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Edwin

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  1. Here's more info on the iStill Masher 2000. That's 2000 liters of nett mashing capacity. A bit over 500 gallons. Introduction price for orders in by November 2014: EUR 24,995.-. Natural gas fired, computer aided mashing, oil filled double boiler jacket for heating, and water jacketed for cooling. Two 50 centimeter diameter manholes (21 inches). One for filling, the other for cleaning. Bottom dweller agitator design (> 20 bhp). Variable costs for mashing 2000 liters / 510 gallons? Around $ 10.- per 2000 liter / 510 gallons mash on natural gas. No natural gas on you premisses? An upgrade to propane/butane is available. Here's for more info and for design: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-na
  2. MG, that's the water usage for a 7 hour run on a 1000 liter molasses ferment we took - in one go - to barrel ageing strength. Dave, I am not sure my English is well enough to understand your question. The new design we took means the iStill Pump works best when "primed". So attached to our 2 inch drains (fermenters, iStill One, iStill Masher). Hope that makes sense. Anyhow, here's a link to a movie on how she runs: http://www.istill.eu/#!istill-tv/cq6j And talking about the iStill Masher? Here's a link with more information on our 2000 liters (> 500 gallons) nett mashing rig. With computer aided mashing technology: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-na Introduction price for orders up until November: EUR 24,995.-.
  3. Do you want to know more on our first iStill One to Florida? How she runs and performs? Please read: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-n2
  4. Hi Roger, Yeah, those were a few days to remember! Man, we worked our socks off! Assembling the stills, doing the first runs, getting the first product out and tasting it. My best memories are of all of us trying and tasting your first rum. Darn fine drink, right of the still! You are going to make quite the entry when that product hits the market place, Roger! Congrats on your progress and on your soon to open distillery, and thanks for letting us play a small part in the great adventure and business venture you are now living. Regards, Odin.
  5. We now sell three types of fermentation vessels. From water jacketed, with agitator, and completely computer managed to more basic lay-outs. If you want to learn more, please click on: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-mq
  6. On our website: http://www.istill.eu/#!prthe-istill-distillery/c1jxf
  7. And here's some more info on the iStill Pump: weight, power, performance: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-mk
  8. An update. We will also be equiping the iStill One with our new oversized SPP. Well, on demand, that is. When you order the SPP packed cleaning sections on the iStill One, you will get more plates. Suited for vodka making, not for whiskey or brandy making. For that you need our standard ceramic column packing. A bit more on cooling water usage as well. A 1,000 liter (260 gallon) run only asks for around 1,500 liters (390 gallon) of cooling water.
  9. We stop selling SPP as a seperate product. Why? Easy, we need all of it for our own iStills. Sorry!
  10. iStill now offers a complete distillery set-up: The iStill Masher: a natural gas and direct steam fired masher with computer aided mashing at 2,000 liter capacity; The iStill Fermenter: a water jacketed, electrically heated, 2,000 liter capacity fermenter, that’s fully computer controlled; The iStill One (formerly known as the iStripper); The iStill 250; The iStill Pump for easy mash and low wines transfer. Envision one masher, five fermenters, one iStill One, and one iStill 250, and you will have a complete distillery set-up, fine-tuned for complete proces & system integration. Setting-up a distillery used to be a frustrating and capital intensive affair. Frustrating, because of bottle-neck management. Normally, a distiller would have either too little capacity at mashing or at distilling. The integrated design, as proposed above, takes care of that. No more bottle-necks. Each and every part of the production proces in the iStill Distillery is exactly tuned to work optimally together with the other parts. And how about capital investment? To set-up a pro distillery used to cost around a million bucks. When you buy the complete iStill Distillery, you will get better performance, more flexibility, and save € 830,000. Yes, really, we offer this turn-key distillery, including assemby and testing and instruction on location for just € 170,000! What it gives you production wise? Here are the numbers for a five day per week, one man operation: Make 1,500 liters of (for example) 8.5% mash per day with the iStill Masher; Ferment 1,500 liters of wash per day (on a 5 day fermentation scheme – extra long for additional taste for whiskey, brandy or rum); Which translates to around 250 liters of 40% cut and ready to market product per day; Enough to fill over 350 bottles of 0.7 liters each; Per week that’s 1,750 bottles; With a margin of € 3.- per bottle, you will be making € 5,200 a week; That’s € 240,000 of gross profit per year, holidays included (well, you still have to sell those bottles!); Return on investment within one year!
