Glenlyon

Actually, I may choose to sell. Let me chat up my partner and I'll PM you later today.

Hi Thatch. Right now that would be a very boring post In a nutshell though, the still was built by J. Dehner, did yow-man service for Wayward on Vancouver Island and now sits ready for action in my distillery and by all accounts will suck through a 1000 L of wash a day. However, sadly - it lacks the critical element of a steady source of the aforementioned 1000 L of wash - hence my interest in this whey thing. I currently use grain - but - to make enough to feed the beast, we'd be overwhelmed by the waste products. I could use honey, but that is very expensive right now - so, the juries out on the best way to proceed. So as a result, the poor wee thing sits idle. I have tasted a couple of whey based products and they taste pretty good actually - although, I do acknowledge it is a difficult thing to achieve. On the other hand, if Mongolian fighters can ferment mare's milk to 5% on the steppes...

On the novazymes spec sheet I have, it suggests sulfuric acid as an adjuster. Is that an option? I seem to have some difficulty with the idea. If sulfuric is an option, I wonder about something like formic acid or oxalic both of which are also natural and poisonous, but are much easier to get and manage. Thoughts?

I would LOVE to know more about this. I've heard of a company in Ontario doing it and I've actually tasted a few examples. I would be dead keen on developing this as a viable concept as I can get the whey and I have a continuous still, which it would suit perfectly.

I'm pretty sure they have out grown that system now as they have relocated and expanded substantially in the last few years. I've always thought it would be fun to have a built in small outdoor wood fired still has part of a farm based 'outdoor kitchen experience' for the guests. Fire it up once or twice a year and have an event wherein everyone would come, enjoy a distillers pig roast and stand around watching some alcohol drip - do some sampling in a moonshiny kinda way. Could be a great fundraiser for some local charity.

Thank you. Yes, your observations are correct - as the barrels stack up quickly and so does the investment within. Each barrel is worth a considerable sum in its realizable value and in its cost to produce. That cost is even higher than you think, because it also includes the mistakes made along the way. You can't plan for those mistakes in the business plan other than defining them vaguely as 'contingency' because you never know what's going to bite you. It is great to have all the cash up front to pay for all that and the infrastructure, etc., thus making the journey easier. However, there are some (as I've discovered) unseen challenges to that. We went that route and paid for everything up front so our business would have a low overhead. Ha! Lesson here - operating capital is as important upfront as the cost of buying the still or whatever. Predictably, by the time we opened, we were forced to get a line of credit and with the operating expenses being what they are, we are quickly gobbling it up at an alarming rate. In the winter, nobody buys craft booze, so expect very low cash flow from January to April. Thank goodness we do have a low overhead though. I would not want to be covering big equipment loans right now. Before you leave the confines of the distillery you are lending a hand at, make sure you spend more time with the official paperwork than you do with the distilling. Although, seemingly innocent at the beginning, paperwork quickly snowballs into a blizzard of unhappiness. (He says bleakly looking at spending the day resolving seven months of paperwork for year end requirements. OMG!!!!) It gets harder when all those barrels start to stack up - did I mention the mistakes? I'll bet every single distiller here has paid more in taxes then intended somewhere along the way. Most of the time, you just have to eat it and hope you don't make that mistake again. Well, I can procrastinate no longer, where is that snow shovel? Must...keep...going....

