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AK2

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Posts posted by AK2

    Whiskey Systems vs Distill x 5

    in Equipment

    Posted

    We also dropped Distill x5 due to the high price.  Currently I am using TTB Tamer.  No where near as sophisticated, but works for me.  I believe they charge us around $70 a month???

     

    NOTE:  Get all of your data off of Distillx5 before closing the account.  I was under the impression I could always access back data (I believe I specifically asked that question before signing up).  However, after closing the account, the only way to access back data is to pay them a reactivation fee.  I guess technically I can access back data still....but I guess I never thought to ask if there was a charge to do so.

     

    Adam

    WA State farm distillery

    in State

    Posted

    Dzul and mechengineer,

    I would contact Dave Dunbar.  He is usually found on this forum\.  He helped us get all of our approvals after I proved to ignorant of the laws to be of much use! 

    Adam

    Help with farm distillery licensing

    in Local Issues

    Posted

    Naven,

    We feed our separated spent grains to cattle.  We do not feed it straight, typically blend it in with hay/other roughage.  I do know that it is best to keep feed rations consistent.  Keep that in mind when planning how many animals vs. how much wet you will produce (wet cake does have a tendency to mold up, last I knew it does not really effect nutritional value, but I am sure there is a point where you wouldn't want to feed it).  I do not know about hogs, we have never fed spent grains to ours. I think the university of Nebraska did a bunch of wet cake feed studies from ethanal plants, maybe google their results.  Wet cake from ethanol plants will have a different nutritional value vs. spent grains from a distillery, but it can give you some what of an idea what to look for.  

     

    Adam

    Element bent and metal sides touching each other

    in Equipment

    Posted

    I do not have an electric heating element in the still, but I do have them in my home water heater.  When the calcium/iron builds up on those elements and the two sides finally touch, my heating element burns itself out.  I would contact the manufacturer and check with them, but if it is anything like my water heater heating element I would not let the sides touch.  Again, contact the manufacturer for certain.  Wedging a piece of copper in between the elements will not help if they are not supposed to be touching (copper is an excellent conductor of electricity).

     

    Adam

    Size mesh for barrel dump station

    in Equipment

    Posted

    What size mesh screen are people using in their barrel dump stations?  I have a perforated metal base, but am looking into how fine of a mesh I can use on top of the perforated metal base (I think 100 mesh is still too large, my catalog says there is a 300 mesh, but is that too fine?)

     

    Thanks in advance to all the answers!

     

    Adam

    Anyone use a Hammer Mill?

    in Equipment

    Posted

    Ours is a 20 HP hammer mill, 7/32 screen for corn, 3/16 screen for barley and wheat.  I have three very small grain bins that feed into my mill.  I had to put VFD's on the augers to get them slow enough to not amp out the mill. 

    My mill is up on a platform, allowing gravity to feed into my catch hoppers.  We grind on our farm and truck the milled grain to the distillery, kind of a cumbersome process BUT I do not have to worry about dust.  The mill is in an old commodity building (open on three sides) so not too much of dust explosion risk.  The platform works great, but to change screens you need to climb, not exactly an ideal situation.  

     

    Adam

    Direct Steam injection Feedwater treatment?

    in Equipment

    Posted

    kckadi,

    Hudson is right on.  There are numerous options out there that are food grade, talk with one of your local water treatment reps.  If it is in the budget look at automating the boiler feed chemicals.  It wasn't in my budget, and I struggled with keeping things in range.  I just got approval from the powers that be to automate the chemical feed system, have not put the system in yet, but will help keep me level.  

    Adam

    Carbon Filtration of Vodka Experience

    in Technique

    Posted

    Hello everyone,

    I know carbon filtration has been discussed (two posts recently) but I wanted to post my experience with it so others can hopefully learn from my failures and not repeat the same mistakes.....or at least make different ones than I did.  Here goes a long post:

    After much searching, researching, and numerous cold calls I received some answers on the carbon filter set up that I had.  Cabot was very helpful, but they only sell carbon by the pallet load, so I had to go with another supplier.  
     
