clwestphal

Can anyone recommend a tankless hot water heater for preheating my mash water? Looking for something that will heat up to 175 degrees. Thanks for any input.

I use 315 gallon of water in the tank. The ending SG is 146. I heat the water to 205 or so and add the corn and rye. Wait two hours. Lower the temp. to 150 and add barley and barley malt. I use a triple scale beer and wine hydrometer to arrive at the 6% potential alcohol. Hope that helps.

I'm a very small distillery and use a 330 gallon SS tote sitting on its side for a mash tank. I cut a rectangular hole in what is the top now and put in a slow agitator for mash mixing and a fast agitator for mixing the mash as I put it in. It all works out good. I have screens on the bottom and take the liquid off of the grain for fermentation. (can't distill on grain as I use a steam heat exchanger.) I'm routinely getting between 6 and 7 percent potential alcohol when I'm done. I use the appropriate enzymes at the right temperatures. I use 400 lbs. cracked corn, 100 lbs. barley, 50 lbs. rye and 60 lbs. barley malt in my bill. I'm wondering if that is the best that I will be able to obtain using this set up. I would love to use a store bought mash tun but really can't afford to spend 18K or so on a 350 gallon tun. Would appreciate any and all feed back.

I found that online and wanted to be sure it was okay to use. Thank you.

Can someone recommend a caulk to use inside a mash tun? Need to seal a couple of places around the screen at the bottom.

Thanks everyone for their input. I'm heating up corn, letting sit for 2 hours, adding rye, barley and barley malt, letting sit a couple of hours, cooling down with a cooling coil and adding yeast, then draining out to finish fermenting. Not possible for me to use steam jacketed equipment. I started operation at 65 years of age, am 68 now, would never get a return on the money it would cost to do that. Special situation. I have drilled some larger holes in my screen randomly and if that improves the draining, will put in more. I double screen/filter before it goes into the still. I get some decent returns so will just keep plugging (no pun intended) along.

Thanks so much

Can anyone recommend the size of screen for the bottom of a mash tank in which is use ground corn, rye and barley? The one I have seems to be too small and gets clogged up. I tried using rice hulls and it really plugged everything up. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the help. I contacted Crown and they told me to use a different Honeywell pressure controller so that's what I'm doing hoping that it will help. It is a tube in shell heat exchanger. I'm using it to heat a 300 gallon mash tank and a 200 gallon still. That's the problem going with a local contractor. I should have called one of the national dealers that specialize in distilling. Live and learn.

I contracted with a local boiler guy for a heat exchanger and steam boiler. They recommended a Crown. They put in a 227K btu boiler and a 250K btu heat exchanger. The problem is the pressure goes up to 9 psi and down to 7psi the way it should, then it goes down to zero. Had engineer in to see what the problem is. He stated that the boiler is undersized. Great. Anyway, the contractor wants to put in a buffer tank to expand capacity of the boiler tank. Reasonable one would think. He wants 4500.00 to do it, which is half the cost of the boiler. Does anyone have any suggestions? The boiler going down to zero is no big deal other than wasted time when mashing, but when distilling it causes a problem by taking the heat off the still, thus stopping the output. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to get my building sprayed with insulation so I will have them do the pipes at the same time.

Thanks for the input. I see there is a Buffer compound that you can add to adjust the ph. Does anyone use that?

Does anyone have any experience with insulating their condensate tank on the boiler? Also insulating the mash tank, I take it there aren't any downsides with doing that.

Can anyone tell me what to expect out of the following: 320 gallons of mash, using enzymes end up with 220 gallons of liquid to distill. How many gallons should I be getting off a stripping run taken down to 25% ABV? I start with a 10% conversion after mashing. All grain bill. Corn, rye, barley and barley mash. Use a 1.7 ratio or grain to water for the mash.

Can anyone suggest a ph tester under $100.00?

can anyone suggest a ph tester under $100.00?

I'm doing basically what you are doing. Here is how I do it. I have a heat exchanger that utilizes steam. I heat my water for my mash to 200 degrees, I add my cracked corn and rye. I let it cool a little and add my enzyme. Then I let it cool to 160 degrees and add my barley and barley malt and add my other enzyme. Then I let it sit for another hour or so. I Have a screen at the bottom of my mash tank and I just let it drain into a container that I have and transfer it over to a barrel that has a screen in it. Then I pump it over to the fermenting tank thru an old dairy pump. Cost me $10.00. If it's too hot to ferment, then I run it thru a dairy plate chiller. Then add my yeast, wait a couple of days and distill. Works very well. I get around 11% conversion in the mash so am happy.

Depending how many bottles you have to do, I bought a heat gun that they use to scrape paint off tables, etc. It works great. Cheap too.

I use a 250k BTU heat exchanger connected to a boiler and have no problems. My mash isn't completely clean but I do strain it before running it thru. I use a pump that I purchased that I use to pump mash from one tank to another. I can adjust the speed of the mash with the pump and I think that's important. The heat exchanger that I purchased calls for 25 GPM but can do it quicker if I want to reduce the heat in the still. I have 1.5 inch hoses and connections that I use. I did have problems before I strained it so be sure you do that first. Otherwise, you shouldn't have any problems. I am sure to clean out the heat exchanger each time I use it using hot water and the typical cleaners used for dairy operations.

Can anyone recommend a bottle label machine, either semi auto or manual, that works well for under $1,000? I have about 2500 bottles a year that I produce and need a machine to put on the labels in an efficient manner. Thanks for any help.

I have attached a photo of a mash tank that I have used for three years and am selling for $800.00. Motors not included. I'm getting too old to get in and out of it and going to a small unit. I do 300 gallons at a time with a conversion of 10%. call me if interested: 608-335-2461.

If you are looking for a cheap mash tun, I have attached a photo of one I have been using for 3 years. Conversion factor of 10%. Built out of a milk tank. The agitator motors do not go with it. I'm asking $800.00. Call me at 608-335-2461. I'm getting too old to get in and out of it to clean it. Going to a smaller one with a side door.

I have attached a picture of a 300 gallon mash tank for someone starting up that doesn't want to spend a lot of money. I get 10% conversions with it. I'm getting too old to get in and clean out the grain so am going to something with a side door. Please call me with questions: 608-335-2461

Does anyone have a design to for a drop-out filter to filter my bill before it goes into the heat exchanger? I would appreciate hearing any comments. Thanks.

I have just put in a 260K Crown boiler and a 250K heat exchanger. Here is my problem. When the boiler gets up to pressure, I can't hold it there, it keeps cycling on and off which takes the pressure off my still and I have to wait for the pressure to build up again before the product comes out. The boiler has a Honeywell pressuretrol so you can set it for the differential between when it shuts off (8 lbs psi) and when it comes back on again (5 lbs. psi). The problem is it doesn't always come back on, it will go down to 3 or 4. Very annoying and time consuming. Does anyone know a better controller to use? My Crown people are nice but they don't have a clue and have left me standing with the problem. Any help would be appreciated.