flyhigher87

Thank you silk city distillers that was very insightful. I never really thought about "the football field" of different flavor. There really is a lot that can happen in that distance. But, I still have a question. From what I am gathering from your information is that the flavor of the different size columns will be different. The larger column has more surface area and will have more dephlegamation(in the old sense of the word). So If anything the larger column diameter would actually have a slower collection(output rate) than the smaller column? Since it has a higher reflux ratio.

Thats what I was thinking. So for a stainless steel column(column about 2 feet) pot still. Trying to sell a wider column is just a marketing ploy?

Thanks for the read Tom! and Robert when can I come work under you. I read all your posts you are definitely one of the most knowledgeable person on this forum. Always appreciate your input.

Thanks guys. We are looking for a new distributor now. I'll certainly be pushing for Slickfloss's set up. dollar for dollar sounds fair to me. Or even less but something would be appreciated they are making money off of my product too. In my mind they should contribute to marketing.

Sorry Slick Floss, i'm not following. What do you mean by programming? Sorry i'm not sure if this is a marketing program or production program. please elaborate.

Alright you are all free to laugh at me for this question. But I have been trying to figure this out for a while and it is driving me mad. So i'm looking at different pot stills and they all say a certain diameter column, yes these are pot stills with like 12" x 2 ft columns. Now they all say upgrade to the 16" column for yadayada dollars. Now it seems plain and simple bigger column diameter higher collection rate. But here's where my brain goes into cart wheels, almost every still on the market(for craft distilling) has a column diameter and at the top of the column the pipe going to the condenser is 2". So if everything has to squeeze into 2 inches does the previous column diameter really make a difference? And i'm just talking pot stills, vodka stills and bubble plates makes sense to me why a wider diameter makes a difference. Also i'm not talking about the shape of the Onion or neck I understand those make a difference in reflux for say whiskey vs. rum. But pot stills with a round column I don't see it. Eventually it all has to go essentially into a 2" diameter column. My thought is that in these stills the only thing that would effect collection rates would be the amount of energy you put into the system. Now the only thing that I can think of that would make a difference is the wider column allows more vapor and that the vapor velocity in the 2" pipe is just increased and the larger column really is faster. But couldn't you just put a 2" column on the top of the still and the vapor velocity in that 2" column would match the 2" piping at the top of a 16" column. I'm sure there is some obvious answer to this, please anyone explain this to me. You'll be saving my sanity.

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I just hate the fact that this distributor got one over one me. Promising to sell constantly and promote our product like their company depends on it. Anyhow we have a great brand ambassador now and he s doing a great job. And a lady who is helping us with events and publicity. Both are doing great jobs. Just hope a few orders start rolling in to get a little cash flow. And help me sleep a little better at night.

So I’m not sure anyone is following this or cares. But if you are and you do I fixed the problem. I was reading a home distillers forum and saw someone talking about boiling chips. So I threw in some ceramic rings and problem solved. So I guess the gas had no nucleation point and the liquid was super heating and then flash boiling. So this worked but I never in a million years would have thought that a still with an agitator would have needed boiling chips. Anyone else need them in a commercial still?

Hey guys hope all is well! So my company launched our product about 3 months ago and sales are less than what I was expecting. I know it takes time but we had a small initial buy and then a drop off, which I was expecting. Some people want to buy that brand new product. Then they drop off and you have to make real sales to people who consistently need product. But the drop off the last 2 months was pretty much down to zero. I was expecting we would be moving a little bit of product here and there. At least 3 or 4 cases per month. We have a distributor which pretty much stopped promoting the day we signed the contract. We recently hired a brand ambassador. He just started and is very very well connected in our area. And we also hired a person who does plublicity stuff. Both are doing excellent jobs already and they;ve just started. We are really happy with their work already! And I know you will all think i;m being really impatient, but as i;m sure you guys were when you started I;m crazy nervous all the time about sales. Anyhow I was wondering how long did it take you guys to get any sales? How long for any consistent sales? Our hopes are not to much we need about 200 bottles a month to break even(I;m in South America costs are very low). And our real hopes are to sell our capacity at about 1000 bottles a month. Anyhow please let me know what your guy;s expierences were. As always thank you for your knowledge you all have helped me immensly throughout the last year. (PS sorry about the ; I;m using a spanish keyboard and don;t know how to make a proper apostraphy also I have no english spell check)

Thanks guys this has definately cleared up a few things for me. I think my distributer was just sweet talking me into a contract. They told us they would be out selling everyday and promoting like crazy, which they were doing when we were in negociations. Pretty much the ink hadn;t even dried when they decided to compeletly stop promoting. Major disappointment for a newbie that was really hoping for a little help to get our product out the door and starting to move.

I'm killing myself for not thinking about this before I signed the contract. I asked my distributor how much he would contribute to our marketing budget(monetary). They said $0 per forever. So I'm not excited about that. Anyhow, do your distributors contribute to marketing? If so how much? And in what ways? I.e. Pay for ads, buy coasters/stirrers Pos stuff. Please help I don't want to start a fight I shouldn't. thanks

Can you re attach the PDF please it is not working for me?

