whiskeytango

We use roughly 2 cubic feet of granulated carbon and filter about 10,000 gallons. But seriously you do see your asking a un answerable question. What might be filtered enough for you may not be enough for someone else, or vise versa. Your distillate might not be as pure as someone else or more pure. How do you ferment? fast and hard? Slow with lest off flavors? How many plates are you running? How good are you at running said plates? Or do you just think your good at running your still? Just do what you think works for you and call it good the thing with this business is there are very few hard yes and no answers.

Where is the push coming from for the state to make this change? Its always hard going agains the state.

So you can basically act like a bar now without having to have a bar license? Thats a sweet deal.

Seriously the spam is insane.

so you think most are not using real botanicals just extracts? When i have tested mine with real botanicals i get a really funky yellow opaque colored spirit.

So are most amaro's macerated then re distilled like you would a gin?

Where are you guys getting your food grade caustic? I see lots of sources on the internet but I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for and want to make sure i grab the correct food grade stuff

any recommendations?

Ok so there is no down tube inside the still kettle that pushes the reflux form the column back down into the wash? There usually is a p trap at the bottom of each column and a down tube into the kettle. Have you contacted the manufacture?

When you say "boiler" are you talking about the still kettle or the actual boiler that is providing steam to your still?

Got it, So the drain line back to the kettle was not designed properly allowing vapor and mash to go up it. Yeah that could cause problems

Thats nuts. How did it build up enough pressure to blow the hatch open?

If its just for your family and your not hoping to distribute just ship it to them. Not like your family is going to run to California ABC and turn you in.

The vapor can push strait through the the condenser without spending enough time in it to even heat the water. Just because you have cold condensing water coming out doesn't mean its cooling all the vapor. What is the condenser look like? Call the still maker and ask them WTF.

It looks like maybe its not cooling all the vapor back down to liquid and its forcing a bubble out the parrot. As mentioned a breather would help but it might just start spilling out vapor into the air. Id put a breather on first and see if all the vapor is condensing back down and if it is still pulsing then add a surge breaker. Good luck that looks scary

Has the still maker had any advice?

Hope the fish don't get sucked into the hose.

So far they have been great to deal. Still should be here in a couple weeks so we will see.

What does the still manufacture have to say? They might have some advice.

Sales projections are going to be nothing but a shot in the dark. I have seen distilleries open after 5 years of planing and spending millions of dollars with less than 50 cases of sales per month after a year and distilleries opening in less than a year of planning under 60k and selling a hundred cases after the first 6 months. Not saying its a crap shoot but there is a lot more that goes into a successful distillery than a well written business plan and a bunch of money. Plan yes but don't let the business plan hold you back.

Totally agree. Our first location we started with just a open area and let thing live where they ended up the most. For our second location i have had tape makes on the ground for months making sure it will flow.

Sorry i posted my last comment before i saw your response. Boiling chips.. Hm i agree never would have thought about needing them. Are you thinking that it was boiling then stoping then boiling then stoping? Causing the pulsing?

I get this a little bit when I’m running to much heat to the kettle and also real cold water to the condenser. who made your still. Do they have any recommended fixes?

Depends on your location. Some require automatic heat sensitve closing doors. As much as it might suck your local fire marshal is going to have all these answers for you. You might not like his answers but unfortunately the local law is the law you go by. Or you fight him tooth and nail and forever have a fire marshal that is looking for something to bust you on.

I don't think there is any rule that you have to barrel at 60%. However there is a rule that you can not barrel over 62.5%. whisky produced at not exceeding 160° proof, and if stored in oak containers stored at not more than 125° proof in used