indyspirits

http://www.internationalmolasses.com/

The BAM states:

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Whisky produced at not exceeding 80% alcohol by volume (160 proof) from a fermented mash of not less than 80 percent corn and if stored in oak containers stored at not more than 62.5% alcohol by volume (125 proof) in used or uncharred new oak containers and not subjected in any manner to treatment with charred wood 

I would simply build a white oak "container"  in the form of a box of a known volume and pour the corn whiskey into it, at a known flow rate, allowing it to overflow after aging for one minute. 

Our method is roughly this: macerate 40g various botanicals (juniper comprising 47% of total botanical load)  at 70% abv for 48 hours. Dilute to 40%. Charge still (we dont filter botanicals out).  For "heads cut" dilute some volume N by 1/2 with RO water. Once that stops louching start collecting "hearts".   We stop collecting when the distillate tastes earthy / "dry" / overly savory / unpleasant.  This invariably results in a VERY flavorful gin that lightly louches at bottle strength (46% for this expression).  We then add 46% neutral until is just stops louching and then bottle. This is a very dicey proposition as we all know the oils can come out of suspension if the temp drops.  

The volume we leave in the pot (the inconsistency really triggers my OCD) would make our finance guy's butthole pucker -- sometimes as much as 40% of the initial charge.   I ask you ginners this:  what volume are you leaving in the pot and what, if anything, are you doing about it?  Do you re-rectify in your big column?  Treat and send to waste?  Use it for the base of the next batch?  

Ridiculous question.. but are Edwin and Odin the same person? I've been reading gin thread and very early on (2013?) Edwin was posting and then at some point Odin. I'm assuming same guy since it's the same avatar. Can anyone (like Edwin/Odin) confirm?  Regardless, his/hers/their posts are really good stuff.

They do not apply. Check out Alcodens LQ.

On 6/25/2018 at 12:47 PM, bluestar said:

Normally, 30% margin is the top.

The thread lives!  Here in Indiana it's 30% margin (as opposed to markup) to the distro and 30% to the retailer. If you really want to make money in booze become a distributor. Although good luck with that! 

On 6/19/2018 at 8:23 PM, prcdc said:

Dumb question but is it possible to add an inline filter of some sort to a gravity fed Mori filler?

call  @MichaelAtTCW .  

6 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

We use Triclamp RTD sensors

I've seen them on ebay for $12 and from Omega for $130.  What are you using?

http://auberins.com

Just thinking about heating up 600 gallons with 240 volts...

Are you sensing the temp of the vapor directly?  A few thoughts. First, ensure your twell is made out of copper. Second, your twell should be a small as possible. Often you can shove an RTD down in a piece of 1/4 copper tubing. Lastly, fill the tip of the twell with thermal paste to reduce/ eliminate any air gaps between the twell wall and the sensor. 

Not out your way but we used this guy:  http://www.barrelbroker.com/  Exceedingly helpful.  Prices may offset shipping costs. He's based out of Milwaukee.

On 6/25/2018 at 10:28 AM, bluestar said:

But note that the E30 can not be used for pumping mash at high temperature, for that you will need a SS centrifugal pump.

Are you certain you can pump grain-in mashes with a centrifugal pump? I was always under the impression centrifugal pump were intended for very clean, water-like mashes -- single malt, etc.  Agree that pumping high temp mashes with an IP is a recipe for disaster, a $170 disaster.

It'll work but it'll work hard. I wouldnt go smaller than the E30. And keep in mind impellers for those can be difficult to get (if at all).

That's really close to what we use. We went broke on our purple flexwing for distillery ops. And don't even talk about platinum cured silicone for at-proof spirits. Had to cheap out somewhere.

Yup, regular ole Dawn dishwashing detergent.  Obviously not full strength. Basically you're cleaning out any oils resulting from the piping work. Dawn is fantastic for that and lots of other things.   I'm most interested in the grease/oil cutting attributes.  

Dawn detergent is what our boiler guy initially used. Some use TSP but it's verboten in some jurisdictions. 

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On 2/28/2018 at 8:45 AM, Hudson bay distillers said:

does anyone use there own printer . 

We've recently investigated this for short "single barrel" runs. Per label price quote for full color is about $.003 / square inch for ink only.  You do have the ability to print onto blank, die cut labels.  You're looking at about $3k for a printer.  If you use an auto-applicator you'd need to either re-config your printer or re-roll the printed labels.  We didn't care for the label stock either -- look & feel like what you'd find on a jar of preserves at the local farmer market -- either too shiny or too matte.  We never got to the point of durability testing.  For us, at least, it just wasn't worth the hassle. Our current label printer, @BlueLabelDigitalPrinting will do very short runs for a min investment of about $200 or a bit under a buck a label. Expensive? Yes, but when factoring in all the faffing around required to print in-house it makes the investment seem more worthwhile.

We're looking to contract out packaging of 50 ml containers. Any advice on where to start?

On 5/28/2018 at 9:14 PM, Josh said:

Hi all,

I have 33 500gram unopened vac sealed packs of Distillamax SR yeast for sale. The expiration date is 11/19 and they have been stored in their original box in my distillery warehouse. 

I paid $28 per 500g.

Would like to sell them as we are not pursuing a rum program at this time. $15 per pack or best offer. I would like to sell in bulk, so ideally somebody out there with a rum program buys the lot.

Please let me know if you're interested!

Thanks,

Josh

 

 

Just FYI -- SR is not their rum yeast.

On 6/4/2018 at 1:54 PM, Dry Point Distillers said:

Licorice Root is a limited ingredient, state the concentration in the method of manufacture in ppm.

This is extremely odd... moreso since we got that exact verbatim request and our FOLA submission doesn't have licorice root in it...

This certainly doesn't seem compelling:

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As we sit today, our products are readily available exclusively in the state of Illinois with plans of expansion across the country and abroad. Stay tuned!

Excellent. Thanks for the advice!

23 minutes ago, Falling Rock said:

We have an Epson TM C-3500 and use blank labels from several sources.

Choose the Epson because it has individual color ink tanks.

Costs averaging about .20 per label excluding hardware.

Can you run die cut labels through it? How durable are the labels in terms of color fastness?