iskiebaedistillery

Yes you are correct,it is brazed or welded sheet.

Haha yeah, definitely has an elevator or I wouldnt be considering it if there wasnt!

I will be running direct immersion elements as well and have planned for the same problem. The solution I invented is a drop in grain filter of sorts. It allows you to vorlauf until the grain filter bed is set up. Not near as efficient, but it will work until I can upgrade. http://www.iskiebaedistillery.com/2015/12/28/iskie-bae-distillery-grain-filtersparge-arm-concept/

Hi Pete, thanks for your reply. I am not sure why they call them garden level, but it is like a basement where the top portion of the room is above ground. The Ground floor or 1st floor of this building has to be accessed by walking up a short set of stairs or ramp, and this "garden level" has to be accessed by going down a short set of stairs or ramp. There is a pizza place above it. I am having an architect who has done a micro distillery come consult me on the space tomorrow, so we will see what he has to say.

Welcome Jeff, I have been in the process of opening a distillery in the Twin Cities for close to two years. I have learned a lot along the way, and I hope that this is the year. With the budget I am working with, it has been quite a chore finding a suitable space. I wanted St. Paul and started leasing a building, but after having two architects come out and the city, it was evident that the cost of renovation did not add up for the small amount of space it was. It does seem that the city of Minneapolis is a lot more lenient with distilleries, as there are many, whereas currently only one in St. Paul. I did find some very nice spaces in St. Paul, but they were out of my budget, so if you ever in the market I can point you to what I found. ~John

Anybody?

For safety reasons, the lows should be diluted to less than 40% anyway, but that isn't the question. I read the chapter in the book, but it didn't go a whole lot into detail. Why risk the negative flavor impact of going too far into the tails just to increase alcohol yield? If the focus is on yield only, wouldn't it be easier to change or add reflux and a plated column to increase yield? Or chill filter the low wines? Assuming, you are drawing from the bottom to remove the oils/fatty acids, your focus is to remove the flavor they impart more so than increase yield I would assume? In my opinion, it is a much to delicate process to be consistent with. How slowly do they draw from the bottom to ensure agitation does not cause the fatty acids to be suspended in the solution? How long do you let it sit before drawing off? What if there is temperature fluctuation? Etc.

Hello, this may be a local issue, but I am looking at a garden level space tomorrow. I am not sure yet if it is ramps or stairs and know it may be hard to get equipment and ingredients in and out, but is it legally possible to have a distillery in a garden level building if it is zoned right and it is not residential above it? Thanks.

I don't know if this is right, but here are my calculations. The fermentation and distillation are not possible, but I'm just calculating how much alcohol would be produced from that amount of fermentables in a gallon of molasses. If 1 gallon of molasses weighs 11.6lbs and is 40% sugar (fermentables) that is 4.64lbs of sugar. If you add 4.64 lbs of sugar to 1 gallon of water that is a specific gravity of 1.209 and a potential ABV of 32.4%(even though not technically possible). So if all those sugars were fermented, that would leave .32 gallons of 100%ABV(200proof) or 1211ml at 200 proof. 1211ml at 200 proof plus 1817 of H2O equals 3028ml of alcohol at 80 proof. 3028ml/750ml = four 750ml bottles of 80 proof rum. Now again, this doesn't take into account that yeast will not ferment up to 32.4%, alcohol cannot be distilled to 200 proof with our equipment, and the fact there is heads and tails of run. Just wanted to throw out some numbers.

Hi Huffy, yes my two brothers and I will be doing most of the work ourselves on the renovation. Largely the cost will of course come from the licensed work needed. The 1000sf portion i am currently renting from is from a 6000sf building owned by a contractor that mainly does roofing. But there is a lot of machinery (forklifts, etc) that they would let me use and the space already has 3 phase power. Being my set up is all electric, that cuts out quite a bit of cost there. The renovation would consist of drawings, demolition, fire suppression, firewalls, plumbing in and out and of course the little things that add up like lights (already have explosion proof for around still) concrete sealers and paints. If we want to make it open for tours and tastings, the amount of work needed changes drastically. Our equipment is small but I am a pretty efficient brewer and we plan to run the still daily. The still is 55 gallon hybrid, a 200 gallon fermenter/mashtun, 300 gallon fermenter/mashtun, 160 gallon HLT, 400 gallon cooling pond (recycling water). In a month right now we would be looking at 140-160 gallons of spirits produced a month. Of course, based on demand, we could get a 2nd still in 55 gallons or 130 gallons. Thank you so much for your input Huffy! This is exactly why I am so hesitant Hedgebird, I crunched similar numbers with the standard number of 6% rent to revenue. And honestly, thats is when I decided to ask here because those numbers scare me. I know some businesses do clear that much a month, but it is just mind boggling how a small distillery could come on top with those numbers. The 5000sf asking price would be $11.28/sf gross, which is a pretty normal asking price around these parts for a decent location, I really don't know how small stores survive at nice locations! I guess the big draw of the 5000sf is it is across the street from a university (its a law school with 5000 students), its down the street from the MN state fair which is a huge attraction (2nd biggest in the country) and they have multiple events through out the summer, we would be the 2nd distillery in a fairly large city, and a new major league soccer stadium is approved to be built and they are trying to put in on the same road 6 blocks down. That being said, I do appreciate you telling me the percent of rent you pay to your revenue. That helps me get a more realistic number than the typical standard of 6%. Because the 1000sf location doesn't allow public access without larger investments, I am thinking a warehouse space is just as good and won't require a large buildout. Thank you so much for your input Hedge!

Thanks DuhStiller, yeah the 5000sf place definitely has the more foot traffic, but the price is hefty!

