Black Creek

Bought two conical tanks and attachments from this company. I had a ball valve start dripping after 5 uses. It is the 12th day since telling them warranty or not please send one. I have called and emailed til I'm done. Just lost all my future business over a ball valve. Got the replacement in today from another company. At glance looks to be made better. Live and learn. Just know that if you use this company they will not stand behind their product and will not even return a call or email. Zero customer service.

Yeah but who has 20 hrs to babysit a still. Much happier with end product from a strip then spirit run than I ever was with single pass.

"I'd like to get it down to where I'm making single runs to finished product."

I tried that too. I make stripping runs now. I have a 52 gal, 6" ,4 plate mile hi still. I am currently looking to build a 150 gallon stripping still and use the 52 just for spirit runs.

So the heat has come home to Florida. Ferment hit 90 degrees and finished out like a race horse. That answers that question. Come fall I guess I'll be needing to build an immersion heater or two.

16 hours ago, dhdunbar said:

Any grape brandy not aged in an oak container must be labeled "immature brandy."  Acceleration, even if it works, is not an acceptable alternative under TTB's rules.  Note that I'm the neutral messenger here.  I don't take a position that one is better than the other;  I just say that there are legal consequences to not aging grape brandy in an oak container for two years or more.

 

5.22(d)(1) ... . Fruit brandy, derived from grapes, shall be designated as “grape brandy” or “brandy”, except that in the case of brandy (other than neutral brandy, pomace brandy, marc brandy, grappa brandy, Pisco, Pisco Perú, or Pisco Chileno) distilled from the fermented juice, mash, or wine of grapes, or the residue thereof, which has been stored in oak containers for less than 2 years, the statement of class and type shall be immediately preceded, in the same size and kind of type, by the word “immature”.

 

 

So if you start with a wine that was aged in oak for two years then you're good to go? Pros/cons?

So far I have been placing them by hand. Would be interesting to see a few machines. Designed my own labels and sent them to print house I've been using for years in my sign business. 500 on a roll. Easy enough til we get into serious #s.

Sugar Daddy is where I get my panela. Jason is great to work with.

Couple of my first ferments I used distillavite, dap, baking soda, etc. and then ran clean. Just water, yeast and panela. Same times for both. My water is artesian and according to meter very clean, ph around 8 at tap with tds of 184. It gets some serious oxygen when I melt the panella in with a drill and paddle I bet. My lallemand rep tells me 84 degrees during ferment is right in there and I may want to pitch less than 95 degrees. Gravity starts around 170 and falls steady with ferment. At three weeks or there about I am at 1 brix or less and then rack n run.

I pitch as close to 100 as I can get. I start yeast in a bucket until cake forms then pitch. Within a day it is rolling. Active all the way thru fermentation. It is about to be in the high 90's to 100's here on the daily in summer so if the next ferment shortens that should tell me what's up. Might have to coil some copper and make an immersion heater to see if it helps. Was planning on doing that this winter any way, lol. Perhaps another yeast? Slow ferment has been giving good results in spirit but I have distributors knocking on my door now so I need to increase my productivity in order for wholesale to make fiscal sense. Next step is adding a stripping still to match my fermenters. That should double my efficiency as far as time goes. Thanks.

Starting gravity 1.07, 17 brix, 200 grams yeast into 130 gallons water which fills fermenter to 150 gallon mark after adding panella at just over 2lbs per gallon

Excellent thread. I have not used fresh press but do intend to in the future. Right now I am using panella and no nutrient. I have used distillivite with distillimaxrm previously and between the two I do not see any difference in ferment times. I am in Florida so the warehouse is nice and warm. Ferment stays about 84 degrees give or take. Right now my ferment takes over two weeks after which I clean sediment from wash and run. I keep daily checks on brix, sg, temp, ph. ph stays over 4. How are the rest of you getting 5-6 day ferments?

6 weeks to 8 weeks wood in the barrel then 5 months without. My wife is my taste tester, when she says it's ready we proof and bottle.

