porter

Are you checking with a proof hydro or a beer hydro? You can't get a mash temp that far off.

Lenny, that's exactly why I suggest not using fresh charred wood, changes flavor too much toward the whiskey stage. Isn't it interesting some of the best whiskey (scotch) is aged in sherry (wine) barrels? Your story is probably right given all the thing they tried back when. Remember the beer recipes where fermentation was start by floating 'aged' meat in the wort.......... My really great secret is to age the wine with toasted wood in secondary for 90 days. Pull out the wood and run the brandy, then put the wood back in the spirrits for 2 years. Since most of what I run is Norton wine the rich norton flavor/color carries over from the norton soaked staves, all natural.

Good to experiment isn't it..... Brandy is too delicate for casks, not enough control or selection of woods. Unless you want the whiskey taste, never use 'charred' wood, only toasted. I use stainless with oak and cherry strips. 3/4 square, saw kerfs every 1/4inch. Number of planks depends on how many gallon container. Our minimum is 2 years on the wood. My 7 yr old has a nose on it fills the room with fresh fruit aromas. Mine is mostly grape since that's available to me. And put those used oak/cherry woods in next batch of rum. That's a real treat.

Always a good idea anyway. Also catches coins, rings, etc. In our area it can be nothing more than a mini-septic tank. Outgoing spout same as incoming,just some space from spout to bottom. Custom welded is normal around here. Most garages require them also as a form of grease trap.

Sanitary transport from WA to CAL would be more the worry. You aren't transporting anything fermenting, so from previous posts, and other sites, you aren't transporting alchohol. It isn't a food product for human consumption either. In fact, farmers do it all the time with their molasses based products for feed additives. A couple of chain breweries transport from central location to their brew pubs just as you're talking about, but they do it chilled. BUT.....how are you planning on keeping the sweet wort from fermenting from regular bacteria infection on the long trip? Refrigeration would work, but rather expensive for a startup. Can't you find a local brewery to work with? Interested in how you're going to solve the logistics on this.

This is the kind of gem you store away in the goodie bag. Excellent spreadsheet !!!!!!!! Has anyone ever tried a control test to find out just how close the figures come to the actual?

Which link are you referring to? Sent him a couple on PM.

2500watt = 8500btu approx. Wattage to temp is not possible. And a c/p from a math book..... "It depends of the starting temperature of the water. A BTU is the amount of energy required to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit ... water weighs about 8.34#/gal ... so 8.34 BTU's are required to raise 1 gallon of water 1 degree F. If your starting temperature of the water was 40 degrees F ... there would be 160 degree rise to 200 degrees or ... 1,334 BTU's are required to raise 1 gallon of water from 40 degrees to 200 degrees Fahrenheit." You need to factor in difference of alcohol weight for better accuracy, but just water weight for rough power requirements will get you there.

P/Med you a good link for starters.

What are you going to use it for? If it's for heating the 'cooker' you'll need more than 200 just to overcome heat loss. If you can do it with your still install direct contact electric elements (water heater 4500watt units) and a controller unit. Plenty of sites with how-to for it. Or make up an electric heater bath, essentially an open 'boiler', and use a high-heat pump to run a water bath for the still.

Return questions to ask---- -Is it to be open-fired from below, steam/water jacket fired, or electric insert fired? Answer makes a difference to bottom thickness in many cases. -What difference does various grade of coppers make? hard, half-hard, half-soft, etc. -How are you putting it together? Rivet, tig, mig, solder, etc. There's a lot that goes into designing something so outwardly simple..........Just look around my scrap pile and drawings.

Depends on where you're from. Some folks call a carbonated beverage a 'pop', some a 'soda', others 'soda pop'. Never heard anyone childish enough to argue the point on a serious level though. So I would say call it what you want and simply shake your head at anyone trying to correct you. Here's the Wikipedia definition of the ultra clear stuff......Apparently you are all wrong, it's PGA. And here I thought that was a golf thing. htt-://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_grain_spirit "Neutral grain spirit (also called pure grain alcohol (PGA) or grain neutral spirit (GNS)) is a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that has been distilled from a grain-based mash to a very high level of ethanol content." Smile and have a swig..........

Barrels were discussed in a previous thread. Not considered fire hazard if below 125p from what I remember. Milling room... possibly but no more than a small bakery grinding their own flour You're dead on though about the open flames. And no employees smoking inside the building at all. One otherproblem that appears to be common to several fires is that they ran unattended, even for a few moments, overnight, etc. And the flammable level alchohol wasn't in a sealed container at all times, once it left the still proper. Where do keep your heads, in a glass at the side until you're done? Just common sense items an outsider should be asked to observe and find for you. Maybe change some bad habits.

Move the actual distilling process to a non-attached, cheap 'production' building out back and leave that as the insured production facility. Insure the other main structure as a warehouse. TTB may require an enclosed breezeway between for bonding but as long as you put fire rated doors on each end of the connector then each building is a seperate insurance item. Give up on any downtown location and move everything relating to production outside of any city limits, that always helps with code enforcement too.

