jeffw

What was the reason given for expressing horror? I see no real problem with the idea. I might give it a try myself.

I gotcha. That was my point actually in doing it his way. He loses the nutrient base for his yeast but gains some shelf life...We are on the same page. I had merely never thought of souring the mash using left over low wines. Sounded nice because I imagine it doesn't spoil as quickly. It just wasn't any sort of means of doing sour mash that I had heard of. Cheers, Jeff

I don't sour my mash, but when I think of the big sour mash tradition in KY and think about their stills, it would have to be stillage off one run, not low wines stillage because all the big guys there use a cont. column, not a pot still. So I guess I don't understand what you are talking about Dan. I don't have an opinion as to whether stillage from a pot still would improve the next run or not since I have never do it and I don't sour mash, except with acid additions.

All that sounds pretty interesting, I would say that if you use the stillage with the spent grain, you get added nutrients for your yeast, namely, the dead yeast. which would make that a nice way to do it, but the increased shelf life, especially with freezing stripped stillage from a spirit run sounds pretty cool.

I actually always thought the sour mash technique would have been to take stillage from the stripping run, not spirit run (or spirit run if done in 1 run which would be the Kentucky tradition), so maybe not quite "basic sour mash technique"? This sounds much cleaner and you certainly won't have lacto carryover. Am I wrong?

Why not try to run it as hard as your condenser can handle? I don't see the downside.

As far as sizing goes, get an idea where local code issues change by size (sometimes you need a licensed person to turn on the boiler above a certain size). When I was shopping boilers, the price change for larger size unit was really minimal. For instance, to go from 30 hp to 40 hp was something like 2k or 2.5k. Better to go bigger if you can, but I have to agree for a 250 gallon system you could get by with half of what you are thinking. 1 btu is the amount of energy to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree. So 250 x 8.35 x delta T (fill that one in yourself) and you get a rough sizing. You will want more than that as you will have thermal inefficiencies carrying steam to your system even if it is insulated. If you want to run the mash tun at the same time, you can stagger your startup by an hour or get a bigger boiler. But even at 700,000 btu you are fine (came up with that as firing both vessels at the same time leading to doubling the size and 10 thermal loss). For some systems, it was no difference in cost to go bigger (Clayton I think). The 20hp was the same as 50hp if I remember correctly. See what the local breweries are using and who they had do their install. Your needs are pretty similar to theirs (assuming they aren't doing direct fire).

I would say your price is a little too high for 1 million btus. I don't know what your install looks like of course. Is someone requiring explosion proof room with blast panels and such...? Otherwise, I would say you should be able to get it done for around 50k. My 40hp system was right at that price installed but the run to the stills was extremely short. They did run 4" pipe for me though and I think the install was quite well done IMO. All that said too, the people I went to for the install were not the cheapest and the boiler wasn't the cheapest that I found either. I don't think most places require a licensed mechanical person to do install and running black pipe is really easy. If you are going stainless with the piping, that is a different story. Good luck.

Does anyone know if you can use weigh spirits in tanks above 55 gallons or 110 gallons on a scale upon which the tank is not permanently mount? The cfr 19.183 has me a bit confused on this. It almost sounds like to weigh out spirit for tax determination you would need a tank on load cells if above 55 gallons. I have been using a quantities below this up to now, but would love to bottle out of a 270 gallon tote and would like to just put the tote on a floor scale but I can't quite determine if this is allowed. It reads to me like it isn't but I would think it should be. Any insight would be appreciated. Cheers, Jeff

Illinois is not a control state.

I have one of those too. Out of curiosity, what are you upgrading to?

Are you sure your municipality will let you put 200+ degree waste down the drain. In my area you can't dump above 150 degrees.

Istill was 260 gallon or liter?

Yikes

What is the height on that?

I believe that is purely a state issue.

Wish I knew what to tell you. WIth my fire marshall it was just an issue of flammable stuff. I make sure I don't have more than 240 gallons above 100 proof in one location. Never heard of mash being a hazardous material. Ask one of the local brew pubs.

You guys get up to 140 pretty often in Washington? Any breweries in your area?

I believe I spoke to them on this machine and the hoses are not tolerant of high proof spirits. Don't remember if anything else had an issue, otherwise, hoses would be easy to switch out probably. Just call them.

I agree, beautiful build.

Just get a reservoir tank and a chiller. Use the chiller to cool the reservoir water and pump it to your still on a loop. It might heat over the course of the day and the chiller can then cool it down overnight.

I guess it just depends what you are trying to make...vodka?

What is your crash time? What is your cold water temp?

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Maker's Mark