Spirit of Texas Brad

Without automatic I updates, I really forget to view the board. Is there any way for the admins to send an update blast via email once a week or so? Have you seen a significant decrease of traffic on the board? Cheers, Brad

As stated above, you never pay taxes on the barrels until product leaves bond. But you must increase your bond to cover increased tax liablilty if you have a large amount of storage.

Quite funny!! I have many more snarky comments but will try to remain civil!! Phosphoric can passivate stainless, however you need an elevated temperature and to air dry the metal to achieve passivation. I've only had one materials engineering class years ago and learned from experience on my equip, I would definitely contact the experts as Eric recommends. Thanks for the contact info Eric. I will definitely consult with them in the future. I'm going to be building more equipment soon and have some questions about cleaning up some of my welding mess chemically rather than physically!

So if I put an award in my still, I'll never have to clean it??? Scott, I hope you consider learning a little more about long term maintenance soon. I use acid no. 5 from Star San with very good results. It can be used as a rinse, cleaner and passivation.

There is no minimum production. You must have the minimum bond coverage even if you aren't producing it.

Great advice, but look out for latex allergies. I've had to get nitrile backups. I'm curious about good cleaning methods for 'recycled' bottles. I had a run that got fully bottled and labeled but had pour the batch back to filtering when I found bottling tank was wiped with a paper towel and left little fibers in the liquor, Grr. What is the best way to remove moisture after rinsing?

You just need to allow for enough vapor to pass through the tray so pressure doesn't build up. I put multiple smaller caps just for peace of mind that my one cap would not get plugged and create a pressure build up. It is less expensive for me to build multiple cap trays as well. I'm going to build some single big cap trays very soon and test the differences. My calculations say it should all be the same, but reality is far different from theory quite often.

Most engineering experts say you need 10,000 repititions to master anything, so I'll be keeping my title at president/head distiller for quite a while. I don't think I have the ego to call myself the master of anything even after the 10k level, but will accept the praise if thrown my way.

Meant to type love, haha

You can pump your next batch through a coil in your column into a insulated tank waiting paitiently to cook. Yes, yes you can! I've seen and done and live the concept.

Interesting project. Maybe it will have a Soju taste.

I have no problems with scorching my rum wash. I use 390k btu's directly on a 1/8" stainless steel bottomed pot. It is 130 gallons of wash. I'm building a second pot with a 1/4" thick copper bottom. I'll reportback after I fire it up.

DesNaz, Great topic, I've had some issues in this dept as well. Are you using only essential oils only or the nuts and seeds as well? I've found that water issues don't lead to precipitate but more to cloudiness. The best way i've found so far is decanting and filtering, but would love to improve on this.

That looks awesome! How long does it take to get 100 gallons up to a boil? Cheers, Brad Haden Spirit of Texas