My first batch from stainless drums with french oak spirals is a hit. The women seem to go for the med+char and the men def have a preference for the heavy char. The rum we left white is going over great with my recipe for lemon drop. I have been making a pitcher of lemon drop for the tastings we have put on and it sells more white for me than when I do not do it. This rum is made from 100% panela. I have both my fermenters almost ready to run for second batch. Now that we have our first run on the market and doing well I am considering a second larger still just for stripping runs and possibly start trying a few side experiments adding some molasses to see what kind of flavor that can give. But I have to say right now the panela is doing great on its own. This is going to be an interesting ride into retirement after 40 years in the sign and teaching biz, lol.

I am having good results with distillamax rm from lallemand. The distillers guide to rum by Ian SMiley, Eric Watson & Michael Delevante is a good read to have on repeat.

On 9/17/2018 at 11:18 PM, Glenlyon said:

I run what you might call a 'nano distillery'. I run the smallest distillery in Canada with a footprint of 950sf including the tasting room, a mechanical room and a tiny bathroom. I have one of Paul's 45G still/mash tuns, 2 Genios, a Redboot continuous (currently dormant) and a variety of other unholy stillage contraptions. I have a closed loop cooling system and about 500 G of fermentation tanks in various sizes.

I operate seven days a week, even though I'm only open to the public for the weekends and I attend a select few local farmer's markets.

It cost me close to $500k in cash and probably another $150k in my time to open my doors. I produce a basic vodka and a gin which evolves in mysterious ways every sixty bottles or so. (Damn, were did I put that recipe?) My only help is my wife, an equal partner and my daughter, part time.

No matter how much I toil, I can only put out so much product. Not very much, I can tell you. So, being too nano is a careful decision - you really need to be clear on your goals and your growth projections.

We thought we'd have a hard time getting any market, so we opened slowly with no advertising. Good thing we did, as now only a few months in, we're barely able to keep up with the demand and I turn green as I contemplate the impending Christmas season.

Of course, the upside of all of the work - every time week look at the weekly take we smile. Our social standing is outta sight. We meet all kinds of great people - who are rich and think nothing of spending not only on the booze but a variety of other associated products we're selling. We can't wait to introduce new spirits, but they take time to develop, find the ingredients and then the paperwork etc. Right now it's eight o'clock and I'm tired and I need to create advertising for tomorrows newspaper deadline.

Beats working for a living...

 

I would be interested in  the closed loop system you describe. I have something I am about to put together for my 53 gal still using a tote and pump but am concerned about method to try and keep the temp of the water consistent.

I was thinking about a radiator and even possibly a water cooler of some type in line. Glad to see I'm on the right track. Need to double my tote, lol. Thanks a lot!

On 9/17/2018 at 11:18 PM, Glenlyon said:

I run what you might call a 'nano distillery'. I run the smallest distillery in Canada with a footprint of 950sf including the tasting room, a mechanical room and a tiny bathroom. I have one of Paul's 45G still/mash tuns, 2 Genios, a Redboot continuous (currently dormant) and a variety of other unholy stillage contraptions. I have a closed loop cooling system and about 500 G of fermentation tanks in various sizes.

I operate seven days a week, even though I'm only open to the public for the weekends and I attend a select few local farmer's markets.

It cost me close to $500k in cash and probably another $150k in my time to open my doors. I produce a basic vodka and a gin which evolves in mysterious ways every sixty bottles or so. (Damn, were did I put that recipe?) My only help is my wife, an equal partner and my daughter, part time.

No matter how much I toil, I can only put out so much product. Not very much, I can tell you. So, being too nano is a careful decision - you really need to be clear on your goals and your growth projections.

We thought we'd have a hard time getting any market, so we opened slowly with no advertising. Good thing we did, as now only a few months in, we're barely able to keep up with the demand and I turn green as I contemplate the impending Christmas season.

