Paul G

By some strange coincidence, I have the same one, but with the nylon housing. Anyway, with regards to grounding the plastic pump, this should clarify things in principle: http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/pdfpubs/pdf95512323.pdf If it were me, I'd probably find a more permanent attachment of the ground wire than just spring/alligator clips (like an appropriately sized u-bolt), but that document should get you going.

In the junction box that is attached to the pump there should already be a grounding screw where your ground wire will attach. By code, you'll have to bring a separate ground wire with your power wires (i.e. if your pump is single phase, hot, neutral and ground, or if 3 phase, the 3 hots and a ground) and it has to be grounded at the panel where the power comes from, and nowhere else. If you're using metallic conduit (rigid, IMC, EMT, etc.) then you can use a bonding ring where it transitions into the panel. The ground screw in the motor junction box may or may not be green, but it will be a separate screw (sometimes just an empty, tapped hole) where the ground wire connects. It should be conspicuous as a screw that's actually enclosed within the box and isn't one of the screws that seals the box cover. One more thing, the ground wire must be the same gauge as the power wires. Also, if you're using stranded wire, it's best to use a crimp connector (either fork or ring) to attach the ground wire to the grounding screw.

A cloth wheel on your grinder and white jeweler's rouge. It will give you a mirror finish. It'll take a while but do the trick famously.

I second the cooling tower suggestion. Contact a local HVAC contractor and ask about them...they'll be the experts in that field. To get an idea of what they are, here's a handy picture of various styles: http://www.geo4va.vt.edu/A2/cooling-tower-induced-flow.gif In essence, you're using evaporation to do the cooling for you. However, it's only a small fraction of the cooling water so it's not as if you're pouring it down the drain. As for the actual temperature of your condensing water, I *hope* it's not getting as hot as 200F or it's not going to get the job done. However, if you tell the contractor that you're speaking with that you want to maintain your water at (for the sake of example) 80F, and you know the BTU capacity of your still, he'll be able to quote a size of cooling tower based on worst case (mid-summer) conditions that will maintain that temperature. Also, don't get hung up with the term "radiator." Where you hear about it in the negative is in old stories about moonshiners condensing their alcohol vapors in automobile radiators. They're simply a purpose built heat exchanger...one built with the wrong materials for our industry, but not for cooling engine coolant. You are on the right track, though, with the forced air through a heat exchanger idea. The advantage of the cooling tower vs. the radiator is that the cooling tower employs evaporation where the radiator does not. The evaporative cooling gives you greater cooling capacity for a given size than a closed loop heat exchanger. Depending on how elaborate you want to get (which can be much if you're a geek like me) there can be tons of options to tweak the capacity and/or efficiency of the setup. Combining cooling towers with storage volume, running at night vs. during the day (especially if your electric rate varies throughout the day) and other factors are all valid considerations. If you want me to bore you with more in-depth technical-ese, feel free to ask. Paul

I toured the Clear Creek Distillery in Portland a couple years ago. Apparently they were using red wax and letting it drip in "freeform irregular patterns" and got a nasty cease and desist letter from Maker's Mark. In other words, yes, they're looking. As I recall, it only applied to red wax. Other colors didn't seem to enter MM's radar. FWIW Paul

Any harm in calling the guy on it? Perhaps asking him what in particular he thought about the tee shirt that made it so "world class?" Maybe ask him whether he got anything from the other people he's solicited. Like Sonja mentioned, I find it curious that somebody of "world class" status in the racing field doesn't register with Mr. Google. Conversely, he could just be a harmless letter writer with too much time on his hands who's out to see just how many tee shirts he can accumulate just by asking. Maybe he's trying to win a bet...or lost one

Just let it run. The fermentation creates its own agitation...pretty well, in fact.

If you are distilling, why would you want to add bentonite? That degree of clarification generally isn't necessary pre-distillation.

I believe the obvious answer is: "by distilling it." On the other hand, why would you take a ready to use spirit and go through the expense of redistilling it just to say that you did. To me, the cost of a still and the utilities to operate it seem to be a bit over the top for some labeling/marketing. If your three plate still won't get it "just so" the first go-round, chug through a few batches and redistill the proceeds of those batches...then you have effectively 6 plates. Are these distilleries to whom he sells making vodka, or are they using it as base spirit for such things as gin, absinthe, etc.? There's a long standing soapbox among our members concerning brands that merely repackage GNS but advertise as if they are the ones distilling it. In other words, I don't think that, on a regulatory level, the fact that you distilled it yourself (in any capacity) is required in order to put such verbiage on the label that would lead a consumer to think that you did. It really comes down to integrity. Are *you* comfortable labeling something in a manner that states (or implies) that you distilled it when you didn't? As an example from my own perspective: If I make vodka and say that I distilled it, it would be from the raw materials right up to the final bottling. I wouldn't feel right saying I took the product of somebody else's still and ran it through mine just for the sake of putting on the label that It was distilled by me. [1] If I make gin, I may purchase GNS for base spirit for the sake of cost effectiveness. I can comfortably say that I distilled the gin myself as I'm not claiming that I distilled the base spirit. The final product is sufficiently different from the individual ingredients as to say it's a whole new product altogether...the process by which that was affected was performed by me in my facility, therefore it's (in my estimation) fair to say I distilled it. In contrast to this, if I take GNS and redistill it only to dilute and call it vodka, it can be argued that I've done nothing to substantially change the properties of the ingredients in order to make a new product. Cheers, Paul [1] In my time with Uncle Sam's Yacht Club the Navy, we would load food and supplies onto the boat by hand, passing it person by person from the pier to wherever it was to be stored. There would be the occasional smart-aleck who would casually stand in line and simply touch the box or can as it passed by him so he could claim that he helped out because he at least touched the stores being loaded. I see this as a parallel to redistilling perfectly good GNS just for the sake of saying that it was done in house...albeit with much less effort expended. It's the same net result.

...and of course an item's value may vary depending on whether you're appraising it for collateral or taxes

Warning: Just opinion here. I think it's just off the beaten path enough that you might be able to fudge your numbers. Take into consideration how much YOU might want to pay for that 5 year old used still/fermenter/pump. Considering nominal wear and tear, or even deciding what "nominal" is in this industry (will the bank be able to refute your assertions?) it may be a lot of depreciation or virtually none. Consider the nature of use of each item when considering depreciation. Stills - consider not only wear, but material value (scrap value of copper/stainless) Barrels - depending on use, may be used once or 3-4 times (and sell for $20 per half as garden planters when spent). Tanks and other vessels - perhaps check on some resellers' sites and find comparable items and gauge their cost used versus new and how old they are. As previously mentioned, bottles and such, as inventory/consumables really aren't subject to depreciation. Although stockpiles that are unusable or unsold become a liability vs. an asset. Hope it's some food for thought. Cheers, Paul

Heya Matt, Welcome aboard

Yes

I would be interested.

Archer Daniels Midland According to their interwebs site: Their list of beverage alcohol products