Lassiter Distilling Co

We did a post mortem and this is exactly what happened. We backflushed with very hot water and we're able to clean out the cartridges effectively. We're going to pre filter coming out of the barrel now.

We just began bottling our first barrel aged product, and it's turned out great. We did have a fair amount of troubleshooting we had to do during bottling, primarily related to the in line filters we use to prevent particles from finding their way into bottles. We use an enolmatic filler with the in line filter attached. For our clear Rum, we use a .5 micron filter, but for the aged spirits, we use a 1 micron filter. During the bottling of our Amber rum, we got through the first ~200 bottles before our QA checks identified some char particles in a bottle. We paused and back flushed the filter and the rest of the system in an effort to clean it. Ultimately, we just switched to a second cartridge filter to finish the bottling run, but now we have two filters that are full of barrel char particles. Does anyone have advice on how to effectively clean these filter cartridges?

Good looking tanks there! Over our capacity, but they sure look good.

Good article on this topic from the latest edition of Artisan Spirit. Here's a link: https://issuu.com/artisanspiritmag/docs/artisanspirit_issue018_web/95 Probably won't have the full detail you'll need for the insurance company, but it'll give you the broad concepts.

We're looking to source some sherry barrels for finishing. Would be great if we could find some that someone would be willing to part with (or some that we could do some exchanges/trades to acquire them). Thanks.

Down here our water supply is usually treated with chloramine, which we mitigate, but our water supply changes to a chlorine based treatment from March through April. Since this happened, despite our efforts to react out the chlorine, we've been getting substandard fermentations (we typically ferment to 1.022, but we can't seem to get below 1.034 since the chlorine change) and distillation yields. Hearts phase seems to last for about half the time/volume it did prior to the switch to chlorine treatment. Is this something anyone else has run into? I'm planning to push our water supply through a charcoal filter very slowly for our next fermentation to see if that will do a better job than reacting out the chlorine with potassium metabisulfite. Any other suggestions here?

What's the price you're asking for this unit?

We've been making white rum for a while now and we have finally gotten our hands on some nice 30 gallon barrels to begin our aging program. We've got spirit ready to go in the barrels, but I need some ideas on how to get our rum into the barrels. We don't fill hundreds of barrels, so I haven't invested in a pump for this yet, but might go ahead and get one of the small explosion proof pumps from TCW. What creative ways do you fill up your barrels?

We recently modified some tanks to make them easier to get into and out of for cleaning, essentially removing the entire top of the tank. We've always done open fermentation, but recently I've noticed that the liquid level in our fermenter seems to be lower than where it started. Do those of you who do open fermentation experience significant loss in yield as a result? I haven't seen a dramatic decrease in yield yet, but I just noticed the lower liquid level today. we'll see if a significant amount of the alcohol had evaporated when I run it off on Saturday. In any case, if you run open ferments and experience evaporative loss, what do you do to combat this?

How much for the tables?

We purchased bulk stock that had bloom on them because they were offered at a reduced price. Rinsed with spirit prior to bottling and never had a haze precipitate out. I've been told using distilled water will remove bloom as well. In any case, seems to require a little more cleaning, but otherwise harmless if you can get it out.

I received word today that S. 236, which would reduce federal excise taxes on spirits from $13.50 to $2.70 for the first 100,000 proof gallons, and a rate of $13.34 for the next 22,130,000 proof gallons, has been introduced in the US Senate. The bill has been referred to the senate finance committee. Obviously, we've been trying to get this through for a while, and we need people to call their senators and let them know how important this bill is to us. Let them know what you'd do with the money if you weren't using it to pay high and unfair excise tax rates. Maybe you'd buy new equipment. Maybe you'd hire someone or expand your building. Whatever it is, call your senators today (both of them) and let them know your thoughts. And remember: calls are more impactful than emails.