  11. With the iStill Masher and iStill Fermenter in place, we now offer you a complete distillery. One Masher, Five Fermenters, One iStill One, and the iStill 250. The equipment is assembled and tested at your distilling site. Full product training is part of the deal. Please read: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-lD
  12. More on performance. In stripping mode, with the throttle down, the iStill One will give you over 70 liters of product per hour. At anything from 90%+ to 30%, depending on how many additional cleaning sections (for extra plates) you add. Heat up time is about an hour and a half to two, depending on batch size (1,000 - 1,300 liters). Actual stripping time is like another two hours. When you run the iStill One to finish say an 8.5% wash into a whiskey in one go, it will produce over 30 liters per hour and enable you to make perfect cuts. You do one test run, where you dial in cut points and every time you run that same wash again, you get warnings when cut points arrive. Computer aided distilling? I guess it is. Heat-up time is like 2 hours, where the actual run time on a 1,000 liter batch is under 4 hours. On a whiskey run, you can add the copper catalyst (all glass on the outside with copper oversized SPP on the inside) and maybe add one cleaning section. That will take your hearts cut to about 70%. On a vodka run, you can add all cleaning sections and take hearts to 90%+ in one go. http://www.istill.eu/#!pristillone/c1fyo
  13. More info. The first units are on their way to the USA as we speak. We did change quite a few things, in the end, and prior to market launch. Size is up to 1,500 liters now. And it does not just strip, you can also make one go whiskey, brandy, rum, gin, and vodka. Very versatile. The attachable cleaning sections (maximum 3) help you raise the number of plates from anything like 1 to 10. Because of versatility, we renamed the rig. It's the iStill One. The one rig you need to help take your craft distilling experience to a whole new level. For more reading, please see: http://www.istill.eu/#!pristillone/c1fyo
  14. An update on the iStill Masher. We finalized design and are building the first units. Size? 2,000 liters. Capability? Computer aided step-up and single infusion mashing. The iStill Masher has a double boiler with water jacket. She's fired through natural gas heating, with additional direct steam injection. And yes, there's a large, computer controlled stirring device as well. With the computer, you can check current mash temps, dial in pre-set temperatures and mashing times, etc. The combination of heating with a water jacket, means you can heat-up and cool-down rapidly as well as controlled. The iStill Masher is designed to work perfectly together with our all new iStill One (previously also known under the work title "iStripper") and with the iStill Fermenter, and can be ordered as of right now. Just send us an email via sales@iStillmail.com so details can be discussed.
  15. So we have the first two of these units in transport to the USA. One to Florida, the other to New Jersey. And we changed the name. "iStripper" does not do justice to it, since it does so much more than just stripping. You can make a one run whiskey, gin, rum, vodka, ... you name it. Here's a link to the new product page on our website ... of our iStill One: http://www.istill.eu/#!pristillone/c1fyo More info on the iStill Masher (2000 liter capacity, computer controlled, natural gas & direct steam fired) and iStill fermenter (2000 liter capacity, fully computer controlled) will come soon. We are building the first units as we speak. And I just finished testing the first smaller sized (200 liters) combo model (masher/ferfmenter). Great to work with!
  16. We introduce a new sort of column packing: OSPP. Oversized Spiral Prismatic Packing. In SS and in copper. From now on, the copper packing in the iStill 250's iCatalyst will be copper OSPP. The column of the iStill 250 will - as before - contain ceramic packing. For both pot distilling a whiskey and pure distilling a vodka. But ... if vodka or neutral is your thing, the Stainless Steel OSPP may be of service. It will give you a lower HETP and thus more distillations. For an even cleaner vodka (in one run). NOT suited for whiskey making though. ABV is too high. Soon, we will introduce our new OSPP to the market place, via our website at www.iStill.eu.
  17. Edwin

    istill?