I agree capnKB, there is room for expansion in the terms of a rickhouse and probably another 1000sf that I could convince the property owner to rent to me for barrel storage. With the layout, however, it would be pricey to turn that extra 1000sf into production space.

Hello, so I've come to quite a large decision point. I am currently renting out a small 1000sf light industrial space in the inner city that is in an "up and coming" area. My business plan consists of opening up a small production area DSP where tours are offered and a small tasting room. After talking with the city and having two architects come and check things out, it seems like the buildout out would be much more complicated than expected for a DSP with "public access." This is mainly because the building is built right to the sidewalk with a step-up so it is not considered handicapped accessible and I would have to increase the bathroom to 3x its current size. Ramps are out of the question because it is built right to the side walk. The space is zoned correctly with the right power, but is currently offices and would need a full renovation with fire suppression, drains, plumbing, etc. Doing a full renovation on the area was expected but being that it is a building that I do not own and has little room for expansion and no public access has me thinking the benefits of the location are obsolete besides being close to home. At this time, another building has opened up. It is an even better location and 5000sf so a cocktail room is possible and it is close to a small university. Being a 3 tier state the possibility of a cocktail room is a wonderful thing. However, that of course changes the business plan and financing completely. The current building I can quite easily pay rent during the buildout and while waiting for the permits to go through. The 5000sf location I would require borrowed money during that period, but the buildout cost would likely be about equal to the 1000SF space. Depending on buildout and permitting I could easily be in over $50k for rent alone. I would like some opinions of people that have been in a similar situation with an urban distillery. A goal of the DSP was for my two brothers and I to start a small family run distillery without investors. I will try to simplify the decisions at hand: Equipment: Have everything to start production. Already have fermenters, mash tuns, hot liquor tank and still in storage and it is close to being paid off. Just need ventilation and plumbing which is included in build out costs below. Building 1 Currently in contact 1000sf at $1000 month Production area only Up and Coming Neighborhood Build out cost $25000 No extra financing needed after build out Building 2 5000sf at $5000 month Production Area Cocktail Room Area Up and Coming Neighborhood close to small university Buildout cost $25000 Extra financing between 50000-100000 needed until production starts Thank you for your input!

Hats off to you HedgeBird, awesome build and a beautiful shotgun condenser ! Very interesting with swapping the vapor for coolant pathway, I've never seen that before.

Im not sure about Lenny's, but the St. Louis bottles I have do have a notch on the bottom.

That looks nice, thank you!

I am using the St. Louis Oval as well. Most of the labelers I have seen that can do it are very pricey ($6k+). I plan to start out hand labeling until I find a solution.

http://vendomecopper.com

One of my favorites is "How to Brew" by John Palmer.

Don't have a lot of time to answer these today, but ill give a quick stab. You stated that your are responsible for for pre and post fermentation grain handling. Are you responsible for the cooling of the mash before fermentation or is that another person? First, I would be working very closely with your team members assigned to fermentation/yeast cultivation and the actual distillation equipment, they will bottle neck you if you are mashing 6 days a week with no place for the mash to go. 1.) This is a question that needs finances involved. Being a 24 hour operation, the sky is the limit on size if you have an infinite source of heat/power and materials. But as far as total volume of your mash tuns, they are reasonable. Your "recipe" however, is off. Your grain/water ratio is very high, it will result in wasted starches which equals wasted money as well as a bad final product. Shoot for 8-12% ABV of your mash if you are making whiskey. 2.) 4 hour mashing is sensible estimate if you had the finances to buy the proper equipment. 3.) 4.) Mixers could come from top or bottom, most likely not offset however. On large mash tuns, they are almost always centered. 5.) The viscosity is always changing during mashing. For pumping, I'm assuming with those volumes you will be pumping with the grain into the fermenter, and from the fermenter with the grain into a Coffey still. So an industrial size pump capable of moving "sludge." For the post fermentation pumping, you must look at the internal components of the pumps/hoses to see if they are safe to come in contact with ethanol. 6.) Grist hydrators are simple devices. The grain is moved through the hydrator and spray with water as it falls into the mash tun "wetting" the grain so large dry pockets are not produced.

It might be worth just buying a bigger ferrule and having it welded on. You could get the SS304 ferrule for cheap, the tricky part would be finding a welder that does food grade work. They are out there though. Im not sure of your wait time, but Larry at Stilldragon can put in whatever size ferrules you want. He takes good care of his customers. With this conical : http://stilldragon.com/index.php/fermenter-with-cooling-jacket.html You would have to tell him the desired size of the N1 port. Downfall is it may take months to arrive from China.

Very nice Peter! Clear and concise with no questions of authenticity.

Ok thanks, I didn't realize that was local/state on what was allowed in a cocktail room. I guess that makes sense, however, as cocktail rooms are fairly new to the state. Yeah, I see what your saying on the age statements/requirements of bourbon. I was talking more along the lines of them selling bourbon they didn't produce and rebarreling. It had already hit new white oak in Kentucky.

A local "craft" distillery does this with their "bourbon" even though they just opened this year. They do mention that is aged in Kentucky, but they transfer it to a barrel for a little longer to say they had a part in the aging process and say its "distilled with uncompromising quality". The bulk spirits they buy actually taste decent, but the white whiskey they produce in their DSP taste horrible. Also, I was under the impression that only a spirit distilled in the DSP could be served in the attached cocktail room (otherwise there isn't much difference than a bar?). It really irritates me. Not only for the misinformation, but for the reason that they are a competitors and have success due to deception. This deception makes all "craft" distilleries not look so crafty.

Ok gotcha, thanks for clearing that up!