Southernhighlander

We have them, however if it's a larger diameter ferrule it's better if we weld a stainless ferrule on to a piece of our copper pipe and sell it to you. What size and type of copper pipe do you have?

We can do full copper stills if that's what you want. paul@distillery-equipment.com

The biggest question is, was the manufacturer no help? If someone contacts me about one of my stills I help them them right away and answer any questions that they have, no matter what country they are in. If a manufacturer will not answer those kinds of questions then they are not doing their job and they should be called out for it.

I have a friend in Ukraine who is a very good distiller. He has done engineering work for me for the last couple of years. He knows more about distilling and still design than anyone that I know. He would be an asset to any distillery or distillery equipment company. Unfortunately, I'm at the point in my business where I have very little work for him. If someone needs a distiller for their distillery, an engineer or distillery equipment designer who is well versed in the design of vacuum stills and continuous column stills, as well as pot stills with plated columns, email Alexander at alex@euro.net.ua

Your calculations are exactly right. For our 100 gallon pro series and 105 gallon standard series electric stills, the electric cost per run is between $6.00 and $12.00 Because of the large up front costs for a steam boiler and installation, it generally takes 8 to 20 years for a gas fired low pressure steam boiler to pay for itself (depending on the boiler and location) when compared to electricity. Also many customers who start out with small stills come back within a couple of years wanting a 300 gallon or larger still and you only want to put in a steam boiler once.

Sorry, that's proprietary. I would rather my competitor's have to do the work that I had to do to figure it out instead of me giving them the info for free.

Sorry about the PM thing. My inbox was full and I didn't realize it. I deleted some messages so my PM works now. It was nice talking to you on the phone. If you purchase our pump kit let us know how well that it works on here, once you get it set up. Thanks.

Pumping the reflux from column 2 back to the top of column 1 gives you functionality equivalent to one vertical column with the same number of plates as the combined columns. Not pumping the condensate from column 2 back to column 1 gives you around 75% of the plate functionality of 1 vertical column. We have proven this time after time with testing. There is no reason to not have a dephlegmator in column 1. In fact if you plan on ever using column 1 and bypassing column 2 then you must have the dephlegmator in column 1. Also sometimes just a little coolant flow in the column 1 dephlegmator while pumping back from column 2 will help balance the system and give you higher proof. Also If you will have split vodka columns I strongly suggest a thermostatic valve to automate the condenser and dephlegmator cooling. Also you will get much better functionality if you plumb the coolant in series from your final condenser to the last column in line then to the column before that and so on. Of course if you plumb in series you will need bypasses at each dephlegmator. It would make things really simple if you could just lower the base of the vodka column to the floor and simply add one of our condensate pump kits. If you split the column you will need 2 condensate pump kits unless you have the base of column 1 high enough to gravity feed back into the pot. We have over 50 stills out there using our condensate pump kits on lowered and split columns and they work wonderfully well. paul@distillery-equipment.com 417-778-6908 ask for Paul.

TBalich PVC is not suitable for your application. Pipe is measured by the ID and tubing is measured by the OD. Sanitary stainless steel pipelines are generally built from tubing and the most common stainless sanitary fittings are for tubing and will not work with pipe. We have the stainless tubing that you need at a good price. We also have the stainless fittings that you need as well. We can build you custom lengths of tubing with tri clamp ferules welded on so that you could simply clamp everything together at your site with our sanitary clamps and fittings, or we can sell you lengths of tubing and weld fittings so that you can have a sanitary tig welder do the work at your site. We have one of the deepest SS 304 stainless steel sanitary parts catalogs in the US and are glad to give you a quote. 417-778-6908 ask for Paul or email paul@distillery-equipment.com

We are currently finishing up four 500 gallon electric baine marie stills for a customer. These stills will be set up in a steak house that is part of a large national restaurant chain. At first I tried very hard to convince the customer that a propane fired (no natural gas available) low pressure steam boiler was a better option, but in the end because of multiple factors that are specific to his set up and operation he convinced me to build them as electric stills. This is a very unique electrical set up. Each of the immersion heaters is on a VFD drive and everything is PLC controlled including the VFD drives and the condenser cooling system. The stills will sit in the center of the restaurant surrounded by glass walls so that they are visible to the diners. Below is one of our 3d drawings of the stills. The parrots will be set up differently than in the 3d drawing. Please see the 2d drawing below the 3d drawing.

You will get better functionality, and use less coolant if you run the dephlegmator plumbing in series from your final condenser to the last dephlegmator in line then from the last dephlegmator in line to the dephlegmator before it and so on. Doing this will have little effect on column flooding but it will help keep surging from occurring and decrease the amount of coolant flow adjustments that you have to do. Plumbing your coolant this way will balance the system better and allow for better smoother operation. Of course you will want to have bypasses at each dephlegmator for when you are not using that particular dephlegmator. Also the German still designers claim that this plumbing method will give you a better flavor profile than plumbing the dephlegmators independently because the temperature differential between the coolant and ethanol vapor in the dephlegmators is much lower. They believe that a high temperature differential in the dephlegmators creates a chemical reaction in the spirit which causes subtle off flavors to occur.