More of what to expect... After seven months of operation our little distillery has just come through our first Christmas season. After so many busy days, today seems very very quiet. For those considering the small distillery experience here are a few random thoughts that have been rummaging around my mind. Time flies... One of the things that has turned out to be very important for us is the ability to frequent the local farmer’s and crafter’s markets. So, way back in October all the markets we were booking seemed so far away, we didn’t give them a second thought. I couldn’t believe how fast they were on us. We worked flat out from early November through to Christmas eve and were behind all the way. We sold out several times and crawled across the finish line. Lesson - Pre-stock your Christmas season! You don’t want to be trying to produce last minute in the heat of battle! Ancillary products are important... While the beverages are selling well, we quickly discovered you want other things to sell as well. In our case we have honey from our bees. I’ve never sold so much honey! Now we have some other carefully curated products and they are starting to sell rather well. Lesson - give people things to buy and they will! But, make sure your products fit your story - and - your ability to consistently supply them. Once people get a taste for something, they expect it to be available . Quality matters... Even though my place is really out of the way, I have local competitors - I even find myself competing against distilleries in the nearby city of Vancouver. Our guests who have visited other distilleries during their travels, think nothing of discussing their experiences in front of you. You can bet when they are somewhere else, they are talking about you in return. What do they talk about? The quality of the comparable beverages and experiences hands down. So, its very important to deliver so that inevitable conversation reflects well on your products and experiences. Lesson - Quality over quantity is the way, especially, if you are a small operation. The customer’s experience is very important... I popped into one of my competitors and the servers seemed kinda morose, even though the general vibe seemed OK. But, I could clearly see the server’s weren't 100% in the game. Outside of buying their drinks, there was no way to meet the distiller or arrange a backstage tour. So, in the end there was nothing really special about their establishment. Lesson - You and your staff and your collective presentation matters at lot! Make sure everyone can answer the basic questions if the distiller isn’t around. Spirit drinkers/buyers are not the same as other consumers... When the beer drinkers show up, it only takes a moment before they are gone. Spirit drinkers on the other hand, want to know. Your story, history, art, the experience, cocktail ideas, they are keen. Lesson - Building a loyal audience and getting the juicy sales takes time and you have to relax into the moment, all the while knowing in the back of your mind you have to get that damn mash moving! Running a distillery is a lot of work... This has been said so many times! Why say it again? A lot of idealism comes through the door! I love the work and I wouldn’t trade it for another job. But, I’m also working 10 - 12 hours a day, everyday and it does wear. Lesson - Expect to work hard but strive to find a better work / life balance as soon as possible into the lifestyle. If possible. Happy new year. Cheers, Glen

A hip replacement is recoverable. My mother has had both knees replaced twice! Sure she isn't going skiing and she does have to be careful, but the results are remarkable. If you intend to keep going, now is the time to bring some young blood in and start being more shifter of information and less a shifter of stuff. I run my place with a nasty case of Rheumatoid Arthritis and some days its hard to get started. But, it does beat sitting around.

You can. However, most of the stuff I built when I started the distillery has either worn out too quickly or didn't have what it took to get the job done in an industrial fashion. So, unless you are really, really good and qualified, your money and time are better spent on other areas, probably more important to the ultimate success of the venture.

I've struggled quite a bit with the grain issue. I hate handling the stuff hot and so I've taken to removing it just before distillation. I tried all kinds of ideas, to no avail - until, I stumbled onto an old hand crank apple press. It worked great but was not feasible for day to day use. But, taking it's lessons to heart, I bought a 160L bladder press. It works great - most of the time. Unfortunately, it dosen't work that great with a slurry, so we've had to develop a few techniques along the way. Generally though, it works the best for the least amount of money - assuming labor is part of the equation anyway. If I had the cash, I would buy a real system in a heartbeat.

Did not know that - Thanks!

I would bet against flowers as part of distilling generally, although there are probably some notable exceptions. Some flavors just don't translate well. I've had similar failures trying to get flavors out of some types of exotic mushrooms I work with. If though, you are trying to recreate the purple gin that changes to pink - what you need are purple pea flowers - readily available through mail order from Thailand. The purple pea flowers also have some color fastness to them which tends to be a rare commodity with flower based coloration.

This rather simplifies a complex business. Great for the fantasy. Don't forget the parts about working 10 hour days seven days a week and the constant cleaning which you'll have to do unless you have labor, which is another whole discussion.

We haven't done any specific events per say - however to drive traffic to the tasting room, we've found being at the various farmer's markets and craft fairs selling our product and telling people about the distillery works wonders. The best $100 in marketing money we've spent, that has brought in a LOT of people is our two sandwich boards. I used to wonder why people used them, never paying any attention to them myself. But wow, will they deliver!

I spent quite a lot of money guarding against fire and explosion, but what I really worry about is electrocution. I notice people don't think too much about that, but there is a lot of free water in and around a distillery and it would be easy to have an errant extension cord or something come into contact with it. So, I tend to be cautious about everything.

Yeah, so do I!!! Right now I have resorted to a 160 L bladder press. Works great, but rather labor intensive. This looks like the way to go! Sp simple, so elegant!

