JailBreak

No problem, that's what these forums are for. A good consultant is always nice to have in your back pocket and there's quite a few on here. You need the 185-206 hydrometer to gauge the spirit at distillation if you're making it or when you receive them in bond. We have a couple digital thermometers but my favorite is the Thermapen ONE.

You will also need a hydrometer for the alcohol over 190 proof, whether you're making it or sourcing it. This is usually a 185-206 proof hydrometer. Other hydrometers are useful in case big mistakes happen. As for the thermometer, you can use either digital or glass as long as it reads accurately to the 0.1 degree.

Creamy Creation, Galloway Company, and UltraPure are three that I can think off that provide a neutral cream base

I have a year of using it. Very frustrated and not impressed

JustAndy brought up a good point, it all depends on the needs of the distillery but here is a list EVERY distillery should have. 1. A set of TTB certified alcohol hydrometers that cover all your bases 2. Set of glass graduated cylinders (50ml, 100 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml, 1000 ml) 3. A handful of HDPE beakers 4. A TTB certified digital thermometer 5. A nice pH meter 6. A brewer's hydrometer for measuring OG/FG 7. A benchtop scale that measures to at least 0.1 grams As you get bigger or have specific products you can add to this list. I'd start here: 1. Portable Density meter (this will save you so much time) 2. Lab distillation apparatus (this is for any products that may have proof obscuration such as liqueurs) 3. Water testing equipment 4. Microbial testing equipment (media, plates, incubation chambers, microscope, etc)

Adam, would you care to share your experience with TTB Tamer? We started with Distillx5 but the owners didn't see the justification for price so we switched to OnBatch. It was fine for a few months and if I encountered any bugs they were quick to respond and fix. Lately, though, I have been experiencing something wrong basically weekly. I haven't been able to do any real work for the last two weeks and their customer service is now leaving me on read. Extremely frustrating. Anyone thinking of OnBatch, be prepared to pay $200+/month to be a beta-tester until they work out all the bugs.

You should probably update your website then to eliminate any confusion

DISCLAIMER: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT INTENDED FOR BEVERAGE PURPOSES. PURCHASERS OF THIS PRODUCT ARE AGREEING TO USE ONLY FOR INDUSTRIAL OR LABORATORY PURPOSES. APPROPRIATE, LEGAL USE OF THIS PRODUCT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE USER. I think this disclaimer on your ethanol is what he is talking about.

I've learned through experience that the lab distillation for determining true proof requires a lot of attention to detail and one little mistake can ruin the whole thing and waste a few hours of work. I'd honestly follow the TTB's videos to the letter when it comes to this technique. Here's the video from the TTB. I don't have a water bath so I'll often use a fridge to get my sample close to the calibrated temperature on the volumetric flask both before and after distillation. The most important part is that the temperature before and after matches as well as the volume.

What was the estimated proof vs actual proof? Are you using volumetric flasks? Are the temperatures pre- and post-distillation measured as equal (or better yet match the volumetric flask calibration?)

1. This question is a bit tricky. One of the main reasons I could think of is stratification due to inadequate mixing when you originally added the water. 2. Were the bottles cold? Was the bottling room cold? Temperature also affects solubility of oils in spirits and could account for a temporary louching if they got cold during bottling

The best way I've been taught to clear up cloudy distillate is to blend more of your neutral spirit in at the same proof that you're hoping to bottle at. For example, it's currently at 100 proof, correct? Dilute down neutral spirit to 100 proof and slowly blend that into the cloudy gin. Depending on how bad the louch is, you may need to blend quite a bit of NGS in. After enough neutral is blended in, the oils that causes louching will remain dissolved and the spirit will clear up.

Sugar definitely will obscure the ABV readings of alcohol. https://www.ttb.gov/foia/distilled-spirits-gauging-manual#27:1.0.1.1.25.4.504.1 Click this link then click the link under Subpart D titled 'Determination of proof obscuration' Most small distillers I know, including myself, use the distillation method described under 30.32c. A couple hundred dollars on Amazon will get you all the equiment you need to do the laboratory distillation. Here's a video showing you how to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGrqCZ7ISac&feature=youtu.be

If you give me one good reason, I'll consider it

From the sounds of it you are creating a lot of unfermentables by only using alpha amylase and bioglucanase. This will leave you with some fermentables, but a lot of longer-chained carbohydrates that the yeast can't utilize. Adam mentioned it as well, but a glucoamylase added in the 140F range will chop up those longer chains and probably fix your problem. Cheers!