Of course, the upside of all of the work - every time week look at the weekly take we smile. Our social standing is outta sight. We meet all kinds of great people - who are rich and think nothing of spending not only on the booze but a variety of other associated products we're selling. We can't wait to introduce new spirits, but they take time to develop, find the ingredients and then the paperwork etc. Right now it's eight o'clock and I'm tired and I need to create advertising for tomorrows newspaper deadline.

Beats working for a living...

 

I would be interested in  the closed loop system you describe. I have something I am about to put together for my 53 gal still using a tote and pump but am concerned about method to try and keep the temp of the water consistent.

Exactly, lol. My home county is even worse. But we are almost there!

On 8/25/2018 at 5:09 PM, daveflintstone said:

You realize you don't need a ttb bond for up to $50,000 in expected tax payments annually?  Which is a lot of cases a year.

State of Florida disagrees. Did not need one for fed permit but was told to get one for Florida by the state or application would be turned down.

Great post. Just got my surety bond through HUB International. 300.00 for the year, about 1/2 of what the other vendors quoted. Quick service as well. Now I can finally submit to state, had fed permit since January. The locals have been holding me up at every space on the dang form. I am the first distillery ever in our county and no one in local government has a clue what to do with us.  hopefully making rum VERY SOON

On 11/20/2017 at 10:23 PM, Falling Rock said:

I realize every local is different, but...

Ours was the State Dept of Environmental Quality's worry about our discharge into our captive septic system..

As you have said, we planned a zero waste foot print and we had a disbeliever in the Health Department. He wanted to keep comparing us to a brewery and the breweries in our local had a bad reputation.

We wrote a detailed explanation of our process: recycled cooling water, recycled stillage to next wash/mash, that not recycled is fed wet to cattle, we stated the use of fores/heads used in sterilizing equipment, tails re-run,...write it down like your going to do it! Plan your distilling days with time and labor, so that hot cooling water starts a mash and hotter stillage goes in last.

You should already know what your quantities are based on your equipment. Make the quantities jive. 600L still. 100L of product, 200L used in next wash/mash, 300 out to feed, 200 gallons of cooling water recycled either into next mash or into a storage tank,  NO CHLORINE, we use PBW,  Starsan and alcohol (heads), our waste consists of floor mopping, toilet and minimal equipment washing (10 gallons). MUCH less sewage than any restaurant!

Water (especially hot water) and grain down the drain is as much an economic issue for a distillery as an environmental issue and I'm a cheap SOB. SAVE the BTU's!!! Feed the stillage!

Write and answer questions about your process. After reading, DEQ told the Health Dept they weren't even interested in auditing us! And it has worked out fine.

Notice I said feed wet grain to the livestock. I looked at every possible means of drying it and they were all expensive. I read every reference I could find. Even a wash can be fed wet to most critters.  They will drink it, just harder to move offsite wet than dry. Pump or dump it into a tank/trough and they line up for a healthy drink.

 

I went through pretty much the same. Local health dept has no clue what to do with us as we are the first distillery ever in our county. Had to get DEP to give us a 5 yr exempt permit for wastewater after we submitted plan showing 0 waste.

These insurance people are funny. Just got off phone with an agency, lady told me they only do business with people who are already customers. In other words they aren't looking for new customers. Must be nice. Keep dialing, lol. I'll get a quote yet. Lord give me the strength to get past these last hurdles to being legal and operating.

Looks like same process we use for making cane syrup. Also close to process for making panalla from videos I have seen. We use a tractor to run the grinder these days though.

Try some panella sugar.

I am considering planting a couple acres this year in cane myself just to play with. I have a friend with a grinder that grows cane and makes syrup. Supposedly the agricole style rums have a nice grassy note.

11? The heck with the barrel how about a bottle!  Sounds awesome. Just out of curiosity what size barrel? If I were closer I might grab a couple from you.

Bagging. Using 30 gallon drums. 150 gallon fermenters and 52 gallon still.  Vendor can make a mix of chars and bag in appropriate amount for the drum. Leaning toward a mix of med and med+ char mixed. Very small batches to start until I get it just like the boss (my wife)  wants.