Bill Fender

I see lots of discussion regarding grinding and mill selection. The majority of my customers don't like roller mills because of the maintenance issues. They tell me they are difficult to get adjusted and keep the correct tolerance. Most hammer mills run a fixed speed due to the centrifigal force required to extend the hammers and maintain throughput. Process Equipment Specialists builds the Stol-Mill designed by owner Gary Stolhanske. The Stol-Mill is a fixed hammer mill. The benefit of a fixed hammer mill is the speed can be varied to change the grind. From my distillery days, the malt meal was not ground as fine as the corn and rye. This required a mill capable of delivering two, or more grinds, or two mills. The our distillery had two mills. The Stol-Mill has two grinding grinding areas for increased capacity. Upper perrforated cutting plates discharge back into the lower screen area. This initiates grinding before the lower area where the grain must reach the hole size to discharge. This double grinding area increases throughput by starting the process in the upper chamber. The Stol-Mill fixed hammer design allows the grind to be adjusted by varying the rotor speed. This feature allows one mill to be used for all grinding requirements. We offer test grinding to confirm rates per the proposal. Please contact me for more information. https://wmfenderassociates.com STOL-MILL LIT PKG.pdf

Good morning! I'm a bulk materials handling rep. With 43 years experience in the business I hope to provide solutions to all producers. I hope to earn your business. I share insight/experience as much as possible.

Adam, your intelligence quotient on the chemistry is way over my pay grade! I knew ethanol production had a high backset percentage. I know you aren't looking for the bugs any more but a war story from my past. We had 6" diaphragm fermenter drop valves. In order to automate the valving we changed to butterfly valves. Problems with fermenters going sour had the boss looking for the problem. Long story short, there was an area above the butterfly valve holding 2-3 gallons of condensate that did not heat up enough to kill the bugs. I think we installed an automatic valve to drain this void, eliminating the contaminated water. Hot condensate kept the void sterile very nicely. I remember the mash line was always hot. As I recall, as soon as the mash pump shut off, the mash line steam valve and drain valve, opened.

Sorry I'm working as well as following along. My pal told me 25% was tops. That's all I know. He was helping me as a small distiller was looking to reduce slop hauling and using setback is a big help. I also know fuel alcohol plants run much higher off the centrifuges. Benefits? Reuse of water, reducing waste water is a benefit. Reducing slop hauling, always a PIA! As mentioned by others, my plant manager told me yeast prefers a lower pH. As far as detrimental I was told a solids buildup was the biggest obstacle. That's why centrifuge plants can run so much higher. As I mentioned in my intro, I'm not a distiller, just worked for one nearly 20 years. Mostly know from osmotic pressure! If you would like to contact my pal send me an email, bill@wmfenderassociates.com. He says he wants to consult so he can use the practice. Please use my name. Hopefully this is helpful.

The QC Specialist at the distillery did a study at University of Louisville (think it was UofL) and that's what he told me. Yes, that would be high end. He told me going that high would be highly dependent on keeping backset sterile and most likely per cent solids in the backset. That distillery uses a screen, not centrifuge. I know fuel alcohol use a much higher percentage.

Exactly, thanks!

I worked at Brown-Forman Distillery 19 years, plant engineering manager. I think you confused mash with backset. Backset is screened to remove solids in all of the operations I'm aware of. As I mentioned, most all big operations use centrifuges for very high suspended solids removal, of backset. Suspended solids removal also enhances evaporator performance.

The original question was twofold, cleaning and sanitizing. My old plant manager was a fanatic about steaming mash lines and fermenters. A word of CAUTION! Steam in a closed container when turned off condenses and creates a vacuum. The vacuum can collapse the largest vessel. Be sure to have vacuum/pressure protection on any closed vessel. Keeping a manway open should not be trusted. All steam drops to 212 F when it is released to atmosphere, so wet or dry makes no difference. We piped low pressure steam directly to the beer drop lines, opened the drain (the condensation was not hot enough) and let the fermenter steam about an hour. It approached 212 F. Never had a mash go sour, well almost never. Steaming kills bugs.

My experience in a big distillery was the stillage was screened to keep the solids low. My plant manager told me solids build up was a problem. (Wasn't smart enough to ask why.) The 20-25% backset was added to the mash water. It served two purpose, saved water and lowered pH. No doubt it affected the flavor profile too. The QC supervisor told me to be sure and keep the backset hot preventing mb growth. A simple static screen will provide the separation required for a small plant. Big plants use a centrifuge and get most of the solids out. We had a great yield and it was due to constant sterilizing the cookers, mash lines and fermenters. Micro bugs will kill you.

Do you use pre-malt? It helps the corn meal fold in. I also see low horsepower mixers have problems keeping the mash in suspension. Keeping the mash moving helps with all aspects of mashing including your settling out issue.

Hello I'm Bill Fender, owner of W. Fender & Associates, Inc. joined ADI early 2021, exhibitor at the Louisville show. First I'm a manufacturer's representative specializing in bulk solids handling. After college I served an industrial electricians apprenticeship and worked as a construction superintendent. I joined Brown-Forman Corp. in maintenance and finished as plant engineering manager (19 years) at Brown-Forman Distillery. I started this business twenty-four years ago and have served the distilling industry, along with others, since that time. My specialty is equipment, I'm not a distiller. However, with nearly twenty years of experience running the plant side of a 6,000 bushel/day distillery, I have experience with many of the topics discussed here. If I have a solution I will gladly try to help. My goal is to gain trust and confidence. If you are looking to purchase new equipment I would appreciate the opportunity to help with your projects. I have served many of the distilleries in the heart of bourbon country. From complete grain handling systems, simple equipment size selection, extending useful life to helping move/meter materials, I always strive to serve my customer exactly the way I wanted to be served. Honesty, integrity and with an open mind are the keys to confidence building. I always keep in mind the customer depends on me for their career. I treat it like it's my career. FENDER LINE CARD 21_.pdf