bluestar

I do consulting also, with a sliding hourly rate, depending on size of facility. But I also consult as a scientist in other high-tech areas, and my rates for that are double or more. I try to be liberal with my knowledge on the forums, but often people's questions require the dedicated time and attention that they will need from a consultant. There are many good ones that post or lurk in the forums here.

Other non-named whiskey types can also be aged at higher proof, like light whiskey.

We find that if we are going to put all of the botanicals in the pot, that yes, running 4 plates and dephleg would remove much of the botanical flavor. So, if we are running a redistilled gin with fairly clean base spirit, we will run without plates. But we do a distilled gin off of beer with 4 plates and dephleg, and while we put some juniper in the pot with the beer, we place the rest of the botanicals in a makeshift gin basket above the plates below the dephleg, and that turns out to be very efficient in extracting flavors and aromas from the botanicals. Keep in mind, any change of where and when you introduce the botanicals will change the flavor profile, and not in a uniform way, since different botanicals extract differently. So, you must test and determine what works, adjusting botanical bill as you see fit.

We do that, works for us.

For the most part, I agree with everything @dhdunbar just said, but would add: TTB ultimately will disallow anything that they consider might be fraudulent. So while "single malt" is not defined in the CFR, since it has a typical meaning in the industry based on Scotch requirements, they would likely not approve to use the term if not meant in the same way. That being said, they won't know you used it improperly unless either your label description or a formula indicates you don't meet the Scotch requirements, or you get audited. So the label would likely be approved for the term "single malt" unless contradicted elsewhere. All that with the caveat that as @dhdunbar said, many labels get approved by TTB erroneously, but that does not establish any precedent as far as the TTB is concerned. Just think about how many labels for a while were approved for whiskey with "aged less than" on the label, even though expressly prohibited by the CFR. It was so bad, the TTB had to issue a circular reminding everyone it was not allowed, even though obviously they helped to promulgate the mistakes.

Make sure you are using a spirit bottle design and not a wine bottle design. Wine bottles don't have enough head room for spirits. Make sure you bottle at RT or higher, avoid bottling at refrigerated temperatures. If the bottles are going to be exposed to heat or sun, you definitely need to further secure the bartop with an adhesive seal strip, shrink wrap, or both.

I would avoid small bourbon barrels, wrong flavor. Rye barrels are better. If you are doing Norwegian style, it would be a used sherry cask.

Important clarification, thanks. Not unusual for a gas-fired system to be set up to use different voltages for secondary systems, like switches, blowers, pumps, etc. Often, to do that, the main connection is sized for the higher current when operating at lower input main voltage.

Some of the more sophisticate PIDs have complex "approach" algorithms that can compensate for lag in systems. These avoid overshoot and ringing, but they are sensitive to any change in the operating conditions of the unit. And they require some expertise to learn how to program, even though the better ones can be run in "autotune" to determine the programming parameters. Examples of that level of sophistication are Omega and Watlow (although there are many others). We use the latter. Typically, these run new about $200 list.

If you are going to purchase yourself, make sure you get SS and that the gasket and/or feedthrough materials are resistant to high temperature alcohol. Otherwise, they can corrode or leak quickly.

That's why we have both, and would recommend others do the same.

Not likely. We only have a 50 gallon still. We pay about $2k/mo for utilities! Unless your electric, water, and sewer are nearly free? Your insurance rate is probably at about the correct minimum, but that means instead of $6K/yr, you might budget $15K/yr or more for the two combined to start. Keep in mind, the minimum might be a fixed cost, but that will scale proportionally with increase in production.

So start a brewery first, and add a distillery. A brewery has 5x better chance of being profitable, and then it can finance an incremental addition of distillery, you will already have tasting, brewing, marketing, etc., in place.

Even if you get a more responsive thermal reading, there can still be lag on the reading. In programming your PID, you need to include this lag factor in your programming. Cheap PIDs may not allow this, good ones do. Most importantly, you can not adjust much faster than the rate at which the whole system responds, and that is not just the temp probe, the entire stillhead needs time to equilibrate, and I would suspect that is actually slower than your temp probe response.

Space is too small. Double or triple that, if you are going to have a tasting room. Your estimate is good as a base, but then you should double that for what to plan for, or $140K. And double the time to get things fully running. Rent seems high. Where are the operating costs? Utilities (electric and water, too small for steam)? Labor? The reason it looks reasonable, is labor is not in there, and that is what gives scaling up an advantage (same labor, more product). You are going to sell for $35/bottle? Planning all direct sales, no distribution? What about marketing costs?

