bluestar

Welcome to ADI, and to the greater Chicago group of craft distillers!

Sounds like grappa to me, just apples. Could be very interesting, key might be getting a good yeast to out-compete the baddies already on the skins. Doubt you could do vodka, since yield per distillation will be so low, again, like grappa. Product would have to be priced accordingly, I would guess.

Typically dilute to between 35% and 40% for whiskey, especially if adding any head feints from prior run to the stripped wash.

Actually, I want something like this: http://morebeer.com/view_product/19533/102203/Chillus_Convolutus_Counterflow_Chiller?a_aid=theelectricbrewery but with a 1" ID inner tube and TC connections for the "wort".

Ours is a nominal 50 gallon, but actually accommodates 60 easily. Yes, we could always augment with a herms coil, but at that size, I would just make my own out of coiled half-inch soft copper. I need to do the thermal model calculation to determine how long of a tube-in-tube would be required to drop from about 145F to 105F when moving from mash tun (still) into the fermenter. Also, I would need to keep the tube large, at least 1" ID, to prevent mash from clogging. Thought of having a custom copper 1" coil fabricated that could be put into a big water bath barrel, as well.

Just an update on using our still in its various modes. We have run it with an empty column, great for stripping runs. We have run it with the dephlegmator for final whiskey runs. Works fine, but we have to set up a more accurate control of the flow for the dephlegmator so we can get the best use of it for tuning reflux, rather than just shutting output down. And we have done our first runs with the removable 4-stack of bubble plates in place. They also performed as expected, but we would like to combine that with the activated dephlegmator.

We have a bain marie still. We dump the hot water in the bain marie, and then run cold water through it, while agitating. Not the most efficient, and we are planning to eventually get a pump-through heat exchanger set up one day, so we can clear the still quickly for the next mash or distillation. In fact, any suggestions on the design or sources for the heat exchanger would be appreciated: currently planning a tube-in-tube arrangement.

Sorry, poor English on my part. Mashing in the still doesn't do that, but using grain-in does. We are in an urban setting, the only close by "animal farm" is the Chicago zoo, and we are discussing the options with them.

yeah, it's something, isn't it? initially, we have been recording every daily detail in a general log, essentially a chronological lab notebook, and then transferring relevant information into the categories required. we plan to move to regular use of a database to maintain the required information, while maintaining the general log for details for our own needs. general rule has been, you do it, you write it down.

Well, we do exactly what you describe, distilling grain in and using the still as the mash tun before transferring to a fermenter. You will get more extraction of fusels in your tails, especially if you are using corn. We don't use flour for corn, just for the malts. The corn is flaked. And yes, everything goes down the drain for us, although when using corn, there are husks.

Remember, that is 900 pages to print, so if your cost per page is much more than 3 cents, it would be cheaper to buy the bound volume ;-) Cheapest laser printers run about 1.5 cents per page for ink, plus the cost of two reams of paper at $12/ream (cheapest), that is going to be hard to beat. Current price is $37 including free shipping (USPO), and last revision date is April 2012. OK, I convinced me, I am ordering one ;-)

Kothe is also backed up, so my suspicion is that they all are, and that is why response is slow.

Sure, you can ask. But since pricing probably varies a lot with the market conditions, etc., I would prefer to indicate the range and suggest you contact Vendome directly if you want a quote for something similar. As configured, including removable features like the dephlegmator and a 4-stack of bubble plates, it was in the low-to-mid 5 figure range.

Here is the very interesting thing about this configuration: during start up, we use the still as the mash cooker. Obviously, this is not what we want to do when the still becomes busy, but it is an advantage of a bain marie heated pot in the beginning or if you have very limited space. We are making our whiskey using the still as the mash tun, moving the mash to fermenters, moving it back for strip runs, etc. So, the next stage of expansion will be buying a mash tun with about 3x the capacity of the current still. That would about double our throughput capability.

You can see a multitude of pictures, including the construction at Vendome, on our Facebook page: http://Facebook.com/...treetDistillery, so I won't repeat them all here, but I will include one overall shot:

We have started operations of Quincy Street Distillery with our new 50 gallon still from Vendome. This is a very functional but configurable still with design modifications to our specifications. It uses an electric heated water bath. If people are interested, we will be happy to post some details about the still and our experience as we try operating it in different modes. We think this will be a fine still for formulation development, as well as production for a very small distillery.

If you obtain spirits from someone else and distill them (like GNS), you are redistilling.

OK, an update: It took over 6 months, but we today we received our Illinois state manufacturer's craft distiller license. This turned out to be the most challenging of the licenses to obtain, requiring us to have the DSP, first COLAs, identified distributor, physical plant inspection, etc., all completed in order to receive this license. Those in Illinois should take heed, others may find similar challenges with their state license requirements. We also have received our local liquor license. So, we are legal to manufacture spirits at Quincy Street Distillery, and will begin including our Water Tower White Lightning unaged Illinois corn whiskey!

The helmet is something of an exaggerated onion/ogee, which Swede has reasonably characterized. Generally, I think of the helmet (see Kothe's "Exclusive" pot still for an example) more like the onion on a portuguese alembic still, than the ogee on a whiskey or plate still. Compared to the alembic, it has a much larger surface area for reflux compared to the surface area of the boil, and a more restricted waist, that would encourage expansion of the vapors as they enter the helmet and increased reflux. Enough reflux might reduce the need for a dephlegmator in a whiskey still, for example. It functions similarly but I suspect more efficiently than the extended conicals with ogee before going into a swans neck lyne arm, as typical of some traditional whiskey and gin stills.

Anyone have a suggestion for a source for having a tube chiller built at reasonable cost?

This CFR definition applies to a "distilled" gin, and as such, does not require a formulation. We are also planning to make one of our gins this way, although very few distillers do so. (I am still awaiting a response from an earlier post from anyone who actually is doing so.) More typically, a "redistilled" gin is made by distilling either low wines, spirit, or GNS that has been steeped or otherwise flavored with juniper and other botanicals. This requires a formulation according to the TTB. Specifically, if the product is distilled more than once, regardless when the botanicals are added, it is "redistilled", according to the TTB contact in formulations. The contact did allow that tails from one distillation can be added to the next distillation, and it would still be classified as "distilled", so long as each distillation is primarily direct from mash.

Still, it would be nice if they just put pricing for all of their stuff on the web site.

We are using their distillers malt barley and distillers malt rye, both in flour milling, and it is great.

Well, there is a bain marie, that is, water as the HX fluid. That is what we do, although there is a challenge not generating steam as the water temp gets close to boiling. Adding a small amount of glycol would alleviate that, of course, but we haven't discuss such operation yet with the manufacturer (Vendome). We have a 40KW immersion heater in the water bath and a thermocouple feedback cycling relay controller. Heats a 50-60gal copper pot.

Anyone know of a good printer for a bottle top label with fixing adhesive (you can't remove) in the shape of an excise stamp? Or next best thing, rolls of such blank labels that can be printed in a digital printer like a Primera? Thanks