    We want all of our clients to be happy about the stills they purchased at iStill. If anyone has a problem (or feels they have a problem), please send an email to "support@istillmail.com" so we can help you out. Contrary to what is stated above, we do ship parts. That does not happen often, because we test each and every rig prior to packaging and shipping. But when something is broken (we have had some parts being damaged by transport), we ship new parts as soon as we can. We have even shipped new parts to people dry cooking their iStills, even though dry cooking is explicitely excluded from warantee. We even shipped new parts to people connecting iStills to damaging high voltages. Even though induction and dry cooking are excluded from warantee, so far we have been shipping new parts at our expense. That's because we don't just want you to buy an iStill, we want you to have an iStill that works. Easy & Simple. We have a support department that can be reached via email (support@istillmail.com) if there are any questions. And if the questions are very technical, we have a tech team that's three people strong and that's available for Skype calls. If someone thinks he heared something from someone else about something not being okay, sorry, I cannot help there. I don't manage the grapevine. But in case of any real problem from a real client: mail us. On iStill not being present in the USA ... yes, that is/was a problem. Why? Because of the radically different design approach iStill takes. We find - time and again - that people investing a day and a few bucks to travel over to the iStill Center in Europe, get a real head start. In one day at our iStill Center a steep learning curve is achieved, allowing the buyer (and even the already experienced Master Distiller) to maximize the full potential of our rigs. And since the 10 K iStill 250 blows anything traditional under 200 K out of the water, that small investment is worth it. "Mandatory", I might add. Not wanting to be offensive, but most distilleries run what's basically 19th century technology. If you want to jump to 21st century technology, the training will provide you with the metaphorical ladder ... Now, because we are dedicated to the North American market, we will bring the iStill experience closer to you. We will open the first iStill Showroom at the US East Coast in 2014. In fact, I am flying over in just 3 days to finalize our plans. At the iStill Showroom, you can see our products and you can run our products. You can follow a training day. You can talk to the Master Distiller about how it is to run our equipment. You can make a very well informed decision about whether iStill is right for you or not, and you don't have to fly over to Europe any more. We will open our second iStill Showroom on the US West Coast in 2015, by the way. A third iStill Showroom in the Mid West may follow. Not sure yet, though. And if so, not before the start of 2016. I will refrain from further posting in this thread. If someone wants to get to know our products, please email us at "sales@istillmail.com" or fly over. Or wait a bit and fly to the East Coast. If anyone has a complaint or wants to order spare parts or claim warantee: we are here to help you out. "support@istillmail.com" is the emailaddress you need. If people want to continue a "I heared it through the grapevine" discussion on this forum, sorry, count me out. My team and I have work to do. How come? Because we get in many, many orders. Most of which are follow-on orders, actually. People ordering a second iStill 250. Or a VISION for in their tasting hall, next to the iStill 250's they already have in their distilling hall. Or people buying our iStripper, because they are very happy with their iStill 250 and feel the iStripper allows them to step up production times 3 or 4. I hope this means we actually do a few things quite right. Edwin out.
  18. We are opening up an East Coast iStill Showroom in just a few months from now. Target time: 2014. A fully operational distillery with an iMasher, multiple iFermenters, one iStripper and an iStill 250. All of you who are interested in our equipment, just come by to watch & see. All of you who are serious about opening up a craft distillery, book a training session and learn all about how to start-up, how to mash, how to ferment, how to use iStill equipment to the max in just one day of consultancy. More info coming up shortly. Edwin.
  19. Hi Mike & Angelo, Sorry for the confusion. The smaller mashers run on electricity.The bigger ones will be natural gas operated. In combination with a bottom dweller stirring device and a 4 cm thick bottom plate (one piece, not welded). If you want to get an idea of power management of the 1,000 and 1,500 liter units, please take a look at the iStripper posts: http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=5001&hl= Where we are progressing to, is towards the direction of a completely integrated set-up. Like this: 1,500 liter iMasher (natural gas fired) for mashing; 1,500 liter iFermenters (multiple) with water jacketed tanks for (if needed) faster cool down of mash and/or controlled fermenting temps with on or off the grain fermentation; iStripper: to strip (for vodka or gin) or to finish in one run (whiskey or brandy or gin): on or off the grain distilling; iStill 250 as a finishing rig for vodka or gin / for whiskey or brandy. An "ideal" iStill set-up may look like this: 1 iMasher (1,500 liters); 5 iFermenters (5 x 1,500 liters); 1 iStripper (1,500 liters); 1 iStill 250. This set-up allows you to (easily) make (and then distill) 1,500 liters of mash / wash per day, giving you like 1,500 liters of 8% "beer" per day. Say the beer is like 8%, you can now use the iStripper, for instance with iCatalyst and one cleaning section, to turn that beer into around 180 liters of 60% pure spirit (whiskey prior to ageing) per run. That's around 900 liters or 4 barrels per week. A run with the iStripper will take a working day. Another thing you may do is make a vodka. With the iCat and 3 cleaning sections, the iStripper will give you around 130 liters of close to 90%. The iStripper can do so in an 8 hours working day. You now dilute that to 400 liters of around 30%. That's two charges for the iStill 250 for a perfect vodka with automated controls for fores, heads, and tails. In this example you can do (with two people): one mash (iMasher), one strip run (iStripper) and two finishing runs in just one day. And if you have gotten some iStill training, you can do this just on your own, providing you have equipment to move the kilo's of grains around on your own. And if you want to make gin, just take your vodka and progress from there. Total investment? Well, we haven't calculated everything down to the dime, but for around 200 K you get a total lay-out, perfectly suited for 5 times an 8 hours working day week. With an output of around 240 liters of finished product (ageing not being taken into account) per day. That's 1,200 liters per week, which translates to 1,700 bottles per week. And if you want to start up with less capital invested, just start with the iStill 250, and progress from there.
