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-still.com

My grandfather distilled using indirect heat with his 400 gallon copper pot still. He was one of the last moonshiners around that distilled on the grain. He used wood as his heat source. He built what he called an arch under his still. The arch was made of fire brick. The bottom of the still set on the arch and he used field stone to "rock up" around his still and the stones were laid so that they covered the sides or the still all of the way up to the top of the liquid level. There was space for a fire under the arch. The fire heated the fire brick and stones and the fire brick and stones heated the still. He never used a thermometer or a hydrometer. He used smell taste and a tamping jar. Most people think that the old time moonshiners allways used direct fired stills. That was not the case before 1912. Around 1912 cheap sugar came along and things changed, but he did not. My grandfather was 28yrs old in 1912. He distilled for 60 years after that. If you are going to use mashes that are predominantly corn or rye direct fire is a bad choice and you will regret it. If you are going to make rum from mollases or whiskey from Barley then direct fire will work, however open flame indoors is dangerous. We have electric heating systems for direct fire and we sell the copper parts so that you can use to modify your copper direct fire still to direct fire electric. Also, we have Baine Marie stills for the best prices in the business. Call Paul at 417-778-6100 email paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-stills.com

The best way to mash barley is to sparge using a false bottom with 3/32" holes on 5/32" centers. Separate out the sweet Barley water and ferment off the grain. Corn is a completely different critter. The best way to mash corn is to cook then ferment on the grain and distill on the grain. The same is true of rye. All that it takes is a jacketed still and mash cooker or a combination jacketed still and mash cooker. I can put you into a 105 gallon mash tun still for around $14,000.00 this includes a 6" 4 plate copper column, agitator and baine marie heating system. If you are screening your corn mash you may be throwing away more ethanol than you think. One of our customers had been throwing away over 20% ethanol with his grain. Also, grain in distillations of corn mash produce a superior barrel aged Bourbon and Whiskey with more flavor and body. We have reasonably priced mash pumps that can pump the thickest corn and rye mashes. Our pumps will even pump peanut butter. Give me a call 417-778-6100 or shoot out an email to paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-still.co

glisade and Josh, I apologize for not answering sooner. I had not checked this topic in over a week. The height and width of the 90 gallon receiving tanks are below. Height = 36.6" Width = 31.5"

If you are going to distill mashes with grain bills that are mostly corn, purchasing a direct fired still is not the best option. If you will be using the cook method to convert the starch in the corn to sugar then your best option is to distill on the grain. Separating the liquid from the solids in cooked corn mashes is a time consuming and or expensive proposition and depending on how it is done you can lose up to 30% of your ethanol. Also if the cooked corn method is used you will need a jacketed mash cooker. I have jacketed baine marie stills that are priced very reasonably. They are fired by an electric heating system that will pass inspection anywhere in the US and Canada. We also have jacketed Mash Tuns with crash cooling capabilities and we have combination mash tun still units. Our stills have defuser plate assemblies that give you more copper vapor interaction than an all copper still. Call 417-778-6100 or Email paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-stills.co

Hi rick, What grains will you be mashing? Are you sure that your fire marshal will allow you to have a direct fire still? Since the fire at twister distillery in OK, and the fire and explosion at the distillery in Hardin KY, most states and municipalities do not allow propane or gas fired stills.

Why not put a stripping still at your mashing location and transport low wines to the location where the spirit still is? this would decrease the amount of liquid that you are transporting by 67% at least.

You can sell it to hog farmers. My grandfathers hogs were always happy because they always had a little buzz from eating his spent mash. Happy hogs make good bacon ;o) You can sell the spent mash to hog farmers. If you get yourself several of the 270 gallon polypro totes you can unload the empty's the farmer brings back and load the full ones he is taking. You want to try and get them to pick up everyday that you distill if possible. They mainly care about the protein and your spent corn mash will have plenty of that. Try to get at least 50% of what you paid for the grain. If you cannot find a hog farmer to buy it. You can usually find a row crop farmer to give it to. The row crop farmer can put it on his fields for fertilizer, but he probably will not pay you for it. There are a lot of hog farms in NC. I would run an add in your local paper..

Below are a couple of pics of a combination Mash Tun Still that we did for Larry Robinson from Oklahoma. This is a 150 gallon Baine Marie Oil jacketed still with an electric heating system, agitator and 4 plate bubble plate column with dephlegmator and Gin basket. Our Stills are American designed, American engineered and assembled in the US. All of the electrical work is done here at my shop and we do about 30% of the fabrication here. The parts are around 70% Chinese made and 30 % American made. Our stills will be completely American made within the next couple of years. We are moving 2 to stills per week right now. Including the heating system control panel agitator and everything this still is only $14,364.00

I agree with 3d0g, I think that this will be another booming year for the distilling industry as a whole. I bet we will have more growth and demand than we had last year. I predict at least 5 more years of fast growth and then after that many years of steady but slower growth. I do not fore see a bursting bubble which will cause everything to come crashing down.

The last 30 sold really quickly. We will have 30 more by the end of next week. Email me paul@distillery-equipment.com

We have sanitary ball valves and butterfly valves with PTFE seats. PTFE is impervious to ethanol meaning that it is impossible for it to import any flavor. You should never use a nylon seated valve with ethanol. Here is a link to our valves https://shop.distillery-equipment.com/collections/parts-and-replacement-parts/Valves We have quality valves with some of the best prices in the industry.

You could use a shotgun cleaning kit to clean it. I have cleaned condenser tubes that way.

Below is a picture of one of our 1,000 gallon stills that was installed in a facility in Ecuador. It's up and running and producing 96% ethanol.

Thermostatic valves work great. All that you need is the valve and probe. No controller necessary and it does not work off electricity so it is explosion proof. I have used them on stills with up to 3 columns and they do the job really well.

Hi Rick, We can build one like that for you. If you would like a quote email paul@distillery-equipment.com

I have some used stills for sale, that return customers have traded in. Please email me paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-still.co

Hi FQU8847, I grew up in Townsend and most of my people came out of what is today the Great Smokey Mountain National park. We have equipment in several distilleries in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. If you are interested in equipment let me know and I will give you the contact info for distilleries with our equipment that you can visit in your area. "You can take the boy out of the mountains but you can never take the mountains out of the boy." paul@distillery-equipment.com http://distillery-equipment.com http://moonshine-still.co

Hi Indyspirits, Sorry didn't mean to upset anyone. The OP asked for anyone with experience with us and I listed the statements of 3 people who have experience with us and offered them our reference list, which has a great many people with experience with us. I used to live in Indy back in the early 80s. My cousin owns a couple of big scrap yards up there. His name is Earl Brown. He used to race stock cars at the Speed Drome. Indianapolis is a great town with really nice people. I really liked living there. Do you have a distillery in Indianapolis?