CopperPig

Depending on how active your ferment is/grain-bill, much like Sorghum suggests, it's easy and cost effective at first to cut a hole in the lid and use a silicone bung, tube, and you can run it into a 3 gallon or smaller bucket of water for a cost effective solution.

I second leftturndistilling. The Zurn 12" will satisfy all your needs. At least scale up to the best of your budget. It's much cheaper to cut and pour once than to redo later.

I make my own hat/coat racks and display racks out of copper...adds a nice touch

When I looked at the Still Craft site, I recognize one of the still columns they show as a kothe still--so obviously they aren't "forth-right" with their information. Vendome doesn't cost 250k unless you are getting a 500 gallon full batch system, and for 250k you can get a really nice fully automated kothe still...Trident aka Jesse, is a solid manufacturer.

Square.

Being a fellow California company, we use Oakland Pallets, and they can do special size or standard bulk pallets (option for new material or reconditioned material). We also keep our barrels on the shipped pallet they came on.

Howdy, the only comment I shall offer is if you go to US Plastics website, www.usplastics.com you can order 8 55 gallon drums for much cheaper. 8 would be $366.48

If you search the forums you will see a ton on this topic. I use an xpress fill and am happy. Check the forum history.

There are a multitude of options out there for hose. Just take the time to figure out what your specific needs are, and how you go about executing those needs and match hose for the application. It seems every month someone starts a post asking about hose, and there is no ultimate right answer.

Glide tech distillery hose as a multi use hose.

Having just gone through my DSP submittal and process recently, we included it under the bonded area/POC description, and process description. Once you are permitted and they have given you permission to operate, you are welcome to move things around and change basic equipment...just leave everything as is as listed on paper till you are "all clear." I haven't amended any registration items yet, so I can't help you beyond that. The TTB field office number(s) are a great resource and the folks are actually responsive and informative, at least the West Coast office is. http://www.ttb.gov/about/locations.shtml

They really just want the serial numbers, type of equipment and size from you.

Figure out how long it takes your mash to ferment. Figure out how many runs a day you will do, 1, 2. How many days a week do you want to run the still. Then work backwards from the number of runs minus the days to ferment and you will can figure out a production schedule and that will tell you how many you need to suit your needs. And if you want to run multiple runs a day of the same type mash, than size your fermenter to handle the double volume, but all depends on your mash tun size.

Hi Brandon,

Being a S.F. Bay guy as well...I would VERY highly recommend contacting CAL Steam here in the city for purchase, and I would suggest giving City Mechanical a call for install or a referral for someone more local to you. I've used them for several boiler installs.

I am using an xpress fill 4 head, and love it. The compact size of it makes it ideal if you aren't bottling often, or if you just don't want to have to deal with giving up daily space to something else. If you want something else or a MORI, TCW is a great company...if you want to grab an xpress fill, call them direct and buy direct from them--saves you $200. Since you are in ABQ (my folks are retired there) have you any experience using race label?

Max, take Jesse's advice, he has a wealth of still building knowledge.

Thanks guys!

I know of several distillery specific insurance companies, but none that cover California. Does anyone have a recommendation on an insurance company that writes policies for California? Who do you folks use?

Best,

Tyler

Thanks all. We've decided to go with the Xpress Fill volumetric 4 spout. We will be driving down the coast to pick one up at their factory directly (3 hour drive). There's a sandwich shop a few minutes from them that makes the best tri-tip sandwiches.

Pete, I took no offense, and hope I didn't offend either. We had a copywriter do the website and stuff at the beginning of the year and its just sat untouched, and forgotten about. Changes have been made by me personally today to correct mis info. We should set up a time sometime to meet up and chat in person. I'll buy the first round in good faith.

Thanks Absinthe Pete...your mention reminds me that I need to get the site updated and changed...there are a few corrections on there--that is one of them, that needs to be fixed. Thank you for the reminder. There are are some great spirits being produced in the city, including 209, Anchor, Treasure Island Distillery, etc.

Howdy ALL,

I realized this morning that I hadn't introduced myself fully here yet. I'm Tyler Morris, Head Distiller and Co-owner of Top Hat Distillery in San Francisco, Ca. We are currently working through our DSP. We are a whiskey focused distillery, and a family owned and operated business. My 9 month old daughter doesn't know how lucky she is yet to get to be raised around all of this.

Best to ALL,

Tyler

Quick question...is the fill line to the man way 150 gallons and 21 gallon fill from the manway to the top of the pot?

I don't know your business plan, or hopes or goals, or your financials...but if you are going to end up spending 12-13k only a 50 gallon hillbilly still (I'm not knocking them, just simply offering a suggestion), you should contact Trident Stills (www.tridentstills.com) as Jesse does offer financing, and his stills produce a product that is sold on shelves across the US. If you're going to spend some level of money and you want a return on it, don't skimp on the ONE thing that actually makes you money. 5k down gets you a few hundred a month in payments and a top notch still for less than Vendome, Carl, etc.

Also for your equipment list, cleaning equipment (steamer, CIP), barrel racks if you are aging, reactivation chemicals for cleaning the copper, and to save some on the boiler I recommend looking at Weil-Mclain.

Thanks for the feedback Johnin. I am planning on getting the two bottle rinser (I have only two arms so the 4 bottle just seems a little much on my needs). We had borrowed someones single vacum filler that works good--the US made filler will be our last piece to complete the list.