  20. Here's an impression of the iStripper. If you click on the picture you can enlarge them and get an increadible amount of detail ... http://wp.me/p3pXcR-kJ
  21. MORE INFO ON THE IMASHER A bit more on the iMasher. We feel there’s a huge market for pro mashing equipment. Mashing most often is the bottle neck in the whole distillation process, and many have asked us when we will enter that market. Well, as of now! We will offer the iMasher in various sizes. 150, 250, 500, 750, 1,000, and 1,500 liters. And – taken from the basic design of the iMasher – we will soon introduce the iFermenter range as well. Available in the same sizes as the iMasher. The iMasher can mash as well as ferment. But most pro distillers want to have one masher on multiple fermentation vessels. Mashing takes five hours, fermenting takes 5 days. So if you mash once a day and start up one fermentation every day, and you do that 5 days a week, you can distill 5 times a week. In that case … you need 1 masher and 5 fermenters. In our proposal that’s 1 iMasher and 5 iFermenters. What the iFermenter is? Simply put, it is a tuned down version of the iMasher. A fermenter doesn’t need a stirring device and there is some money to be saved that way. The iFermenter will have a computer controlled water jacket for constant temperature of fermentation, though. Okay, back to the iMasher, if you don’t mind. We just assembled her this morning. The iMasher 150 that is, with (a bit over) 150 liters of nett capacity. The stirrer is of the same design as the one on the iStripper. As is the engine driving it. The same, but on a smaller scale. A 120 centimeter ruther just doesn’t fit in a 150 liter mash tank, right? And we don’t need that many horsepower to drive the smaller charge on this particular type either. Where the iStripper throws (in combination with the reduction gear box) 20 bhp to the ruther, the iMasher 150 has “just” 5 bhp. The stirrer is as strong as five horses. We put a fuse in, so it automatically stops when resistance is met and the engine has to put in anything over 2 bhp, but please do not put your arm, ever, when the stirrer is on! The iMasher 150 is equiped with a water jacket. The computer detects how much water is in the water jacket for heating as well as cooling. And if the level in the jacket is too low, it will open the water inlet valve and auto correct. Two 2 KW heaters warm the water jacket. Since the water jacket is a closed system, pressure will built up and above 100 degrees C temps can easily be attained. But heating in a closed system will develop pressure. So the iMasher is programmed in such a way that the heating will switch on and off, thus creating a sinoid that keeps the temperature of the water jacket between 0.5 degrees C. There is a water outlet pipe as well. For multiple reasons. First, if you don’t want to use the iMasher for a longer period of time, you may want to drain the water out of the system. Second, the water outlet functions as a blow off valve. An additional safety feature. In the theoretical case too much pressure builds up, steam & hot water will automatically be releases through the water outlet and into a hose, emptying in the drainage system. The third functionality for the water outlet is cooling management. After mashing, you may want to bring the temperature of the wash down. In order to do that quickly, the iMasher will have fresh water enter via “water in”, while hot water is discarded via “water out”. For crash cooling (beer making?) as well as for small downwards temperature adjustments. Managing the iMasher is easy due to the computer interface. First, you choose the stirring. How many rounds per minute do you want? You then select various temperatures, and how long you want to keep the mash at those temperature. The iMasher will take it from there. For fermentation, you just dial in one temperature and keep it at that until fermentation is finisihed. And yes, if you want to use the iMasher for fermenting: it even has a water lock. For easy discharging, there is a 2 inch ball valve at the bottom. For easy draining, there are three outlets. In the case of the 150 model, the topmost outlet will leave 20 gallons in the masher. The middle outlet tap will leave 15 gallons in the tank. The lower outlet leaves just 10 gallons in the tank. Just so you can choose. For instance, when you want to distill or ferment a clean beer, you may want to use the lowest outlet. If you want to distill/ferment on the grain, take everything out via the 2 inch bottom drain. There’s a sight seeing tube running vertically along the tank, so you can always see what’s the remaining liquid level inside. In short, the iMasher allows you to program how you want to mash and/or ferment. And temperature, water levels as well as pressure are managed automatically. Did I already mention it has four wheels so you can move it around? With brakes on them? For a picture, please see: http://wp.me/p3pXcR-kw
  22. Introducing the iStripper. For mashing, stripping, and finishing. Hey, you can even use it to make gin. Oh, and we just couldn't resist and threw in some automation and computer programming. Makes mashing as well as distilling easier, right? http://wp.me/p3pXcR-kr
  23. Installing new heaters to the iStripper as we speak. The "old" ones didn't deliver the power we specified, that's why we made new ones. First tests went great. Only thing was ... we couldn't get to "full throttle". On Monday we will. We will do another test run on 1,200 liters of wash then. By the way, anyone interested in computer & temperature controlled mashing and fermenting? If so, we have a few surprises up our sleeves. More info next week ... On mashing, fermenting as well as on the iStripper. With pics and all.
  24. I am glad to hear you liked the iStill 250. Yeah, it was nice to compare performance to a much more expensive still. Hey, Randy, and you saw the iStill 250 just in standard potstill mode, doing the gin run at 9 KW. I could have upped the power and increase production by 30 to 40% without any trouble.
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