Southernhighlander

The 600 gallon Mash tun and the 150 gallon mash tun are not similarly configured at all. The 600 gallon mash tun has a steam jacket and is configured as a boiler or cooker, like the drawing and the last picture in my original post. The 150 gallon mash tun has no steam or cooling jacket and is fired by RIMS or HERMS. It is in the first photo in my original post. It is more for those who want to distill from wort. It is also the type that Brewers use. Thank you for the congratulations.

Hello Jeff, If you ever need a small testing still let me know. I have a couple of different options that you can use to distill on the grain. The first option is a small 5 gallon working capacity still which has a stainless boiler and a copper head. The price starts at $450.00 and there are a couple of options to choose from. My web site URL is distillery-equipment.com However, I don't have them on the site yet. But if you email me I will send you photos. Paul

This item has sold and I do not have any more of these at this time. Paul

Hello, We have some really nice copper pot stills with regular heads or with reflux towers electric or gas fired. 1,000 gallons with 16'6" reflux tower for $19,290.00. 300 gallon all copper with reflux tower $13,850.00 each. 100 gallon all copper with reflux tower $6,715.00 Made with pride in the USA. Also if you go with a stainless boiler the price is even less. We hope to have these on our web site within the next couple of days at http://distillery-equipment.com For more info including photos of the stills email us at mitchellhollow@starband.net Paul Hall

The bricks are a great idea for an outside use. My wife and I plan on doing a run outside once a year and having a big party. We are going to wood fire an all copper East Tennessee style turnip head still with a used whiskey barrel for a thumper and another for a flake stand. The still will be partially buried in the ground with a fire brick arch under it, and stoned up with mortar on the sides. The fire never touches the copper in this kind of set up and, so you can run a mash with the grain left in. To make sure that you don't singe your grain, you have to stir the grain with a still paddle until the mash starts to smile and then you put the head on it. The turnip head is large and tall with a flat top so that you can put a rock up there to hold the Head on in case you want to run her hard. Many of these stills had "pukers" on them The puker went on at the end of the line arm and would allow some condensation and or foam to run back down into the still. The line arm would be of a large diameter so that it could not clog. Run properly, and slowly one of these stills with the thumper and puker could produce high proof spirits that would be very smooth when tempered with water. We will have a 2 day party every year and we hope to sell the White Liquor from the run, by the drink, at the gathering. The rocked up still with its big hillbilly style turnip head will be a permanent fixture in front of our distillery under a shed with a shake shingle roof. It is the kind of still my Grandfather and Great Grandfather dumped there white corn meal mash into, to make good Sour Mash Corn Liquor. Hopefully we will be able to make it work with the State and the TTB. Come check out our distilling equipment at http://distillery-equipment.com

I have my site up. The URL is http://distillery-equipment.com/ Please check back often as we will be adding products every week. I will be adding all copper stills with reflux towers to the site this weekend. We just added a journeyman machinist to our team. He has began work on our first Plate Column.

I had planned to have my site up by now but things didn't work out. Hopefully tomorrow.