We've been experimenting with ways to ferment. Our standard SOP is the batch method, where we produce our wash (we make rum) let it ferment out and then empty/wash the fermenter once it's been transferred to the still. One day, we left some of the wash along with the trub in the bottom of the fermenter before refilling with new wash. The fermentation time was dramatically reduced, with only a 30 minute lag time and a total fermentation of only 33 perent of our typical time. I was primarily concerned with bacterial infection and stressed yeast affecting the flavor of the distilled product, but it came out perfectly. Has anyone seriously experimented with continuous fermentation? Anything to look out for/good or bad experiences? If this works we may adjust our SOPs as it will save on time and the amount of yeast we are using.

That was my experience exactly. The glass is cheap. Certification isn't. Find a local calibration company to do it and it'll come at a better price.

Same here in NC

I've been using Hoochware (www.hoochware.com) for a few months now. Easy to use, image-based interface that helps me track inventory, cost average our production, keep track of invoices and file monthly reports with the TTB. The software even includes tools to help calculate proofing, temperature correction and other production related conversions. I definitely love it and don't know how I would get by without it.

My understanding is that the unfermentables aren't carbohydrate based. Rather, that they consist of ash, mud, various minerals from the refining process and other came solids that aren't convertible to fermentable sugars. However, I don't know for sure. Perhaps someone more in the know can weigh in.

Returns in NC are iffy. I know each store receipt says all sales final. Best we can do is to give this person a good experience. If the bottle is really not in good shape, we may be able to exchange it, but I'll have to check with our ABC on that. In any case, we are going to shoot for a positive customer experience to help this person understand we will make it right for him.

Hey everyone. We have started sales and things have been going fairly well considering the many decks stacked against the small guy these days. So far, customers seem to like our rum. I've gotten all sorts of positive feedback on it. Everything from what we include about the flavor profile publicly to new things that come up during tastings. Nothing extremely negative so far, until this weekend. I received an email from a customer who bought a bottle in a liquor store sometime last week, saying the product tasted and like plastic and that it was terrible. Of course, this is upsetting to me, because I put a lot of care into making sure every batch meets strict quality standards. Ive invited the customer in to the distillery so I can check his bottle to ensure there isn't a quality issue. If there is, I will Do what I can to make an exchange, but if it's simply a taste preference, I don't know what I'm going to do. Has anyone else run into this issue, and if so, how did you handle it? I want to make sure that the customer knows we care about his feedback and that we will take care of him if he's unhappy and if there is something we can do about it.

Our starting gravity is over 1.1 and we usually finish between 1.016 and 1.02.

Here in NC it is possible to donate to nonprofits. This issue came up during our listing meeting, and they told us how to make it possible. Call me if I can help - Gentry Lassiter, Lassiter Distilling. Five zero one eight three seven zero six four four.

Looking for a filter housing to gravity feed our product through. We want to filter about 25 gallons at a time, so would like a reservoir that can hold that amount. Otherwise, it would be great to get an inline activated carbon filter for our enolmatic filler. If you've seen anything like that, please let me know. We already have a housing and a .5 micron sediment filter, but need something better for our activated carbon filtering.

Obviously, we all love our own products. After years of planning, study and compromising in one way or another, we all absolutely have to love what we make. Our North Carolina Rum (forthcoming here in NC, for those of you around) has developed into a complex, slightly sweet, floral and full flavored white rum which I love drinking. But sometimes, after a long day of distilling, bottling, labeling, government paperwork and cleaning, I want to drink and appreciate someone else's hard work. So what does everyone admire these days? I've got a couple I'm really into these days: Balcones True Blue is a work of art. North Shore Distillery's gin is completely unique and delightful. And Great Lakes Rehorst Vodka is the only vodka i have ever been able to drink since college. Anyone else want to give some props?

We've been getting by with lift gate service (haven't had issues with drivers yet - recommend ABF and Top Shelf Logistics for freight there) and a pallet Jack, though I will say the drivers complain when we get big deliveries. A forklift isn't an option where we are - doors aren't tall enough and I don't think we have floor space in any case. Like Skaalvenn, I'd love to find a stacker with 3000 lb capacity, but no luck so far. Our 2.5 ton pallet Jack is an absolute necessity - everyone should have one.

Good advice. Thanks very much.