stillwagon

I am moving my distillery to a new location, hopefully. I need someone on the Oregon Coast capable of visiting my site and interpreting the code requirements to see if it is possible to make sure compliant.

I keep my pH above 5 to keep a robust fermentation. When the pH drops below 4, it usually stalls. Temperature is maintained at 81f + or - 1 degree and it ferments out in 7 days. 85f in 5 days, 90f in 3 days. I don't ferment above 85 anymore, I don't care for the flavor.

It sounds like there are a number of issues. Molasses fermentations tend to crash pH causing it to stall. I buffer pH with calcium carbonate, and adjust with calcium hydroxide. I use a number of fermentation supplements to aid yeast growth and fermentation. I also control fermentation temperature. Warmer temps speed fermentation and if too warm, stress the yeast. Cooler temps stretch out the fermentation. What type of molasses do you use? I use a baking grade black strap. Some feed grades and agricultural grades don't ferment well, and produce off flavors. Some refined molasses are not much more than a can syrup, which needs yeast nutritional supplements. What type of yeast do you use? Do you add any fermentation supplements? Starting pH? Finish pH? Fermentation temperature? Second feeding is accompanied with additional yeast nutrients and pH adjustment. It will depend on what type of yeast you use, and if it can tolerate a slightly higher abv.

It should be around 10-15% after fermentation. I get about 45-48% after stripping, and about 80% after my finish run.

It was supposed to say cooling. Larger fermentations generate their own heat. I start at 20-22 brix, and do a second feeding at 30% sugar depletion.

If you have had previous success, you should repeat the process but measure your brix and pH at the beginning and at completion of fermentation. 12% is a good place to be at. Then scale up. Larger fermentations will require cooling.

I have been doing this for ten years now: Aeration and pH adjustment using calcium hydroxide. We balance to about 6.8. continue aeration and adjustment for a week or tow in the summer, several weeks in the winter. bacterial activity slows down when it is cooler. once pH stabilizes, then we pump 1/3 of that tank, (we call it the "treatment tank",) to the "dilution tank," where we add water to fill the tank 2:1. Then pH usually starts dropping again. We continue to monitor and balance pH until it is stable for at least a week, then water our forest area. Here you could make a deal with a farmer that would want to use it. They will need to balance their "fertilizer" with nitrogen and any other minerals etc to accommodate the crop needs.

It sounds like you are using the wrong hydrometer for the process. Turbo yeasts, which produce a mediocre product at best, are usually finished fermenting in two to three days, so 17 days is excessive. But, if it was tightly sealed, it should have been fine to distill once fermented as long as you had sanitized all equipment and vessels. If it fermented properly, the airlock should have been very active after 24 hours. If you plan on continuing with turbo yeast, sanitize all equipment and vessels and follow the directions on the package. you might want to study a bit more on the fermentation process in general, and specifically for cane sugar. Familiarize yourself with the different variables as well: pH, nutrients (usually not needed with turbo yeast), temperature, etc.

I age 4 years in a new, charred, American Oak barrel

Used barrels have given up pretty much what they had for color addition in their first use. Switch to a new barrel. Otherwise, caramel is your other choice.

You can send me your thoughts and questions to stillwagondistillery@yahoo.com. We can discuss it further.

Hi Doug, I am working with a non-profit to acquire a grant to build the full scale system that will process our spent wash, CO2, solid organic waste, and waste heat. In the mean time, we are building a 1/16 scale system for proof of concept and to work out some of the details until we acquire funding for the whole system. We have been developing the spent wash treatment for the last 5 years, and believe we have the system worked out, we simply have to prove it (we currently use part of the system to eliminate our spent wash.) It has been an adventure, but it will be great to close the loop and reclaim the water, and enjoy the benefits of what the entire system will produce: recycled water, CO2 consumption in the greenhouse, vanilla and ginger and other plant/vegetable production, fish, and soil amendments. It is pretty involved incorporating: anaerobic and aerobic bacterial fermentation, hydroponics, aquaponics, composting, vermiculture, biochar production and use, carbon filtration, sand filtration, ozone treatment, etc. If you want to visit more email me at stillwagondistillery@yahoo.com You might try aligning with a non-profit organization that has similar goals to acquire grants. I don't know how it is where you are, but here, it is much easier for a non-profit to get grant funding than a for profit. It requires a coalition of a non-profit, university, local government bodies, other organizations that are working together and must gain something from the efforts receiving the funding. I have a grant writer that seeks out the grants and puts together the proposals. I have to pull in all the other partners in the coalition, seek letters of support, etc.

Calcium carbonate doesn't raise pH much. I use it as a buffer to prevent a pH crash. Calcium hydroxide will effectively raise pH, but do it slowly as it is very reactive and you can overshoot quickly. I keep my pH above 4 to keep it active, fermentation is usually done in 5 -6 days at 80f. I would avoid the buffer solution. They usually don't work very well in my experience.