Hi Jedd, The pickling compound that I use is called "Wonder Gel Stainless Steel Pickling Gel" It is manufactured by Bradford Derustit. It is expensive and you have to pay an extra $30.00 or so when you have it shipped to you because it is considered hazardous, but it is well worth it for the piece of mind it gives you. It will remove slag, scale and heat color from stainless steel. It will also remove those things on the surface of the weld that might cause it to rust and we all know what will happen if we ferment or distill in a rusty vessel. There are recipes out there that you can use to make your own stainless pickling compound, but my research showed that this product is more widely used than any other by industrial stainless equipment manufacturers, and is guaranteed to do the job, so we went with it. The barrel still that we just sold, and the one that we built and sold before it, including the thumpers, were closed top barrels. They had to be cleaned through the 2" inlet ferrules. It took a little trial and error but we came up with a way to do it using a very long handled brush which is similar to a carboy cleaning brush but much longer, and a shorter curved handled brush. It was time consuming but we made it work. We also used the brushes to both apply and wipe away the pickling compound on the inside of the barrel by tying rags to the ends of them. To go through the whole process: after we applied the pickling compound and wiped away the excess, we scrubbed the inside of the barrel with the brushes, then we boiled soapy water in the still barrel for about 30 minutes and condensed water through the condenser. We then scrubbed again after the barrel cooled, Then we drained out the soapy water and filled it with clear water and boiled the clear water. We got a strong boil and distilled about 2 gallons of water. The whole time that we were doing this we checked for leaks. We then drained the barrel and rinsed it. We did all of this to make sure that there were no hazardous nasty tasting chemicals left over in the barrel from the welding and pickling. Then we removed the thermometer and screwed an air valve to the Thermowell and pressurized the barrel to 35PSI. We then used dish soap to check for leaks and found none, and Pete is right, when we pressurized the barrel there was a load bang and a couple of load bangs at other times. We also cleaned the thumper the same way and we scrubbed the still head through the 2" ferrule at the top of the head. Here is the deal folks. I will go to extreme lengths to insure that the equipment that I manufacture and sell is safe. I do this to make absolutely certain that there are no defects in design or workmanship that will cause someone to get hurt. Cleaning through those 2" ferrules sucked and, so I have really been searching for an alternative and I have found it. Yesterday morning I located a supplier who has 1,000 used open top 55 gal. heavy gauge 304 Stainless Steal Food Grade barrels. I have located clamp on lids for the barrels and I have found company that makes EPDM gaskets for the lids. This system uses stainless steel drum ring clamps. The EPDM gaskets will withstand temps. up to 310 F and they are alcohol and chemical resistant. I will not know for sure that this set up will seal until we put it through some extensive testing, but I don't think that we will have a problem. If we do I will come up with something else. I have also came up with 3 different methods of firing this still design without an open flame. Jedd, Thanks for the great questions, if you have any others just let me know. Best Regards Paul

Ohhh, okay, I thought that he meant like Opie Tayler

Hey Max, You called me OP in your post. What do you mean by OP? I have a good idea what it means, but I thought that I would ask anyway though, I doubt that you will answer me. Paul

Hey there Pete, Nice site, The finished still looks great and I bet that you make some good booze with it. Bob, you don't have to say anything to raise my fur, you can come visit anytime, we would love to have you. I think Homer Hickam was a Redneck. Someone once said "A Redneck can become and intellectual, but an intellectual can never become a Redneck." As far as this industry growing, I don't think that you have seen anything yet. Craft distilling is getting ready to grow like crazy. I bet the number of craft distillers doubles in the next 3 years. As far as a shakeout goes, that happens everyday in business. It is survival of the fittest, and that is the way that it should be. I also think that the person who has a little know how and a few thousand dollars has just as much right to be in this business as the person who starts with $500,000.00 Many of the people who start with large amounts of money are destined to fail, while some of the ones that start with next to nothing will prosper and grow very large. Look at Tito in Texas with his many awards and business savvy he has grown like mad since he began. I say the more small distilleries the better. As far as more safety regulations, that sounds fine to me. I have spent a good part of my life in the logging woods, I have never been hurt but I've seen heads busted and arms and legs crushed, and men have died. I'm all for safety in all industries. Lets "git er done". Irish Rose, and Max you just let me know how I can help you get more safety regulations in this industry and I will be there. Paul

There is nothing wrong with my barrel stills. We pressure test them for leaks after they are built. They have pressure safety valves installed before they leave here. They are tig welded solid. Then we use a pickling compound to clean up the heat stains and insure that the welds retain there stainless qualities. It definitely would not be in my best interest to send out faulty equipment that would get someone killed. I would be sued and shut down. When I designed the barrel stills I did not design them to be pretty. I designed them to be built out of strong but inexpensive recycled materials My purpose in building the Barrel stills was to insure that we could sell low cost quality stills that anyone can afford. It has been my experience in my 26 years as a business man that it is best to have 2 product lines. One inexpensive product line that anyone can afford and another high end product line that is the absolute best product available. There is no reason that these barrel stills will not pass the same safety standards that a Vyndome still will pass. However due to all of the negative response that I have received about these I am considering pulling them from my product line. I will decide before my web site goes up on Sunday.

