Southernhighlander

California Distiller’s: $20,000 Rebate Available Time is running out. The State of California is providing significant rebates to distilleries using natural gas (SDG&E, PG&E, SCE, SoCal Gas) that implement solar thermal systems to replace or augment their use of natural gas. The California CSI Thermal Rebate Program https://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/solarwater/ has been extended for an additional 6 months with unused funds needing to be distributed IMMEDIATELY. In its effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the State’s commitment to supporting clean and sustainable business, California is providing significant rebates to adaptors of clean and efficient solar thermal technology. Recent developments in small scale distillation technology now put these significant rebates within reach of craft distilleries. The CSI rebate qualified Sunshiner® is a zero carbon emitting, solar powered, low temperature distillation system (125°- 155°F at ambient pressure) now available to California distillers. The Sunshiner Natural Distillation System, capable of doubling the output of your current traditional distillation equipment, provides an onsite solar thermal and electric energy system, a Sunshiner® low temperature still (utility patent # 10421030) and real time app accessible carbon/ghg monitoring. For distilleries interested in becoming a quantifiable leader in clean and climate conscious distilling, The Sunshiner system is available to qualified distilleries with no money down for a limited time. (limited 2 systems per utility) For more information contact: paul@distillery-equipment.com

These receiving tanks actually hold 55 gallons, if filled up all of the way. We advertise them as 50 gallons because we believe that is the operating capacity if they are rolled across the floor. Some of our competitors are selling these for as much as $300.00 per tank more than us. The only difference is that we have an extra port on our tanks. This 50 gallon receiving tank/transfer barrel, is great for moving your whiskey or vodka throughout your distillery.The receiving tank comes with: (3) Wheels with breaks (1) Lid (1) Handle (2) 1.5" Tri clamps (2) 1.5" Silicone gaskets (1) 1.5" End caps (1) 1.5" Drain Valve This receiving tank has a 50 gallon capacity.

Thanks Matt. I really appreciate the great feedback!

Concerning the condensate return connections on stills. We raised ours, on most stills, from 12" to 15" to 18", sometime back. I would love to make them 24", however, if I standardize that in my designs it would lead to lots of other issues, with most customers. Most of the time we barely meet the customers height restrictions as it is. Raising the condensate return connect higher would mean that we could not meet the height requirements that many of our customers have. Also if the still is a 200 gallon or larger, it makes the manway much harder to access because of the height. Also with stills with offset columns, the base of the offset column must be high enough above the liquid level in the pot, so that gravity will overcome the pressure created by the liquid level above each plate. On our ultra pro vodka stills, this means that the base of the column must be 18" to 20" above the liquid level in the pot because there is 17" of juice above the plates at high reflux. Anyway, these are the reasons why most still manufacturers have their condensate returns at around 12" above the floor. I would appreciate any suggestions that anyone has concerning how to overcome these issues to standardize a higher condensate return connection. Thank you.

Patio Daddio Good post on boilers. One little thing though. You can use sanitary filters to steam inject from a regular boiler.

No Joke. I didn't realize that Sager was a vendor. Duh, it says vendor just below his image. Anyway, I thought that he was someone selling used equipment and I didn't see any manways on his listing so I posted that I have them in stock. Since he is a vendor who sells manways it was rude of me to post manways for sale on his topic/listing, so I removed my post and sent him an apology, in a private email.

Removed by Southern Highlander.

Nice job Starcat.

Below is some more info.

Within the next 2 weeks we will be offering a solar powered still that will do a whiskey run in around 5 hrs. This still is very unique and is patented. It distills at 140F at sea level without pulling vacuum. Because of the lower distilling temp the flavor profile is better as more of the nasties are left behind. The still comes with all of the solar equipment. This still has carbon monitoring and can be operated with a zero carbon footprint. We will post more info in around 1 week. We will also have solar mash cookers available and solar power options for all of our stills up to 300 gallons.

Yep, On the grain is best for corn mashes, and if you are going to Bourbon, I would sour mash it for sure.

bluestar, Brass is used on most steam boilers and hot water heaters that are built in the US and around the world. That brass goes through years of thermal cycling and pressure without failure. We and our competitors put brass components on stills everyday, and those stills get really hot and then cold and operate under pressure and there are no issues with those components even after many years of use. I would not put a brass column on a still but if I did, I would have zero worries about it failing from thermal cycling.

