Roger

I think what they probably meant was "26 proof gallons".

I'm surprised MGP doesnt provide free "fake craft" label advise ?

You don't say what and how much you are attempting to produce. If you are shooting for a 1500sq ft facility in an urban area inclusive of a tasting room, you will probably not actually be distilling any significant product, so the type of energy you consume will be insignificant. If that's the case, then just go electric as it will get you through the permitting process a lot quicker and with less hassle. If on the other hand you are serious about production, then steam is the way to go, and NG is the preferable fuel, followed by Propane, then elect.

As to the OP about the flavor of a barley whiskey, that is not completely malted: we produce a whiskey that uses both and it is very well received. Much Irish whiskey is produced this way, which is why we do it. As mentioed above, unmalted barley is pretty tough, and we grind it twice, then temperature treat it as if it were wheat. For unmalted conversion, the grinder is your friend.

Patio - I understand your commentary, but this is not a cookie cutter franchise industry. It is a field of expertise steeped in years of learned technique, nuance, experimentation, errors that return results better than imagined, individuality, etc.., If we all do the same things in the same way, we are little more than a commodity with a bunch of fake stories. But your point is well taken. I shall only chime in when I can help. Prost/Roger

Holy crap, there's a difference between helping someone who encounter a problem now and then, vs spoon feeding an entire operation from grain to glass. Buy a book ! Experiment ! What's next, seriously ? Looking for people to bottle for you ?

The iodine test tells you that you have converted starch to sugar, but it doesn't know if they are fermentable sugars or not. So more than likely you have a mass of long chain sugars that haven't broken down because 155 fried the beta. You can throw in some beta as it sits, and it will take a few days to complete the breakout, or warm it up to 120 and it should convert pretty quickly. add some more yeast after, if you go the "warm up" route. Whats your current SG? I don't care about the brix

Now that's funny :). Heat it back to 145f, throw in 250 ml Alpha and 250 ml beta, stir, let it sit for a few hours. It should break out.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and I have tried to help, but quite frankly it appears that you screwed up. You apparently decided not to avail yourselves of any known US based equipment providers and then decided to design a "new type" of mash tun. When it didn't work, you blamed the company that made it to your specs. Kind of like "the customer is always right, in reverse". just curious, when you were making your decision did you even ask any legitimate still / mash tun suppliers about heating and cooling protocol and options ? Like "can I use the tun for both, and what would it look like ! Valves, pressure, surface area, time, etc.... Not to beat you up, as I always appreciate individuals who don't travel the MGP clone path, but I see on another string you don't even seem to grasp the Alpha / Beta / Temp protocol. You need to spend some money on consultation and education, or you are going to struggle for quite some time. As per Silk, put some vacuum breakers on that dog, lower the pressure relief valves, and turn down the pressure on your boiler a bit, before you kill someone. prost

Sorry. Proprietary . Cant have everone using the same filters in the same way filtering their MGP NGS and then claiming they are the best

Sadly, stolen intellectual property is the largest Chinese import, and knocked off designs are their biggest export. It's the primary negotiating point in the US / China trade negotiations. I have a friend who is the chief metallurgist for a company I can't name, and he says the problem is that china will not allow US goods to be manufactured over there (US part ownership) unless they turn over the entire design to the state run "commercial enterprise" division. So we essentially give away years of hard fought technology, for the sole purpose of employing cheap labor to take our jobs. Sweet ! Do we get a free fortune cookie with every imported piece of shit ? America - your fortune: You're screwed !

Seriously you just need to stop screwing around and hook up the steam jacket like every other one on the planet earth. Running it from the bottom only is exactly like using a double boiler to melt chocolate (warm and gooey, but not hot). prost

Looks pretty straight forward. Hook up the steam to the main jacket and it should be fine.

Affordable Distilling

Exempt

My honest suggestion: remove the TC clamps from both the outlet and the inlet and let it drain. Pour some water into the inlet, and see if it immediately drains out the outlet. If so, you have a real problem because it would mean you have no baffles or channels. If not, you have less of a problem. Regardless you are going to need to plumb both of your inlets for steam. As for your cooling jacket needs (and I am not necessarily in support of this) you could just as easily configure some T's and valves to run cold through thought inlets and outlets when it's time to cool, but you would be better off buying a mash chiller. But I support your not being an MGP clone !

You have essentially created a nice warm bacteria bath

just curious, what is that little fitting in the bottom of your mash tun that has what appear to be a small steam line running to it ? That's not the steam inlet is it, right beside the outlet ? ?

When you pump your hot water from the still back into the mash tun full of goop, pump it into the bottom drain and it will aerate the mash and put it all back into solution.

it's not the trap. good thought, but that's not it

Thanks Paul . I can't imagine a 1" low pressure flow heating up 1000# of thick mash. Chinese engineering ?

There is a definite difference between heating up a still full of non-viscous fermented beer, vs the same amount of corn mash. A grain mash is almost an insulator, and absorbs an incredible amount of heat from the mash tun wall. Of course the thinner the mash, the less of an insulating barrier, but you will have to get high enough to activate your A & B enzymes (at least the A) to start thinning it out.

Paul - What size inlet on a 600gal mash tun with an atmospheric boiler is appropriate ?

oh stop. you are trying to heat up 600# of mash with a 1" inlet of low pressure ?? Anyone out there doing this ?? I would think it would require a minimum of 2-3" .

how big is the steam pipe going into the mash tun ? 2" ?