Mash, We will have all of the pricing on our web site. I will post the web site link on here Sunday evening if everything goes well. I will go ahead and give you a price on our 600 gallon steam jacketed, insulated mash tun with 3hp agitator .366inch thick stainless steel boiler and 16inch manway. price $23,000.00 free delivery anywhere in the continental US. Our 150 gallon mash tun has 304 stainless steel construction. 61" tall without the lid 1-1/2" Drain Valve False Bottom 13.8" Manway for cleaning out the spent grain above the false bottom. Clamp Down Lid with a port for a CIP Spray Ball Tri Clamp fittings Price: $2,668.80 Options: Sparge Arm with Sparge Ball, includes gaskets and 1.5" TC clamps for attaching to the Mash Tun $100.00 CIP Spray Ball. This Spray Ball fits the 3" CIP port on the lid of the Mash Tun. $39.00 This Mash Tun can be set up for RIMS or HERMS. We will be producing the RIMS equipment ourselves. I don't have a price yet. The Rims equipment will be built from copper and it will look very nice.

Hi Bluestar My name is Paul Hall. My wife Teresa and I have a 42 acre farm near Alton MO: tiny town, middle of nowhere, a wonderful place to live. The Dear hunting is great and the Turkey will run you over if you aren't careful. Our closest neighbor is 3/4 of a mile away and the 2nd closest is 2 miles away. There is a trophy trout stream called the Eleven Point River 2.2 miles from our house. We purchased land for our distillery along 160 highway which is about 2.5 miles away. State route 160 is considered one of the best scenic motorcycle roads in the Ozarks. The Eleven point is a National scenic river, so it is part of the National Park System. My wife and I moved here from New River AZ in 1995. I had a landscaping business in Carefree and Scottsdale AZ for 10 years, but it was to much city for us. I come from a sawmilling, logging, tobacco growing family in The Great Smokey Mountains. I cut timber here for a couple of years, then we started a very small sawmill with very little money. Now it has grown into a very good business, and is going strong wile most of the big mills are failing. We manufacture Cedar Closet Lining, Cedar Flooring and Moldings for Closets. We sell to do DIYS and Contractors all over the US through our web sites. We are members of the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating. We have been in business since 1997 and we have never had a single complaint with the BBB. We have 6 employees and we buy logs from 7 or 8 loggers, and there are 2 band mills that custom saw for us. They are small mom and pop mills. Also, we export cedar logs lumber and cants to China, South Korea and the Dominican Republic. I have owned businesses my whole life and I have always strived to give my customers a great product at a wonderful price. Our Distilling Equipment Web site should be up by Sunday afternoon unless I run into problems. I will post a link as soon as it is up. Here are a couple of our web sites http://cedar-closet-linings.com and http://red-cedar-export.com Click on the BBB logo on the first site. I'm not trying to advertise wood products here. The links are to help answer Bluestar's question about who I am. We will be sourcing our distilling equipment from the U.S. China and Europe plus building some of it ourselves. There will be top quality equipment for those that want it and safe, simple inexpensive distilling equipment for those who are on a tight budget. Affordable Distilling Equipment will soon be a member of the BBB. We will work diligently to make our customers happy and give them the products that they want and deserve. Bluestar, I hope this helps you understand who I am. If you would like to talk about liquor and or equipment give me a call some time. Best Regards Paul

Lead Designer, I don't think that they are stackable but they are made to be picked up by a fork lift. I suppose you could fabricate a lid for them, however many of the people that use them, leave them open. I have seen a couple of distillers that told the people touring to go ahead and stick there fingers in the mash and taste it. Other distillers are afraid of wild yeasts getting in and causing "off flavors" and they use enclosed fermenters with air locks. Its amazing how many different ways that great spirits can be made. Paul

I agree 100%. Sometimes practical things have a beauty of their own.

Hi Pete I clicked on your photo. That looks like a fine rig you were working on there. I would love to see what it looks like now that you've finished it. The way you have it set up sounds great, with the bio diesel and all. I sold the 55 gallon barrel still to a guy who is going to use it to make fuel ethanol. He runs his farm equipment with bio diesel that he makes himself from fryer grease. He wants to make the ethanol for his wife's car. I have had the idea of building a Barrel still fired by a wood gasifier hooked to a natural gas burner, but I haven't had the chance to do it yet. Paul

Daveflintstone I want to thank you for knowing that you should not always read a book by its cover. Some of us build good stills from used stainless barrels and pipe, while others make good moonshine from 3 day old donuts. As long as we do our best and are honorable and honest anything is possible. Some fine meals have been made in a couple of beat up old pots and pans. I used to watch my grandmother can outside with an open fire, a big black iron kettle and a couple of wash tubs and thermometers. She would can vegetables and even sausage that way. Umm good eaten to. Paul

Below are some preview photos of our Pro line of Mash Tuns and Fermenters. I am still working out the final designs with the manufacturer. The drawing is of our 600 gallon Mash Tun. The Mash Tun with the agitator is of a 200 gallon capacity and is insulated and with a steam jacket. The mash tun with the manway on the side is 150 gallon, has a perforated false bottom, CIP unit and sparge arm with a sparge ball. It can be heated with RIMS or HERMS, we will supply that equipment as well. The conical fermenter is of a 200 gallon capacity. We will also have open top and closed top square fermenters that have water jackets for cooling in capacities of up to 1,000 gallons.