Valid point on measuring the DO because we do not and we should. If I did do you guys know where I could find info on what is an acceptable range? The only thing I have noticed and I have noticed it quite a few times. If I do not aerate the fermentation the next day has a different smell. A less pleasant smell in my opinion. But wether the pleseant smell is better for the final product I couldn't say. I think the mud mixer is a nice idea, I have one available and it is easier to clean. As far as not oxygenating I am not the most knowledgeable person here but I have read a lot of technical publications, books, researched a lot and have a degree in biochemical engineering. My understanding is that oxygen is very important for the growth phase of the yeasts life, essential. With out a strong growth and reproduction phase you probably will get a low yeast count and your fermentation will take longer than necessary and possibly open you up to infections. But as most know alcohol will not be produced or will produce less in an aerobic environment. So oxygen good for first day or so, bad after. But from my university days it was well understood that yeast in a bioreactor[fermenter) will consume all dissolved oxygen almost instantaneously. So I do not think over oxygenating would ever be a problem as long as you stop adding oxygen around the time of pitching the yeast. Thank you guys!

So my problem is, I am mash cooking in the still, but then I transfer hot mash to the fermenter where I do the actually mashing. So by the time I add yeast it has probably lost the oxygen in the liquid. Thanks for the reply but I think I have to force oxygenate.

Hey guys!! So question how are you guys aerating your fermenters. I have small 45 gal(180L) ferments and am aerating with an aquarium pump(I know I'm on a budget) for about 30 min just prior to pitching. But I was wondering what you guys were doing and for how long and when. I come from a chemical engineering background and in big industry tanks have air sparging equipment on the bottom of the tanks that create micro-bubbles. But in all my research I have never found or noticed a fermenter with built in air sparging equipment. So what are you guys doing for aeration? Please let me know.

So I have a parrot but before the parrot it has holes on the side below the condenser, so it is essentially open to the air. And @Silk City Distillers You may be spot on about the cold condenser water, I converted an old Air conditioner into our water chiller and the water will get down to almost 0 C, I'm going to install a temp probe and controller soon, but I'll be sure to watch the condenser water temperature. Thanks for the replies guys

Pictures please

Hey guys hope all is well. So I'm in the middle of a vodka run and my distillate is pulsing. By this I mean, the distillate will completely stop for like 10-15 seconds and then all of a sudden open the flood gates for like 5 seconds. This has only happened once before on a previous run. Normally my still is pretty steady stream a little variation in flow rate but nothing this drastic. My still is a small 50 gallon it has four plates and a large random packed section with copper scrubbers and raschig rings. I am running a dephlag with little trickle of water through it to maintain 95% abv. So Why is my distillate flow rate so crazy today?? thank you.

Thank you guys that was very helpful. Now I have an explanation and I do not have to stand there twiddling my thumbs.

So I make a Vodka that has been very well received by the local Somms and bartenders taste and smell. One question that I have not been able to answer that has been asked repeatedly is about density. It is apparent that compared to grey goose(literally they always pull out grey goose for a comparison) we have less "body". Our Vodka is thinner. Why?? I have done tons of research and all I can find is a tiny bit on whiskey and wine. It has become apparent and clear in the wine world that density and legs/tears are directly and only related to alcohol content(Grey goose and us are 40% same alcohol content so alcohol content is ruled out). Whiskey lovers say longer aged/matured whiskey has more mouth feel, may be true. So whyyy if longer aged whiskey has more mouth feel why? Why is my vodka and another vodka made out of almost the same type of grains with the same alcohol content have such a different mouth feel? one suggestion you could comment on is different mineral content in water. Could that be the difference? grey goose claims to use glacier water with minerals and I used very low mineral content a very soft water. Is it possible they add something glycol type component to thicken their vodka? Thank you for any thoughts and debates.

What type of grain are you using? Also I went on Brewersfriend website and used one of their water profile calculators. I used a standard one. I'm also on RO water and use baking soda, calcium carbonate, and gypsum it has worked very well for me. The calculator will help you figure out how much you need for your particular set up.

Thank you very much bluestar. You definitely helped me relax a little.

Hey Guys, Hope all is well. So I was watching a youtube video of a wine bottling session. I saw they flush the bottle with an inert gas N2 or CO2 to clear the bottle of oxygen, prior to filling. I'm guessing the oxygen reacts with the wine to tarnish it not sure how maybe turn it to vinegar or something. So the question, Do you guys flush your Spirit bottles with an inert gas before bottling? I'm now worried that my bottle may sit on a shelf for a year(not sure how that could happen when its sooo good) and develop some off flavors. I read a whiskey sommelier guy talking about how once a whiskey bottle was 80% drank that you should finish it quickly because the oxygen will react with the whiskey(maybe he just needed an excuse to get tipsy) and create flavors uncharacteristic with that whiskey. Anyhow let me know what you think. Thank you.

Hey everybody! So I have been making a neutral vodka. My recipe was a wheat recipe no added sugar. So after my first distillation stripping run I add baking soda sodium bicarbonate. This is said to clean up all the heads and tails nasties. However, when I am doing my spirit run towards the end of the hearts section this really nasty smell and taste starts to come through. At the beginning of the hearts it tastes great. But once I get towards the end it gets nasty smells almost like a really strong mint/industrial cleaner that has a smell added to it. And it is really strong. This has happened to me twice now. Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have any idea what this could be or how I can fix it?

Hey guys! I have seen alot of people talking about distilling on the grain. I am going to give it a go, but one or two questions first. -Do you some how separate out the yeast before distilling? -If so how do you do it? My concern here is as the fermentation stops and right about when yeast would start to settle out so to would the grain cap drop. So my thought is if you are distilling on the grain you are throwing the yeast in the still also. - Do you get any off flavors, with this? I have a heating oil jacketed still so I am not worried about burning the yeast or grain. But I am concerned of possible off flavors/yeast in the distillate. Any thoughts and technique tips would be awesome. Thank you.