Kindred Spirits

Flour and water does work, but it flakes off and makes a mess. Plus then hopefully you have some distillery cats to deal with the mice.

I have had some extensive chats with the owner, due to looking for an option for a client of mine that lives in a super dry area as well. According to his research numbers I was convinced enough to have a client try getting a gallon. I haven't used it personally but the science all made sense to me when we were going over it.

Jeremy over at "Devil's Cask" makes a barrel sealant that may be of interest to you. Non interactive with the sprits so you won't have to worry about any flavor issues. Tell him Steve sent you, he will hook you up.

Pending Sale

Those housings are pretty cheap so it wouldn't be too much of an investment to add another one or two if needed. I usually have clients filter 2000L over the course of 24-48 hours

Welcome to the forums! It's going to be an exciting ride for you. If you need any help be sure to let us know.

If anyone has any questions as to whether this would be a good fit for a possible expansion, feel free to PM me and I would be more than happy to do a free sizing assessment for you. Also a comprehensive steam piping diagram can be generated for installation into your space.

If anyone interested in this space needs help with Equipment sourcing, installation, building layout, and project buildout, I would love to help out. Older buildings like this have some great character and make amazing looking distilleries.

Some additional information on the boiler. 35HP, 1.2Mbtu net rating. See attached for manufacturer specifications.

We work internationally as well and can help you source equipment that will be able to meet those production goals.

I always recommend #2 stainless housings with bulk granular carbon to my clients. Its a cheap and easy way to get super clean vodka.

Hello All, I have a client looking to sell a 2014 Rite Boiler he had purchased for his distillery but decided to hold off on starting his business until a later time. This unit was removed from a working brewery in 2023, and was properly treated with chemical. I did an on-site check of the boiler for him prior to purchase in 2023. Boiler Specs: 2014 Year of manufacture, Model W150S, 1,500,000 BTU maximum input, 15 PSI Low Pressure Steam. Asking $20,000 OBO.

I have used it in the past with good success.

Are your lines run in stainless steel? Also are you maintaining a high water temp in your boiler to drive off excess oxygen? Just want to make sure you don't end up with iron oxide in your final product. Do you want to use the direct steam injection? or is it just an accessible feature of your equipment?

That is a great point, direct steam is a totally different means of heating much faster but requires additional steps to ensure the steam is clean, and also the feedwater to the boiler will not prematurely deteriorate your system. All of what I said earlier was talking only to steam jacketed equipment, with a condensate return system. With direct steam you have to be sure to balance the BTU input directed at each piece of equipment. This takes a properly sized piping system and as @Silk City Distillers a balance of operations taking place.

That's correct. Depending on how much you would be looking to expand, it might make more sense to go bigger. If you want to jump on the call, let me know.

So the main question for you is do you want to be able to run these pieces of equipment concurrently? Also what are the sizes of the inlets for the steam on the equipment. Typically for a hour long or shorter heat-up, you are looking at 1,000-1,200 BTUs per gallon. And a boiler HP is equal to 33,475 BTUs If you don't care about running them all at the same time you can size based on your largest piece of equipment (not my recommendation). 320,000-384,000 BTUs or roughly 10HP Since you pretty much have the same amount of work/cost depending on the boiler size it makes sense to size for your working equipment (Still and Mash tun) 400,000-480,000 BTUs or 13-15 HP Or all equipment, or plan for future growth if going bigger in the future and just have the burner turned down to you initial equipment sze. If you need any help coming up with a steam piping diagram for use as an installation drawing, I have worked as a mechanical systems design engineer for the past 14 years and can get you set up with what you would need, along with a materials list to help get you pricing on the installation.

Rotovap has been the best for a number of clients as it allows you to extract some of the more subtle cucumber notes, however others have had success with putting it in a gin basket. If you don't mind a slightly "stewed" profile, you can also do a direct boiler charge. In terms of what parts to use, once you start scaling up, its typically best to chop/blend entire cucumbers for efficiency in time.

Sure thing, switching over to PM.

This is probably the best worded response that will ever come to this question. I have seen some amazingly sketchy things when it comes to barrels and while I hope nothing bad happens at those places, the probability is that in time something will. If you want to build ricks make sure to account for all of the variables. Have them designed by someone who has done it before and make sure they are built to handle the loads on them. Before even starting, check with your fire marshal, no reason to spend money on a system without knowing it would be approved. If you try to sneak something past your AHJ, be prepared to deal with the backlash and strained relationship going forward. Otherwise just do it the right way like @SlickFloss said.

It depends on your location and fire code. Especially your fire inspector. Some clients of mine have them 15-20' up others have limits at 10'. If you get a variance for a rickhouse, you can build higher than that.

Welcome to the forums! I am based out of Wilmington NC so if you ever need any help with consulting I'm a car ride away.

Tube in shell works great, if you need additional cooling. I also like to to have clients mash in "thicker" if their equipment can handle it and then add cool water to help crash down the temp to where you want to pitch at.

When testing make sure to use the "food grade" Diatomaceous earth. The filter grade can have trace minerals and other things that would be dangerous to have in alcohol for consumption.

A quick pass through the charcoal won't strip flavor, I have a number of clients use it as a primary step with gins and whiskeys. It just helps filter some of the oils and minerals.