Max, The still in question has 2 relief valves, so what is the problem? We are in the process of building our distillery, and we hope to be in operation by the end of the year. The name of our distilling company is Ozark Mountain Spirits LLC. We are also starting a distilling supply company called Affordable Distilling Equipment LLC. I can assure you that we will do the industry no harm. Affordable Distilling Supply will have for sale on our website our Backwoods Series of Stills, Fermenters and Mash tuns, including our all copper Backwoods Stills, and each of them will have relief valves We will also have a Pro Series of Stills, Fermenters and Mash Tuns along with bottling equipment, pumps and most other things that a Distiller might need. I have been working at sourcing equipment for our Pro series for the last few days. I will be putting some examples of our Pro Series in the equipment section if you would like to take a look maybe we can continue this discussion there where it is more appropriate. I am in this business to stay my friend. I won't be going anywhere. Paul

417-778-6908

This Fermenter is not jacketed. You would have to drop a cooling coil in it if your mash temp gets to high. It has two 2" ferrules that are level with the bottom of the tank. One 2" ferrule is on the long side and comes out at 90%". The other one is on the short side of the tank and it comes out at a downward 45% angle. The 45% ferrule is the drain. Unfortunately the bottom is not sloped. However if you shim one end of the tank just a little it should drain fine. My zip code is 63935. phone 417-778

Max Action, There is nothing wrong with this still. This still is from our Backwoods series. This still is solidly built and is probably stronger than many of the mid level copper stills for sale out there today. Don't get me wrong I prefer all copper stills myself. However I designed this still to be as affordable as possible while maintaining strength and safety, which is why we are using the stainless barrels for our stainless and copper stills. Also this is not something that just anyone can assemble in there garage with a stick welder. This still, like all of our stainless stills, was welded using a tig welder with Argon shielding gas. Even the back side of these welds need to be purged with argon. The equipment is expensive and it takes a lot of experience to lay a good bead with tig. I grew up in the Great Smokey Mountains, my people have been building stills and distilling Corn Likker for centuries. You might say that it is genetically built into my DNA. I know that some people call me and those like me from rural areas and hill and mountain country Hillbillies and Rednecks and many people consider us to be stupid and illiterate and I know that in appearance this still has Hillbilly written all over it. However those of you that feel that way should keep in mind that appearances can be deceiving and stereo types are usually always wrong. If you have seen the beautiful long rifles that my male ancestors constructed with very simple tools and a forge, and the wonderful wool coverlets that the hill women made on there simple wooden looms, you might understand why we are so proud of who we are, and of course we cannot forget men like Popcorn Sutton who could produce liquid gold in simple wood fired pot stills in the middle of the woods. I am proud of who I am and I am proud of these little barrel stills, However I will not attack you or say derogatory things about you, or what you have said here. It is disrespectful for a man to fight and argue with someone while they are in another mans house. I consider this Bill Owens's house and I would never disrespect him in any way. In fact I will even go farther. I own a sawmill, cedar closet lining manufacturing facility, and lumber & log export business in the Ozark Hills of Southern MO. near the small town of Alton. My phone number is 417-778-6908. Max Action I would like to invite you to come visit me sometime. We can talk about stills and distilling, eat big suppers taste some good whiskey, and maybe do some Turkey or Deer hunting depending on the time of year that you would like to visit. Sincerely Paul Hall

Actually, we installed 1 ASME pressure relief valve in the main boiler and 1 in the thumper a few days ago before the still left here. I had ordered some new ones before this still was finished but they had not came in yet when I took the pictures. My Grandfather always said to blow through all of your lines especially your condenser coil before you fire up your burner, "or the mud dobbers will get you blowed to kingdom come". Mud Dobbers love to build their nests in condenser coils.

This still has been sold.