indyspirits

Dear @bostonapothecary,

With respect to Reddit's "Explain like I'm 5" subreddit.  Gotta say... I don't fully understand the birectifier.  Can you ELI5?  I understand it's goal is to collect distinct fractions from a distillation run, but how/why is it different from a standard lab still?  In my previous career I worked in large pharma in projects collected mass spec guided fractions so I sort of get what's going on. But I feel a primer, guided toward distillers rather than MIT educated PhDs might be in order..

I find epoxy expensive (we're at 5K sq ft) and a bit Slippery When Wet (ahhh, harkening back to my freshman year college days!). Our floor is sealed concrete with saw-cut joints. I wish we would have had these filled as they're a PITA to clean.  We use a pressure washer surface cleaner 2x / per year.

Starch test will tell you if there's any remaining starch and, well, if there's no starch it must have all been cleaved to long chain sugars.  Ours is anywhere between 45 mins to 75 mins depending, I assume, on the quality of the grind and maybe the "freshness" of HTA??  Youre spot on in that adding all grains on the way up is a fools errand. Sounds like you have it will under control. 

Is this a bourbon mash bill, i.e. is there corn in there with the rye & barley?

Edit: Read and re-read that you're using milled corn so the answer to my question is "yes".   

The consultant is partially right.  The starch in corn is bound in a tight matrix, the best way for the alpha to get at is is to soak it in hot water.  There's a paper out there that says 183 is fine. We always heat to 190, add HTA, and hold until negative starch test, lower the temp to under 160 they add our barley / rye / quinoa / oats / whatever.   I have very rarely experienced an infected bourbon mash.  If you cool quickly then pitch an appropriate amount of yeast it will out-compete any wild bugs.  Heating your other-that-corn grains to 185 will server only to denature naturally occurring enzymes.

19 brix is what... 1080?  I'd consider dropping your gravity to around 1050. Should ferment dry and much quicker.  I've always found high gravity ferments to be persnickety in terms of going dry.  I assume JZyme SGA is some type of glucoamylase which snips long chain dextrines into fermentable sugars?

48 minutes ago, HottyToddy77 said:

I know the TTB catches a lot of flack but when you get someone on the phone they are generally knowledgeable.   

Complete agree!  Most of the back & forth time I've spent with them is regarding labels & formula.  

12 hours ago, HottyToddy77 said:

check out their rum

I find this really deceptive. Shame on TTB (but really no surprise) for letting them label it this way. 

From 27 CFR 5.22

(f) Class 6; rum. “Rum” is an alcoholic distillate from the fermented juice of sugar cane, sugar cane syrup, sugar cane molasses, or other sugar cane by-products, produced at less than 190° proof in such manner that the distillate possesses the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to rum, and bottled at not less than 80° proof; and also includes mixtures solely of such distillates.

On occasion we receive feedback that our whiskey is "hot". When we produced this four years ago the grist bill was 68/22w/10b.  BEP was 113 into #4 char from ISG and Kelvin; bottle proof 45%.   Other than ABV,  what properties could lead to this assessment?    

Edit: Added char & barrel vendor info

2 hours ago, captnKB said:

I use GNS to rinse the bottles at the same proof as the spirit we are bottling.

Curious why you wouldn't rise with the same product you're bottling. Cost?

On 10/18/2018 at 10:09 AM, captnKB said:

The source of the barrels themselves was unknown but they sure looked like ISC barrels

Both ISC and Kelvin.

9 hours ago, Alaskan Spirits LLC said:

why I would not put it in my jacketed ferment tanks and use the jackets to cool in the ferment tanks?

You can certainly do that as long as either (A) you pump over or (B) you have an agitator -- either fixed or transportable -- in your fermenters. If you don't have either you're ferment will be completed (or stalled due to overheating) by the time its cooled.  

I'm with Silk on this one. A few days.  Is this first one you've done? Did you have to get a new bond?

59 minutes ago, captnKB said:

Dont count on your distributor selling a single bottle for you.

The corollary is, "Count on your distributor telling you they will be a brand ambassador for you and help move product"

Perhaps I don't fully understand what you're trying to accomplish.  My point is to ignore the measurement of anything other than botanical quantity per unit volume and a known proof.  Just create a recipe, document, and do it the same way each time. It doesn't matter if maceration is "done" (whatever that means) only that the resulting product is "good" (again, subjective).    If you concern yourself with this aspect of product development you'll want to get out the cat-o-nine-tails when you try to ramp up from 4 to 400 liters.

Measuring completion is fraught with frustration.  Proof should generally not change. You'll have no sugar so measuring brix will lead nowhere.  Establish a recipe & testing protocol. Record copious notes. Distill until you're pleased with the product. Rinse. Repeat.

Hmmm. That's surprising. We too add GA to hedge our dextrine formation bets. Wondering if we're just wasting money.

5 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

which gives us a mash temp around 152

No concern about dextrine formation at that temp?  We mash in around 152 - 156 with a target of 149.  

8 hours ago, Southernhighlander said:

Another great option is a cooling coil in the mash tun itself

Removable or fixed? If the latter, cleaning will be an issue.

Putting on my IT hat...

Google really has nothing to do with that message. Their (speakeasywineandspirits.com) secure certificate expired on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 7:59:59 PM.  They bought it through Comodo.  Yes, Google would like to see https everywhere (it's not a bad idea) but they don't force it.  The general public can't be bothered to look into the details of the cert nor would they read a detailed message displayed on the browser so Chrome displays that scary message. Interestingly enough, continuing to the site is just as secure as it was on October 8th. The real scam are the CAs who charge $100 a year for a cert. Bastards. 

I've read the regs a few times and don't recall any mention of any type of serial number on individual bottles, only packaging. That being said, we do it.  Our printer (Blue Label) handles it for us. I believe it's about $75 per order to set up (regardless of the number of distinct labels).  We send them the starting IDs and they take care of the rest.  

I've used patcote 376 in my homebrewing efforts which helps but doesn't eliminate foaming with high protein mash bills. 

We were approached by Speakeasy out of Centennial CO about their ability to ship directly to consumer. If I google that term I get a hit but then a 404 error. It's also not on the way back machine or google cache. I'm suspicious. They claim to ship DTC to 41 out of 50 states from California. It all starts by sending product to California with no exchange of money. They take a 12.5% transaction fee and the "distributor" takes $2/bottle taste and the "retailer" a $1.50/btl taste.  More than 2 bottles order by consumer ships for free.  I'm suspicious. Anyone else hear of or from them?

15 hours ago, MichaelAtTCW said:

The linked article is about people that work in DE mines, particularly those that worked before 1950.

Clearly a bit alarmist on my part! The point I was trying to make is that the hazards of DE are largely mitigated with the use of appropriate PPE. So much for Saturday humor. 

14 hours ago, Foreshot said:

Bottom up.

Of course, the whole density thing.  We're having a leadership pow-wow on Monday to flesh out how to proceed. Im in the "consumer education" camp but I'm certain our sales people won't feel that way.

1 hour ago, Foreshot said:

A little out there but may do phase separation on your low wines?

By that do you mean let the low wines sit and draw from the top only? The product is really good and I don't want to do anything that will change that or cut into our meager profit.  It's a real conundrum this.