Mors9 To gravity feed correctly you must have your condensate return connections in the column bases high enough above the liquid level in the pot to overcome the back pressure created by the level of liquid in the trays (its amazing how many still builders don't know this). If you have 23" of liquid total in all of the trays in your columns, then the lowest that the condensate can be at the bottom of the column is 24" above the top of the mash level in the pot. We go around 3" higher than that for good column condensate gravity feed back into the pot. If your column bases are too low, I have pump kits that will do the job for you and we have them on over 30 of our stills in distilleries (no sump needed) Do not pump the condensate from the last column in line back to the pot. That is not the right way to do it, in your situation. We have a method that will give you a significant proof increase and more efficiency than doing it that way. Email paul@distillery-equipment.com or call 417-778-6908 and ask for Paul.

Hi Heavydane, I suggest 20 plates total for optimum performance. If you have a height restriction, it is not a problem with our set up. We can fit 20 plates under as little as 10' with full functionality. Email me and we will quote you for what you need. paul@distillery-equipment.com Thanks.

We have just what you need. Email paul@distillery-equipment.com

"RO water will not work for many biological, chemical and industrial applications that require higher levels of purity." Which is of course why there is a demand for distilled water when RO/DI simply isn't pure enough. By Higher levels of purity I meant, levels of purity higher than RO/DI water. https://www.uswatersystems.com/deionized-water-vs-distilled-water#:~:text=When it comes to distilled,water%2C both are very pure.&text=The water should be filtered,significant number of additional contaminants. From the above web page: "Since both treatment methods produce high purity water, choosing between deionized water vs. distilled water often depends on how you're using it. Distilled water is often more pure, especially if it's been filtered first, and it should not contain any bacteria or other pathogens which could, in theory, be left in DI water. Distilled water, especially if it's been double or triple distilled, can be used for nearly all laboratory applications, including those in which DI water might not be pure enough." Rory, If your application does not require the higher purity of distilled water then an RO/DI system would be the way to go as it will save you a lot of money, but I figured that if RO water was pure enough for your application, you would not be looking for distilled water.

RO water will not work for many biological, chemical and industrial applications that require higher levels of purity. Sometimes the purity requirements are so great that double distilled water is required. Millions of gallons of distilled water are produced each year. We have sold several stills for water distillation.

I did a little research and the best price I found was from chemworld.com They have 275 gallon totes of distilled water for around $3.63 per gallon.

Knowing what I know about distilling, I would think that $4.00 per gallon is a good price for distilled water, but that is only an educated guess. If you distill it yourself on a small still and account for your time distilling, energy costs, coolant costs and the cost of the still, I think that it would cost you more than $4.00 per gallon to do it yourself. I hope this helps.

My office number is 417-778-6100. If you call that number ask for Susan. I'm working from home. My home number is 417-778-6908

Rodney, Thanks for the great feedback!!!

Hi Dave, My name is Paul Hall. I am the CEO of Affordable Distillery Equipment. Our stills are in over 460 distilleries in the US. Our largest stills produce over 75 gallons of whiskey per hour. We are known for the quality of our equipment as well as price and customer service. We can give you a complete package including the still, mash tun, fermenters, pumps, steam boiler, chillers as well as proofing and blending tanks. Most of the distilleries that purchased from us purchased complete packages. Many times our complete package pricing is lower than the price a single still from our competitors. Our prices are low because we have very low overhead costs. We have hundreds of references and we have several show room distilleries around the US. You can take a free 3 day, hands on, one on one work shop at our showroom distillery in VA if you purchase from us. That distillery has 3 full sets of our equipment, the largest being based around our 2,500 gallon Ultra Pro Vodka still. I am glad to help you with your business plan, distillery layout and any other aspect of starting a distillery. Just call or email: Paul Hall 417-778-6908 paul@distillery-equipment,com

Sorry, I accidently repeated my last post and went ahead and deleted the content because I don't think that there is a way to delete the post.

I just wanted everyone to know that our pot stills will produce up to 75 gallons of white dog per hour and cost less than continuous column stills of the same capacity. paul@distillery-equipment.com 417-778-6100

Even though this was originally posted 3 years ago, I thought that I should reply. Natrat was correct. Always control flow from the input side not the output side. If you control a dephlegmator using a valve on the output side, you will also have a valve somewhere on the input side. Scenario number one, vacuum implosion: The run is completed and the input valve and output valve for the dephleg coolant are both closed causing vacuum to be created in the closed system between the closed coolant input and output control valves as the still cools, ultimately causing a critical failure resulting in a vacuum implosion of the dephleg. Vacuum caused by cooling in a closed system is a force of nature. Never underestimate it. This rail car was haveing a cold liquid pumped in with no vacuum relief:: Scenario number two, pressure explosion: The still's final condenser and dephlegmator are plumbed separately and the operator is doing a stripping run so he closes the coolant control input and output valves creating a closed system with cold coolant in the dephlegmator and lines so that as the still's temp increases, pressure increases in the dephlegmator causing it to explode, blowing out hot steam and possibly shrapnel. Never control a dephlegmator or final condenser's coolant flow with a valve on the output side.

That's fine. Please tell us why we should resist the metric system?