Bolverk

Sorry i didnt reaize the grain mattered as far as what type of mill. Ive seen videos of all of these being run though a hammermill and assumed it would handle them all. Ill be using corn, rye, and barley in large, maybe oats and wheat... triticale sounds interesting too.

Sorry, I should have specified I plan on fermenting and distilling on grain.

Thanks I'll keep an eye out.

Thanks Thatch, Why the roller mill for the barley? I've not heard this before... Those look great, thanks.

2200lb +/- per ferment once a week and as production grows it I'll add more ferments/shifts. I guess I could buy pre-milled and use a flexible auger system or blower/vac to feed it into the tun and just add the milling equipment later; but idelly I'd want to plan for that growth upfront so that the equipment purchased would be compatible with that system. I read in an older thread that Slik city had his cyclone head on the tun above the grist hydrator and that seemed to make a lot of sense. It would eliminate the need for a separate auger system (and keep dust down), I'd just need to figure out how to feed the hammer mill.

Howdy y'all, Hoping you can help give me some direction... I'm 60+ pages into searches and only managed to make matters worse. I'm looking for help with a grain handling system. My goal would be to mill a measured amount of grain into course flour and be able to pump/blow/move that directly into a grist hydrator above the mash ton. I dont know if it better to use a blower or vacuum, flex sprial, auger, etc or which is better for what applications. I assume I want a hammer mill as I've read that's the better option, but I don't know if that's accurate. There are so many options and methods I'm getting lost. Any recommendations on manufacturers or systems would be appreciated. What are you guys using? Thanks in advance

If you have the vertical space you could add a bunch of plates/packing above the doubler making it much taller and more capable of making a neutral. I read somewhere that SD recommends as least 10 plates for a neutral. Your mileage may vary depending on a lot of factors though.

Looks just like Adam's old rig https://youtu.be/eNff7gM8d1k?si=cF_txl7A-pxeBoSC

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but the conversation was pertinent. Did the squarrel ever get TTB approval?

So you're running the soap at the top of the stripper/analyzer? The soap is a clever idea, sadly dont think it'll work for what I'm building... I was going to try to have a small rectification section at the top of mine which would mean the reflux would be running down over the soap.

Interesting, what kind of soap? You're only running a stripping still right? No reflux or plates above your beer feed?

Fair, as long as your wash is getting up to column temps before it enters (and I'm sure yours is with 3 HX) the bottoms recovery isn't necessary. Very cool, At least you're still recovering it and putting that power (hot water) to good use somewhere else. Everything I've read about a system that reboilers the beer for steam has foam issues. Have you experienced this as well? I'd love you see a video of yours in action... if you could post it.

So you're not recapturing the heat from your bottoms? Are you doing anything with that heated water?

I see your sketch

Sounds like you got the quantities backwards. 1g molasses to 3-4g of water is what I'd recommend. 1:3 typically gives me around 1.1.

Yeah, I see it

Not sure about his system but I've seen similarly sized used around 200ml per minute. I know there's a way to figure it out, I just don't know how to do that. I haven't until now lol, that's another whole other rabbit hole to go down...

I'm only about halfway though my build... But I'd be using it as a stripper for rum. Yeah it's about as efficient as I've seen. If his numbers are accurate (I'm not doubting him) he's running 6000w and stripping 3-3.2lpm through a 4", that's huge!

I'm basically doing a shorter version of what this guy has here https://youtu.be/hizh9hNVNzo?si=8A8Ll5p3s79z8jKj

I create a buffer when I'm making the wash and don't typically need to make pH corrections mid ferment. I use lye to raise the pH up to 7 then sulfuric acid to drop it back down to 5.8. I've yet to have it drop below 5 when the wash is done.

I second this! I'm working on a 4" continous stripping column but I'm only about halfway through the build.

There's a really great older thread on SD where one guy modded his and a few built from scratch. Might be able to get some ideas from it. https://www.stilldragon.org/discussion/1923/m-yet-another-continuous-stripper-idea/p1

That's a really good way to put it. We're not talking 100% pure anything, so there are gradients and by managing temps you're able to tune for those desirable ones.

I gotcha, thanks that makes sense. I think I was saying the same thing in a stupider way... We're on the same page. I appreciate the clarification!

Thank you That's interesting... I wouldn't have expected a heads vent to be located so low in a condenser... im not doubting you, I just don't understand. it's just that a heads vent is typically seen higher in the design because the boiling point is so low that it would condense before the hearts... if I'm not mistaken?