jocko

I would use ChatGPT like a student advisor. It has access to everything ever published on the Internet but can struggle with context. I can do about 90% of a complex assignment, which can be a massive help. But, don't run with it as gospel. It can make things up if it gets in a pinch. I've done it when developing code and it probably cut my development time by 80%.

I think you just have to go for it if you believe in your approach. We have only recently begun putting things away, and are jumping all-in on putting away 53-gallon barrels as fast as we can (small team, so it's only about a barrel a week right now). We made trial batches and put in small (5G & 15G) barrels to see if we liked the direction of our mashbill. We did and conducted a number of blind tastings with aficionados, with great feedback. So, we are now spending massive $ on ingredients and barrels, using the techniques and recipes we've honed building up to the purchase of the production still. We are very fortunate to have a brewery to cashflow everything and don't require immediate return.

I've made grappa over the years in my pilot (50 gallon) still. I thought I'd give it a go in the production still (1500L) steam-heated still. It has an 8" cleanout. I loaded up about 300 gallons of must as a trial. What an outrageous pain to get the must out afterwards. Curious what tools/techniques people employ to make this less painful. It took about 15 minutes to load the must in and about 4 hours of backbreaking work to get it out, and then huge work to get the still clean afterwards. I figure that people that do this more regularly might have some special tools for removal of the must? 8" is plenty large, but the must became like packed mud, and it really stuck to the sides. The agitator was a constant obstacle in must removal. Perhaps a still with a giant grain-out door like a brewery mash tun might be a better path if I want to make this a regular product. Thoughts from peope who regularly distill grappa?

How old are the new barrels? How have they been stored?

What volume is the bottle?

Hello. We have these bottles but they come unboxed on a pallet. We are looking for basic (not custom) case boxes for these, 6 to case. Recommendations?

Might be interested in a couple. If you are interested, let me know via DM.

Sorry. It was recently sold.

Describe flavoring.

Sorry for the delay... 10 wide, 8' tall (opening).

Sacramento, CA area.

My Danfoss is installed on the input to final condenser with probe on ouput of final condenser, per the drawing. It's got the bypass as well, it's excatly as the drawing.

We are gutting a space that had this roll-up fire door. It's pretty new, we just don't require it. It's a Raynor rolling fire door. 10' wide. Fire rating 4 hour. Make offer.

@SlickFloss ok, from your description, it seems it's sort of an on/off valve, just mechanical rather than electrical. Makes sense.

Bypass is closed once output water comes up to temp. The still is fine, as I am running it in simple pot still mode. Once I start using the 4-plate column, I'm thinking it *may* be more of an issue at that time when the input to the dephleg is being used and its input water temp is fluxuating.

That looks like it will work, but it appears to be the alarm only. The RKI is pre-calibrated for Ethanol and is less than $500. It plugs into a 110 outlet, is wall mounted and has a long cord to the element that detects the ethanol. So wew have ours about 12" off the floor. You then can have a vent fan (with aluminum blades, per our engineer for non-sparking benefit) that can displace the air in the room. The intake to the fan is also about 12" off the floor.

We have an ethanol monitor that automatically vents the space when ethanol is detected. This was not required but it was done proactively and help demonstrate to the local fire department that we took safety seriously. We use an RKI monitor. It has an audible alarm and a relay that will turn on the exhaust fan. Make sure any motors and electronics you use are explosion proof, particularly pumps and agitators.

I have a Danfoss valve that controls water flow into the condenser. My temperatures on the output of the condenser fluxuates within a band +/- 2 degrees. I believe this is the Danfoss opening & closing. I was assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that the Danfoss was proportional - open a valve fractionally not on/off. This doesn't impact anything negatively, as I don't yet use my column. The column dephleg takes the output of the condenser as its input. Just concerned that when I do start playing with the column that this might cause less predictable results if the input of it's cooling water bounces around in a 4-degree band. Thoughts? Anyone else have a Danfoss and witness this or is my Danfoss not operating normally?

Thanks! We've used TTB tamer at our brewery side and know it well. My operations director can easily do his brewery reports using it. But, the same guy is pulling his hair out trying to use it for the distillery side. It's just a light level of data entry automation entirely driven by the TTB forms. Lots of duplicate entry, no inventory management at all, really nothing but minimum data required, soley for filing TTB forms. The user experience is terrible in my opinion. I spent many years in software development and I think I could do better than TTB tamer in a couple of months time if I had the cycles. While $345/month is a lot to bite off without revenue (since we are just now putting barrels away and won't have any other product to sell for a few months), having all of our history and data in one place will make it much easier to ramp and start packaging the stuff we are producing now. The TTB Tamer experience leaves us fearful that we are even filing correct TTB reports.

Two options from the same company. Curious who uses which and why you selected one vs. the other? I'm inclined to go with Whiskey Systems, my operations director likes DISTILL x 5. Thoughts? We are a brand new distillery, been using TTB Tamer for a few months and don't like it.

I have two 15BBL unjacketed brite tanks. In excellent condition. Craftmaster Stainless, excellent weld quality. Sight glass, 2" dump and (3) 1.5" TC ports, CIP ball, PRV. 3 years old. Sacramento, CA area. $6K each.

With the delays in getting adequate barrels, we've been proceeding with putting away stuff in used barrels. As the barrel situation changes, we may transfer to new oak to achieve some of the new oak benefit. Anyone done this? Was thinking if we got adequate new barrels in a year, we could transfer then age for another 2 (or so) in new oak. Chemically, it seems like the results would be similar to starting in new then finishing in a used barrel. Thoughts? Anyone done this before? We will be getting some barrels in October, but I don't want to wait.

Places start with a bang and go out with a wimper. I've bought lots of equipment over the years from places that closed down, and I didn't even know they were closed/closing.

@richard1 for your ABV how are you determining that? I have a llittle function that basically cross-references an ethanol phase diagram to guestimate ABV (for setting an alarm a few degrees prior to tell me to double-check water flow & temp. etc.

Just opening ours now, but we've had a brewery for some time. The brewery business is extremely competitive, and we have 5 breweries within a 2 mile radius, a hard kombucha place, a winery tasting room, cidery and another distillery. There's also over 40 breweries in our metro area. Population density is important, given that there's zero tourism where we are. Key has been brand, atmosphere and a reputation for creativity and quality. The restrictions on distilled spirits will be a challenge. We are builing a "pilot distillery" in more touristy town nearby and will sell cocktails there and try to make that have a similar feel as the brewery. Like with the brewery, we seek to sell almost 100% of the products directly to the consumer as the margins plummet via distro. Easier in a place where you can sell cocktails. Not so easy when the customer is restricted to 1.5 ounces of free sample in a fairly subdued tasting/sales office, which is all you can do without a kitchen in California. So, kitchen or death.