    Here is what I learned from Cabot:
     
    1. They recommended their product called  NORIT GAC1240Plus
    2.  They stated for best results feed from the top down in my vessel (I thought bottom up would be better)
    3. They actually recommended running two vessels, a lead and lag (no explanation as to why).
    4. They did not recommend cleaning the carbon once it was spent (they suggested disposal and buying new)
    5. I stated I wanted to filter 100 gallons at a time, how long would the carbon last.  They responded that 90 days in the "lead" vessel (they assumed I had two vessels).  I believe they assumed I was doing 100 gallons per day, which is NOT the case.  So I do not really have a good idea how long my carbon will last doing 100 gallons every few weeks or months.  
    6. Recommended filtering product at 100 proof
    7. Recommended flow rate in the vessel I have .5 to 1.5 gpm
     
    I purchased three bags from US Water Systems of 600-USW-CARB-SORB US Water Granular Activated Carbon  (1 CU/FT per bag).  I spoke to one of their techs named Ian and asked what he recommended, this was the product (I am only assuming it is similar to the Cabot product, but for all I know it is completely different).  
     
    I put all three bags in the filter housing, and flushed with R.O. water top down.  After about 50 gallons of R.O. water it appeared that I had removed all the carbon dust.  I then started Vodka through the filter.  My pump acted strange, like it was dead heading.  Then I had a leak in the bottom portion of the cylinder (where the bottom cone clamps on).  What I discovered was that I was dead heading the pump (and forcing Vodka out the seal).  I did not clean this carbon enough.  The fines that remained formed a plug at the bottom screen.
     
    I then decided to flush again (as any product coming out was black, and it overwhelmed my secondary filter).  I drained as much alcohol out as I could (I am going to add it into my next fermenter just before distillation so it will not be a total loss).  
     
    I back flushed (bottom up) with 250 gallons of R.O. water.  I then forward flushed with 250 gallons of R.O. water.  I then back washed with 50 gallons of R.O. water that came out clean.  I had to remove the top screen when I back flushed because I again dead headed my pump with a "plug" of carbon dust.
     
    After the second flush I restarted Vodka.  Here are the top points:
     
    1. Even after the second flush the first 2 gallons had a slight tinge to them
    2. I put on a 10 micron filter, this cleared everything up
    3. There is much more water trapped in the system than I thought (I drained it best I could, but I am assuming the water hangs up in the carbon bed).  I filtered at 100 proof, I had very low proof for a very long time.  
    Here is what I would recommend:
    1. Backflush the carbon with R.O. water with the top screen out
    2. When backflushing with no top screen keep rates VERY slow, if you go to fast you will lift the bed and you will lose carbon
    3. Once done with the first back flushing, flush from top down.
    4. Backflush a second time
    5. Be prepared to capture the water/vodka combo for a long time (1 gpm does take a while to purge water out)
    I did not have the courage to try this, but MAYBE you could push air through the bed from the top and get all the water out.  I was afraid of compacting the bed, making more dust, or creating a channel through the bed, so I opted to just add vodka at around 1 gpm.  
     
    Again, sorry for the long post on a topic that has already been covered, but I wanted to share what worked and did not work for me.  Hopefully  I can save someone reading this some frustration!  My best advice is:  if you think your carbon is clean, flush it one more time!
     
    Adam  
     

     

    Corson Customers Question

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    In continuation of the Corson saga (and of the numerous posts I have read on here) I have two questions:

     1)  Has anyone ordered equipment from Corson in the last 18 months and not received their equipment?

    2)  If you have received Corson equipment has it been in good working order

     

    Responses are appreciated.  If anyone is willing to share I would love your contact information as well.  Mine is kennayadam@gmail.com.

     

    Thank you!

    Adam 

    Distilling Area Classification?

    in Safety

    Posted

    Southernhighlander:  My interpretation of Class 1 Div 1 is the following:  we are only classified as that group when explosive vapors are present under normally operating conditions.  Class 1 Div 2 is when explosive vapors can be present under abnormal operations.  Is there any chance your customer can review the code with the civil engineer and demonstrate that under normal operation of the still there are no explosive vapors present in the areas he is classifying as Class 1 Div 1?  

     

    Adam

     

     

    Thermocouple - Wifi Data-Logger

    in Equipment

    Posted

    I am working with Rick Wisner.  I have not purchased anything yet, but am very close.  He has made time for me and explained everything in detail what he can and can not do.  I would send him an email to set up a phone call.  Again, I have not purchased anything from him yet, but he at least appears to know what he is talking about.  

     

    Ricks email:  rick@wisnercontrols.com

    Security Cameras in tasting room?

    in Distillery Tasting Room

    Posted

    On 4/10/2018 at 11:58 AM, Glenlyon said:

    Assuming you are still in the building stage - run cat5 from your camera points to the base station. Dead easy and you can probably do it under your electrical permit. We ran ours after hours with the electricians full support. They didn't want to do it. That will save much of the installation fee and you can focus on the hardware. You get a much better signal with less failure factors if you are hardwired.

    We are indeed still in the building stage, we will present this at our next job meeting.