For all of those interested. The head on the Muller still is not brass or bronze. It is copper. It's a gold color because the copper has been coated with a sealer. The sealer turned yellow when the copper got hot. We have used sealers in the past but our sealed columns would turn a darker red when they got hot. However copper from different places reacts differently. Heat will cause some to turn lighter and some to turn darker. The reason the plated column is not yellow is because it did not get as hot. Mystery solved.

I have no idea whether the still helmet is brass or not It could just be the colors off in the photo. I've never thought about building a brass still helmet but If I wanted to build one, it would not be a problem. Brass is easily worked into all kinds of things such as lamps, spittoons, bowls, billions if not trillions of ammo casings & primers and on and on. Our metal spinning machine will do the halves of a brass onion up to 32" in diameter.

We have what you need. Email: paul@distillery-equipment.com Thanks.

You may be right. Especially since the whole head looks like brass and I have never seen that before. However, we reworked an older Mueller still here about 3 years ago that had a copper head but the manway was a heavy solid brass manway and it did not have any kind of coating. Not something that I would put on a still but brass was used a lot for manways and other fittings on older stills of all makes, including the stills of Vendome Copper & Brass Works. The Germans still use brass manways on some newer stills. Today it is probably de-leaded or lead free brass but in the old days it was just regular old brass with 2% lead added for machinability. Also bronze is metallic brown in color, not yellow. Interesting fact. The Chinese call regular copper "red copper" and brass "yellow copper".

Not at all interested.

Bentonite clay is weathered volcanic ash. The most common use of bentonite clay is in drilling mud used by oil and nat. gas drillers for lubricating the drill bit. It is also used in health food. It is used for molecular bonding and molecular sieving to remove unwanted components during processes to produce CBD and THC concentrates. It is also used during white wine and other fermentations to clarify. It removes protein haze which helps to remove negative aromas as well. It is generally added before fermentation starts. It bonds to the proteins and some other particles. Once bonding occurs the bentonite and particles that are bonded to it will precipitate to the bottom of the fermenter so that the wash is clarified. I found the below on the internet. Hopefully it will help. "You must utilize the bentonite properly or it will not clarify your wine at all. Here is what you do: You want to rehydrate the bentonite powder by mixing vigorously every 2 teaspoons per ½ cup of water around 140°F(6°C). If the water is not warm enough, it will clump and fall to the bottom of the container. Mix it well for a long time until you can dip your hand in it and it just appears and feels smooth with everything dissolved. For small batches, you can just use a common kitchen whisk. For larger operations, they actually use a long wand attached to a drill bit with a propeller and place it in the container with the drill running to mix it well. Some people will tell you to let it sit for 24 hours before use so that it is fully hydrated, but that is not necessary. Add your slurry to the wine at a ratio of one to two tablespoons per gallon. One being for mild haze and two for thicker. Stir the mixture slowly into the wine, but try not to do so by mixing in too much oxygen. A line with a gas line while you do this can help. From here, you can let your juice or wine rest for about 4 days more or less until the wine/juice is clear. From this point on, you can rack your juice/wine from the solids and go on with the next step in your process."

kkbodine, I would love to see those stills. If I ever get time, I'm going to go check them out. For anyone that is interested, the still that we sold to the distillery in VA, that puts out 75 gallons of whiskey per hour, costs $137,000.00 before discounts. This still is ran 5 days per week, 8 to 10 hrs per day. This distillery owner has been running our equipment for 7 years and during that time his sales growth has been amazing. This equipment produces outstanding spirits which is one reason why he has been so successful. We offer 5% discounts to active military, police and other first responders as well as vets and former first responders. Compare the price of this still to continuous column still with a similar output of 130 proof. Our stripping pot stills of this size cost a great deal less and have higher outputs than the still mentioned above. Typically these stills cost less than continuous column stills of the same output.

We have a pot still at a distillery in VA that puts out 75 gallons per hour of whiskey. Has anyone seen any other pot stills that fast?

Hi Mike, Email paul@distillery-equipment.com or call 417-778-6100

I just wanted everyone to know that we offer free equipment consulting. paul@distillery-equipment.com

I don't think so, it's not the right color for gold. Maybe it's an alloy of copper and zinc.😁

We can build you one. Email paul@distillery-equipment.com

Lots of our customers purchase mash tuns and fermenters that are twice the size of the still. In your case that would be a mash tun that has a working capacity of 2,000 liters. We sell mash tuns in that size with built in crash cooling. If you are doing barley based spirits and need a lauter tun, we can supply those as well. paul@distillery-equipment.com