CountySeat

@Silk City Distillers what pressure are you distilling at to get to the temperature?

For botanical extractions, what vacuum pressure is recommended? We are starting to run some experiments with a basic set up but I don't think we have enough vacuum from the vacuum pump to distill at low temperatures. I've been poking around for resources and calculators for boiling points of ethanol/water mixtures, but am not finding a clear resources. We are looking to do some basic extractions of botanicals in a roughly 40% ABV mixture with lower temperature distillation. We have a basic water vacuum pump.

OK - seems like Stoeltzle is making some but not all of the Anchor Bottles we use. Can anyone recommend any good substitutes? We prefer USA made if possible. This is what we use: 750ML and 375ML Nordic/Stockholm Style Anchor Hocking 750ML Tall Wine/Bordeaux Style Anchor Hocking If anyone has found good substitutes for these, we would appreciate the info.

Do you still have any of these?

Thanks for the info - ended up getting through to someone at Stoezle who bought the plant in PA earlier this year. He was great and is working on it. Seems likes its a mix of complications from the sale and general glass shortage. They are keeping the Anchor products it seems but things will be tough for a bit. Just glad I was able to reach someone. I was concerned they shut down or something.

That’s what I’m guessing but we didn’t get any notice that the order would be short. It just arrived very short. Mainly just concerned because I can’t get an answer/response.

Is anyone having issues reaching them? We've been using their bottles for years and they are usually pretty easy to deal with but it took about a month to get our most recent order in and they only sent a fraction of what we ordered. It looks like their website for spirit bottles was taken down and I can't get anyone on the phone. We use their Stockholm (375ML and 750ML) and Bordeaux bottles if anyone has a supplier they like that sells similar bottles.

We recently did a label with High Proof and were happy with them: https://highproofcreative.com/

Nice - are you getting a solid Tequila flavor? We used a different brand of nectar and SafTeq Blue Yeast and it was a solid product but a little too clean and not exactly what we are looking for. If you are getting close to a blanco tequila flavor instead of a sweeter vodka/rum flavor, I'd be interested in what yeast you used if you would be willing to share.

How did it turn out?

The back label is printed double-sided if that helps. That was the reason as I understood it. If you have a label company you recommend, please let me know.

We currently use a manual Race Labeler (https://www.racelabel.com/rl-1/) for single label application. We are doing our first two-part (front and back) label soon and the label company says they can't print it alternating due to the design and label type so we are looking for either 1) a new label machine that can accommodate two (2) different rolls (preferable) or 2) a cheap second manual labeler to do one of the two (2) labels. Specs/Info: 1. Labels are fairly tall (vodka) bottle not at least one is not very wide; 2. They need to be properly spaced to line up correctly for the design. 3. We use a standard vodka style bottle for this design (Anchor Hocking Bordeaux) and short bottles for most of our other products 4. We don't have the $ for a fully automated system but willing to consider affordable semi-manual systems. We looked at the Primera applicators but they don't allow for two (2) different rolls on the double label applicator. Any suggestions much appreciated. Anthony

Anyone have a current source for NGS? We don't use any in our process and Ultrapure won't sell us any until they fill needs of current customers. We are making what we can from our own spirits to donate but would obviously prefer to use a sourced NGS for this purpose. Appreciate any help! EDIT - sources for suitable bottles would be helpful too.

We make vodka on an old iStill250 with the upgrade Genio column. Second what Skaalvenn said, makes good vodka but VERY slow. We run low wine strippings of about 30% ABV through it and if we fill it to the top (close to 250L), the run times are 16 to 20 hours. On the positive side, once you take a few front cuts, its essentially fully automated so you don't have to make any adjustments while its running (we still keep different cuts but its largely unnecessary). Good kit just very slow.

Looks like they sell also it in a liquid form that can be sprayed? Any experience using it that way?