The way my closed loop system works is the coolant (a mix of water and 20% denatured ethanol) pumps continuously through all of my stills and my heat exchange. Once the hot water leaves the condenser or dephlugmator or exchange, it is sent through the tasting room floor to provide radiant heat before continuing under the distillery on the journey of hope out to a pond behind the distillery. The pond is roughly the dimensions of a normal household swimming pool. The water travels through 400' of 1" water pipe before returning to the distillery as cold water ready to repeat the trip. The water travels through the system at about four gallons a minute so the hot water leaving the stills really doesn't stand much of a chance staying warm for long. In fact, the system is so efficient, I can have everything running full tilt in the middle of summer with the pond half empty and it doesn't break a sweat. So, there is loads of room to grow. I can turn on or off any part of the system or re-route as required using a series of preset valves. The pump is automatic and will deliver less or more water depending on the demand created by the mix of open and closed valves. Close all the valves and the pump will stop. Open them all and the system runs full out. All the cooling pipe is neatly exposed on the wall feeding each part of the system and looks deceptively simple over all. I designed the system on paper and my plumber figured out the technical and functional aspects. Total cost about $5K CND. I do not use this system for cooling fermenters.

More often that I would have imagined. Cleaning the column and the plates arn't so bad, especially if you have CIP. However, I have found that CIP may not thoroughly get under the caps in all cases. There you will find plenty of crud that builds up surprisingly fast. I think that often goes overlooked. It takes taking everything apart and cleaning each part by itself to really get it clean. I try and do a deep cleaning every two months or so. My system has two bubble plates then a six foot SS tube that I have filled with 20 pounds of raschig rings, topped with two more bubble plates. Kind of a funky system, but pretty good for making vodka

Actually, getting 8 - 10 % isn't terrible. Better than we've gotten with our experimentation. You would need a pretty high starch potato to do better. That is in the same region as the average grain mash I would think.

Just a quick disclaimer: I've only been making gin a few months - so - I'm certain better minds than mine an provide a more in depth insight. But the way we come at it, also being very small: First I macerate the botanical selection in about 100L of approx 60% base spirit. I roughly follow Odin's basic process/recipe but I adjust to taste. I don't use GNS because under my license I'm not allowed to. Therefore, we have already double distilled the spirit before the gin process. I have small 45 L still, very basic, and I'll run the base macerated spirits through in smaller batches. Each batch takes a couple of hours. At the end of the day I'll combine the take and and there is the gin ready for some aging/maturing/resting. Yes, I did get rid of the dephlegmator, which did slow the process down, but provided no better results - (that I could discern). Instead, I replaced it with a carter head which does a great job of getting rid of the juniper oils while preserving the fresh tastes of the botanicals. How far I run it is based entirely on taste. As long as I like what I'm tasting I'll keep going. But I'm always tasting the whole batch as well, not just what's coming off the still. That way there is some comparison happening.

I discovered the simpler the better. I had a dephlegmator hooked up, but soon took it off. It slowed the process down too much. Instead, in a basic pot still, I eyeball it to 70ish percent as much as possible and then let it run down until I get bored. By the time I get to the gin stage, I don't have much in the way of heads or tails left on the base spirit anyway. So, while the flavor changes throughout the process, it always seems to taste good for one reason or another which tends to keep me going. I was extremely pleased with my last batch and I have another pending. I'm really enjoying doing gin as it is a very personal beverage to create and present.

Actually, our panel did fail inspection. We were forced to spend $1100 to get it 'Canadainized'. I suspect however, this was not the fault of the unit, rather the enthusiasm of the inspector who saw an opportunity, wherein it would be unlikely we would complain as we were eager to keep the process moving. He won, we paid - sigh. Such as it is.

I have two Genios - a 100L and a 250L. They are pretty good on power and they produce a great product - assuming they are cleaned and maintained, of course.

I've never done it - so... However, I have lots of people who come in and say 'Rhubarb Gin is great, I tasted in England.' One client even brought in a bottle. Therefore, there has to be away. I would like to think the brits aren't using 'flavoring', but who knows...

In my experiments, more aging is better, however the demand is so great, I rarely get to wait that long to see if it really make a difference.