Academia.edu is one such site.

If you Google research on distillery spent wash treatment, you will get a large number of papers. To access some you will have to join some scholar paper networks. Most are free. I am not near my office for a while. But 2 minutes on Google and you will have a hundred hours worth of reading.

There are a great number of research papers that cover a number of methods of remediation. Anaerobic digestion is the most prevalent method used to recycle the spent wash. PH adjustment after fermentation, then dilution before application as a fertilizer. I have found the addition of nitrogen balances the nutrients and makes it more effective. The system I am working on is use in semiaquatic environment, then filtration, to reclaim the water for reuse once it has had the majority of pollutants removed.

I age most of my rum in new, charred, American oak barrels. I do use some wine barrels for aging some infused rums that I don't want a major influence from the oak. I generally age 3+ years in the new barrels, a year or so in the wine barrels.

Hi Guys, We have a small craft distillery on the Oregon Coast. We produce a large variety of rums, a whiskey, and a vodka. We have been established for over 7 years and are ready to step things up to the next level. So we are entertaining the idea of a partner or investor, or the sale of the distillery. We currently have 20 products, two satellite tasting rooms in neighboring cities, and a tasting room at the distillery. We have product placed in about 80 liquor stores throughout Oregon, and have product placed in a couple other states now as well. Equipment: (2) 100 gallon stripping stills, 60 gallon finish still, 500 gallon open fermenter, 6 bottle gravity bottling machine, 2 bottle pump fed bottling machine, (5) 20 gal, (3) 30 gal, (4) 55, gal, (2) 130 gal, (2) 100 gal stainless steel storage drums, (1) 80 gal and (1) 200 gal conical, un-jacketed, sealed storage/fermenters, glass carboys, pumps, etc. I have included a few random pictures of some of the equipment and my tasting rooms. Aging stock: (56) 53 gal barrels of Rum, Whiskey, and Brandy between 1 and 5 years old. I am looking for someone to take it over, getting to old to run. I would like to see it stay in the area. Most of the value to be honest is in the barrels of product aging. We built all the equipment, I would like to get my investment back out if I were to sell outright. I would entertain an offer of $250,000 cash. I would like to discuss possibilities and ideas with interested parties.

A local cheese maker has asked if I would help him with the production of a distilled spirit from his byproduct whey. He currently produces about 100,000 gallons of whey per week. I have not had his whey analyzed yet to find out exactly the percentage of lactose available, but most studies I have found say it is around 4%. I have found a suggested yeast strain, kluyveromyces marxianus, to begin fermentation trials with. I have read using an enzyme can increase the fermentability, ultrafiltration or boiling can reduce the volume and consolidate the sugars. My question is, Has anyone else worked on this? Whey has been fermented and distilled in Europe since at least the 1930s, and there are other milk wines/spirits in other parts of the world. This would be a large scale endeavor, at least for me, based on the volumes that will continue to increase as his cheese business grows. The goal would probably be to work on a vodka, and sell a significant portion as a neutral spirit in bulk. the photo shows some of the whey based vodkas currently available.

I am looking at my options on whether or not to continue this business. We have a small distillery on the coast of Oregon. We currently have 18 products on the shelf. We produce primarily rum, vodka, and increasing our whiskey production. We produce about a barrel a week at this point. The primary consideration for the sale is the necessity for a hip replacement, and the worry of the repercussions of the inability to work in the distillery as needed. We have a steady increase in sales, expansion into other states has been steady, with an organic growth based on demand of our products. We have maintained very low debt and overhead expense. We have two satellite tasting rooms in addition to the distillery tasting room. We have great local support and an increasing fan base. I have not had an assessment done on the value of the business. I haven't considered selling until the condition of my hip has deteriorated recently. So, this is more a discussion of possibilities than anything.

You will have to proof by distillation, or have it done by a ttb approved lab. I use Vinquiry.

We have a rural location so we treat the spent wash ouselves by aerobic digestion, raise the pH, dilute, then use it to water our forested area.

I use new, charred, American Oak barrels to age in for the first few years. The rum is then much like a bourbon. Then from there I start moving it around in a variety of other barrels.

I had to create my own distributor in CA. I talked him into jumping through the hoops, getting a small warehouse, then helped him start acquiring his retailers. We are a year into it. Still working out the bugs, but he is getting our product into major retailers now.

I had the same experience. Starting pH starting at ~5.7 then crashing early. So, I add no acid either. I add calcium carbonate to buffer to prevent crashing at the beginning and half way through fermentation. If it crashes, I use calcium hydroxide to raise pH. But I haven't had a problem with pH in the last 4 years using this procedure.