    Thank you! 

    • Thanks 1

    Security Cameras in tasting room?

    in Distillery Tasting Room

    Posted

    On 4/10/2018 at 9:10 AM, indyspirits said:

    How tech proficient are you?  If you go the ubiquiti route you can host entirely inside your own network and monitor it externally.  I call bullshit on  100 meg for six cameras unless they are 60 FPS and UHD. 

     

     

     

    On 4/10/2018 at 9:12 AM, indyspirits said:

    The NVR (network video recorder) is a linux box with a hard drive.  All of the cameras are hardwired and use POE.  Really good stuff. PM me if you want to pick up a call to discuss.

     

     

    Indy,

    Yes, the 100 meg seemed too high to us as well.  We concurred with other sources that that was false information.  As far as the ubiquities, we will consider that option.  If we go that route I will call you.

     

    Thank you for the insight!

    Security Cameras in tasting room?

    in Distillery Tasting Room

    Posted

    On 4/9/2018 at 9:07 PM, Scott.S said:

    Almost ever commercial level product has a hard drive or hard drives and records over the video.... when properly programmed. There are a number of things that you want to be able to set,,, one is motion recording. This will only record and use drive space  ( or potentially bandwidth) when the camera sees motion. The frame rate... which can be set as high as 30 frames per second.  Should be down around 7 unless your looking at alot of fast moving activity. Etc etc. There are alot of tweaks that can be done in order to save both drive space and bandwidth. On top of that you set this system to recycle say anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months depending on the amount of drive space you use. With motion detection on that varies with how much activity your camera sees and whether you have set them up correctly.

    A number of companies  make decent systems with good or better remote access and expandable drive space.  The cheapest ive used is HIK Vision. There stuff is good.. not my favorite and their support is ok. For you that want to build out your own pc id use Geovision. Software is free with them. Their support is just ok.... i no longer will build out a pc for this. PCs run into issues over time. Id stick with a more hardware based solution such as the HIK or one of the better brands. I love 3xlogic.  Not expensive, made in usa, excellent tech support, great online access options, hardened recorder... lots of options.  You cant go wrong with 3x. They also have the Infinias line of access control that integrates with your video so card access also gives you a recording tied to it making looking up stuff super easy.  And god forbid your not their and the cops show up and need a video to go... you can do that remotely for them and all someone has to do is stick in a blank dvd for you.

    We spend ridiculous amounts on a still and barely blink.... step up a little and get a good surveillance system.  Perhaps you will never need it. But the day you do you will feel it was the best money you ever spent. 

    Scott

    Scott,

    Thank you for all the information, we are still weighing out all of our options.

    Air or electric agitator?

    in Equipment

    Posted

    Dry point,

    I have used air in a previous life.  It works great as long as you can keep it dry, and are not in the same room with the compressor.  I had major issues in the winter when I did not properly maintain my air dryer.  I had outside lines that would freeze, preventing the air from doing its job.  If all lines are inside this should not pose a problem (or if you are not in a climate that has freezing weather), but I still think you need some type of dryer system.  As far as the noise, my system was fairly large and had its own room.  On our farm our smaller system is noisy, but you can put up with it (I think it is only 21 CFM and has a 60 gallon tank).  As Southern alluded to, make sure you size the air compressor properly and have a large reservoir to draw from so your compressor is not constantly running if you go with air.

    Adam

    Security Cameras in tasting room?

    in Distillery Tasting Room

    Posted

    On 4/5/2018 at 2:56 PM, Scott.S said:

    I actually do commercial video systems and access control for a living. I am chock full of technical info and will happily answer any questions I can (no charge and not looking for work). I do NOT know every system out there. I am however very experienced in both wired (coax) and network cameras. 

    In some areas you must be licensed to install cameras in a commercial space (new jersey for sure) and this can also include access control and alarm systems. So you need to be careful and check with your local building department to make sure. You dont want to have anything ever happen and some one comes back to you and gives you grief for installing without a license or permit.

    That said - there are tons of self installable systems out there now - and alot of people install them by themselves.

    I can tell you in the last few years I have been LOVING some of the newer hemispheric (Fisheye) cameras. They can really cut down the amount of cameras needed while providing much better coverage and when used correctly give outstanding video quality (as do most of the newer IP cameras do).

    -S

    Do you have a recommendation on a brand that would have a hard drive that copies over itself after a certain amount of time?  I am looking at the Arlo Pro 2 but further research suggests it would triple my monthly wifi bill from the 24/7 streaming to the cloud.  The best buy rep said six cameras would take 100 mpbs to operate..

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