RicdeMont

St Augustine Distillery is seeking an experienced distiller to be a shift lead on our team.

This would include running your own team, and we would need someone who is available to lead shifts on weekends.

For more information or to share a resume, please email me at richard@staugustinedistillery.com 

Cheers!

Production Lead- Indeed.pdf

can you email me concerning this? 
ric@citygatespirits.com

Looking to see if anyone here might have a recommendation for a manufacturer of custom direct fire boxes for a still. I have a company I want to buy the burner and safety devices from, but I need someone who can supply the encasement/exhaust. 

I would build myself but I get the feeling I will have a much easier time with the fire dept if I go with a professional. 

5 hours ago, Julius said:

I am guessing you are doing on grain distillation? 

What kind of still are you stripping with? 

 

Correct! I'm distilling on the grain, with a 4 sieve plate hillbilly still flute on a bain Marie pot. 

hello all: 

curious if anyone has a suggestion for mashing technique with cereal grains that results in a less oily low wine/high wine. 

I know, of course, I can filter post, but I thought yall may be able to help with a way to keep it out of the mash some from the get go. 

thanks! 

On 12/8/2018 at 1:02 PM, Southernhighlander said:

I've never heard of them but there are new people getting into the equipment business all of the time now.

Southern Highlander: based on a little research this weekend, I have come to believe that the most likely culprit is Frilli. Idk if you wanted any follow up on this, but I thought I would share. 

Anyone know who is producing these brand new looking Bennett stills I am seeing?

Cant find any info on who is producing them. 

Hello all,

Hoping to gain some group knowledge here while setting myself up in the most efficient way.

I've noticed when sizing chilling needs that the big draw (for my setup) is the mash tank. I imagine everyone else is the same. I came here looking for sage advice on how to not spend an exorbitant amount of $$ cooling mash, when the condenser and fermentation chilling needs are pretty minimal.

I should probably state that I live in Florida where the ground water reaches about 77F in peak summer, but I am trying to not waste a bunch of water. Any ideas on a recirc system that would do the job (and cheaply)?

Thanks,

Ric

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a used (or new) Hoga still with a Gin basket and column configuration. I contacted Hoga concerning this, and I was told they are redesigning all of their column stills and won't offer any for sale until some time in 2019 (alembics are the only ones for sale). This doesn't really work with my timeline, so I thought I would reach out to all of you!

Any help here would be much appreciated.

-R

13 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

With 5.5kw, I imagine you are running something around 15 gallons size.

You can filter your wash through a paint strainer bag from home depot.  Let your wash settle a day, pour off the bulk, then pour the rest through the strainer bag and give it a good squeeze.  You'll lose some yield, increase your ferment size by 5-10 gallons so you still yield a full still run.

A good portion of the on-grain flavor is coming from distilling the wash with the yeast.

Yes, you are losing yield, but at that scale it's inconsequential, just ferment more to make up for it.

I may give this a try and see what happens with it, though I may just go back to off the grain and put the yeast in with the ferment? I have been avoiding the yeast thus far for fear of it burning, but I may give it a shot.

13 hours ago, PeteB said:

Is it a really nasty burn or a light scorch? I know peated whiskies are not so popular in US but a light scorch can be a pleasant alternative to using peat.

Also only 5% malt, that may be a bit light on to get full conversion,

It's a pretty nasty scorch. At one point I saw what I assume to be rye smoke (like a light brown smoke) coming from the parrot and it smelled pretty strongly of burnt popcorn.

I actually got really good conversion with the 5% malt, but I use added enzymes as well.

18 hours ago, richard1 said:

Are you running full power once at temp and are you agitating continuously ??

I am agitating with a 14V corded drill so I can not truly agitate continuously with the setup I have. But I did agitate probably 75% of the total heat up time.

I am keeping full power in during distillation, usually 15A at this volume.

11 hours ago, Greenfield said:

I used to have a very similar set up and the scorch is 110% a result of the electric coil. 

When people ask me about small sale distilling, I always recommend using a grain out procedure when the heating source is either an electric coil or direct fire burner. I even spent hours building a custom agitator for my 100L electric still and was still left with a scorching flavour. 

Only with a jacketed pot can you achieve non-scorched grain in distillation. 

Hope this helps, 

Cheers. 

Sad to hear this, but thank you for the experienced advice. I cannot move to a jacketed pot until I bite the bullet and try to move to a professional setup, but I suppose I can infer most of the flavor changes I will get from grain in through testing off the grain.

Hey guys,

Been distilling for about a year and a half on a hillbilly still, w flute, and 5500 watt direct heating element.

Last week I ventured into "on the grain" for the first time.

Amazing fermentation results, much easier mashing, only problem is I have now scorched 2 mashes and I am at a loss.

I read through as many forums as I can here, and I found one user who claims Rye needs a much more substantial beta-glucanase break to avoid scorching in a mash. Is that my problem? Also, yes, I brought it up real real slow and agitated as much as I could without being on it constantly for 2 hours.

100% rye mash with 95% BSG toasted rye, and 5% BSG rye malt. 2 step mash infusion at 158 and 140. Ground the grains down to an extra course flower, maybe 1/32".

Help?