Okay, my mistake, I often use the term "centrifugal pump" to cover both the rotary positive displacement pump and the variable velocity centrifugal pump. The difference is the shape of the impeller, RPD don't allow liquid to bypass the vanes. You could in principle use a centrifugal pump, but they will lose pumping speed with increased viscosity or solid content. But the RPD we have been using for years ourselves. You need high-enough horse power, but we do 2" with corn mash or rye mash, and we actually run those while heating to 190F using a heat exchanger. A 1hp Baldor motor at 1750rpm works, but you want to make sure there is adequate cooling on the motor if using hot fluids. The caution about cavitation, running dry, need to prime, are true for both of these kinds of pumps. But both of these pumps are used for viscous applications in many industries, including oil, food processing, sanitation, etc. The wear we see does not seem to be on the impeller itself (a big hunk of stainless), but on the bearings, which do need to be maintained.

We have been seeing creep up of margins by wholesalers and distributors, most often using the 30% margin for larger case lots, but adding premiums for single case orders or bottles. It will be interesting to see if any of the web-based distributor initiatives will bring margin competition for small producers in the states where they are active. More useful would be getting self-distribution to occur in 3-tier states for small producers, since a good argument can be made that they lack economic power to be a threat for tied house provisions.

Normally, 30% margin is the top. We have noticed more distributors that set 30% margin as the large case order margin, and increase the margin for single case and bottle orders.

I agree, if you need to pump near high proof alcohol or where vapor is being produced, you will need an explosion proof pump. But you can use the Europumps near the still if the still is not operating and no high-proof spirit is in or near it at the time. In any case, ourselves we do and I would recommend placing the pump closer to the fermenter and farther from the still, and have an 8'+ hose to the still.

Have not seen them, but not sure what the advantage would be over a Primera AP360 or AP362, which are a few hundred $ cheaper? Other than wider media, you are limited to about 5-1/4" wide labels on the AP360. Or you want the Auto-mate (bottle sensing label start) or BMR-6 (label rewind) option of the Bottlemate, that don't seem to be available for the Primera products.

I would take a look at the actually wiring diagrams before assuming a box wired up for 480V can be switched over to 240V, unless everything is being transformed down immediately to 240V internally. That's because 480V can run the same power at half the current of 240V, and wires, relays, and fuses rated for use at a given power at 480V may not be rated for double the current at 240V.

I second getting the E30 instead. Shop around, prices vary. Definitely plan on keeping a spare impeller on hand, and eventually the gasket rebuild kit. The impellers will run much longer if you remember to never run dry, don't leave the motor in idle, don't run at excessive elevated temperature, and re-lubricate regularly. But note that the E30 can not be used for pumping mash at high temperature, for that you will need a SS centrifugal pump.

They may be great, but I would make sure they are experienced working in Cook County and City of Chicago, because of how stringent and byzantine the construction and fire codes are there. Also, in the City of Chicago, depending on your situation and location, you may need to use unionized labor. But you should know that @highwood28 given the aldermanic constitution of your enterprise, so this comment is more for others to see...

We made our controls, in part because no one in the US who sells controls makes them robust enough and safe enough for heavy use, yet reasonably priced, in our opinion. We have seen the controllers from the two largest still manufacturers in the US, and neither are good enough, just poorly designed. Some of the German manufacturers DO make good controllers, but there are VERY expensive. So like others, we had to roll our own, when the purchased controllers failed. While we have fully programmable PID controllers that in principle could allow full automation, we have not bothered to do so in the end, because we prefer some manual monitoring as well for our stills. But power control feedback from a temperature in the system is easy to add, as is control of cooling water flow, so those are programmable through the PIDs. I think if you are going to do full automation, you would want to incorporate a dedicate computer with a more sophisticate control program, this is what some of the German's do.

Here are the relevant rules: if a spirit is NOT a legally defined category and type, then that category and type can NOT appear on the label; if it is a legally defined category and type, then that category and type MUST appear on the label; if there is NO legally defined category and type, it is a specialty with a fanciful name and formula required; and in any case, no text on the label can be misleading or untruthful, per the opinion of the TTB.