This has to be the hottest topic I've ever seen discussed on this forum. With so much input on a topic there's usually an underlying meaning that the current handling of the particular law, rule, etc. is not being done properly. And so goes with this topic. Apparently there's a large backing for those who desire to get some of the TTB regs changed to more clearly define what a company is making, for very valid reasons. We have food labels because the FDA says we 'need' to know everything in a loaf of bread, and whether our chicken breasts were fed a grasshopper that was high on bug killer. But apparently we 'don't need' to know how a vice product is produced, according to another government agency. Almost makes the MoonShiners show look like a better business to be in. Anyway, it's good to see the board this active on something.

Many times it's the 'make it with what's growing local'. It costs to get grain or fruits shipped. And out of season on fruit, you're out of production. So you turn to grain during those times. Up on the Oregon and Washington coast there's tons of various berries. They make a lot of brandies in the area, and the tourists like local grown/distilled product. Same with the orchard areas on the east coast. It also goes back to what you know and have the feel for making. Personally, we won't do gins since nobody making it likes gin. So it's hard to get the feel for what's 'perfect'.

However, you can still have the word 'distillery' in your company name, thereby proposing it was produced by a distillery when in fact it was simply bottled by a mixer. So should we start educating the public on the difference and the termanology....we do on this end.

I don't see it as a matter of 'good' or 'bad' spirits. It's a matter of who's doing what. If a bottle is labeled as coming from a distiller, then you would think they distill what's in the bottle. If it's a remix then the label should reflect that. It doesn't matter how large or small the producer is. My point is, with all the strict guidelines on what a bourbon or single malt, or how they're aged in what barrel...........why doesn't the TTB licensing care whether the consumer knows they aren't getting something distilled by the company on the label. Let's see a distinction in licensing and full disclosure on the label. If it's good, the public will still buy it, although it probably won't bring in the large shelf prices and it shouldn't. Right now, our local/internet group researches and points out to all the fledglings around here when a label isn't telling the truth of what's in the bottle and how it's being made. And, honestly, several have dropped purchasing when they found out they were just getting remixed product and not told on label. They felt cheated. Knowing it was remixed and paying the low appropriate prices isn't a bother to them, just not being told and paying the high prices is. No, if you haven't ever fired up a still and made the product in the bottle, then you shouldn't be be selling that product under a distillery license. There needs to be a different classification for it. The re-mixed product you make is probably good, but it shouldn't be sold as a 'hand crafted distilled product'. And let's face it, there's a matter of prestige in knowing how to run a still. That, too, helps to drive the consumer is they think what they are drinking came from the fine art of true distilling.

This is probably the hottest topic you could get in front of me. If you only mix, you're not a distiller and shouldn't be licensed as one. The distillers permit is much the same as the old ham radio license compared to the CB license. There's a lot of training and learning to reach the distiller level. I've had this argument before with 'wineries'. Some around here serve food and wine but don't make a drop themselves. They simply resell others products, or have wine private labled, but fall within the legal of being a 'winery' ; If they don't make wine they aren't a winery. Absolutly adoment on these points. And I would love to see the remixers get a different classification in the regs, thereby preventing the use of "Distilled by" or 'Proud Distillers" on labeling. The TTB is so spot-on about formulas and product descriptions but so damn blind when it comes to the meaning of the basic word distilling. Stills are cheap to get started with. 1500 will get you a nice working one. Much less if you know someone with copper skills. I know of 2 local distilleries who started with copper and a keg, won awards, stepped up to a 29gal unit each. Total outlay on a small startup distillery, complete <$50k. Bonds, licenses, bottles, etc. And just for the record, if you don't know how to distill on a small scale before getting into business then you aren't ready for the business.Harsh but true. Lots of workshops and internships to give you the chance, besides the usual good ol boy way. Rant over.....pant pant pant......

As long as the still doesn't contain alcohol as part of the mix, and is under 1gal capacity, the feds won't care.

Since nothing ferments in high alchohol I'd have to look at bottling temperature versus storage temp. Bottle cold, store warm, gas expansion will pop things open. Bottle at near standard room temp.

Some of the states, however, make it illegal to own the coil or condensor without federal/state registration. Not living in those areas I'm not sure where to look to verify that though with the exact laws quoted. From what I've read on it they treat it like a silencer, just having one can get you in trouble.

IMHO and practice, I've found it as well to just watch the cuts and quit early to keep it clean, don't get too gready. Run the rest of the tails off and roll it into the next batch. But that's for a column, not a pot. With pot I would and do make a stripping run. And depends on what you're making of course.

Flow rate is higher, time roughly the same, all other being the same. But since you'ld be starting with a 40% wash, you would be taking your time/care in making the cuts on this final run. Whereas the original runs would be quick stripping runs, not making cuts or watching for quality layers. Have to be that way since you can't achieve the 40% without stripping runs.

$1000 profit on 1 bottle, now that's some kind of profit margin...............No wonder McDonald burgers are $10 in Hawaii.........