Dehner Distillery

I would say that we swear by agitating the ferment. A very slow agitation is all you need. We find it will finish out faster, and have a higher yield. Especially near the end of the fermentation process it helps keep the yeast suspended so you get all the goody out of your batch.

If you have access to a lot of electric power then you can by this old type of Miller AC/DC 300A and 500A tig welder ( Gold star) very cheap today…

We have 2pc of the 300a and 1pc of the 500a version and they are very simple to work with and made very good welds even in 5mm copper…..

Cheers from Sweden

Man o man, Gold Star welders are built like a BRICK $HIT HOUSE!! They can hold a super super stable arc. With real copper core transformers those welders are about 1100lbs each. Yes you can find them cheap. They are great old welders. Only thing is if they break (the right part) it is scrap metal. There are no replacement part form them, unless you know a guy that can make his own parts.

Great old welders tho.

A great newer older welder that is good to is a "Dial Arc" a 350-400amp. Real good machine.

I love miller products my self. I bleed blue I guess you could say.

yes they are nice but man better have deep pockets.

buy used and save 80%

Pulse is nice on really thin stuff. It with distortion from the welding process and it helps prevent burn through. I love it, but I have never used that brand of welders.

I use a Miller Dynasty 350 DX. You can fully program everything on this machine. Like the dig, % of peak, feq., pulse per % of time..... It get really complicated..... It is awesome. I have a couple of these. But they where about $13,000 each.....so .......

Normally we are welding on pipe and tubing around 30-75 amps. But when we weld on thick copper we crank it all the way up to 350amps. It is full power till we get started and then back off the power with the foot feed... You need the power and heat to get the copper and stainless flowing.

Another important over looked thing is the grind on the tungsten. It is super important. Also the type of tangent use is ultra important too.

I think if I was you I might try one of those "I-tigs" but I would make sure you enough power. You can always turn it down.

You might think about just paying someone to do your welding for you. Then you can get it done now, and done correctly, instead of trying to do it blind. Also you life is or could be on the line. No need to TRY out your welding skills while boiler explosive vapors. Save money and time TOO!

Look this quote up. It is my fav. "To much, or to little"

Here is a quote A mentor told me ALL THE TIME...."If you have the time to do it, you have the time to do it right. Because you always have time to do it over."

I love tig welders. Mig welders have there place to, especially pulse mig welders. But when going for a sanitary weld it's like taking a chainsaw to brain surgery. It just is not the right tool for the job.

get a TECO FM50

Get it based on the HP of the agitator. It will electronically convert single phase into three phase. You can get one on ebay for $250.

All VFD convert AC in to DC and then back to AC. So you can go 1 or 3phase in and 3phase out.

With a VFD you can adjust the speed and torque load and many other options of the motor itself. A Rotary phase converter is just on or off.

Plus the VFD's are about the size of two soft balls put together.

questions please call, we use them all over the place.

515-559-4879

if you can put it in your self, DO IT!!!!

Slantfins are nice and cheap!

A new 360,000 but is like $4500.

The boiler installers are crooks. $20k to run some darn pipe..... really.....

I say if you have the ELE power stay with it. You can totally run that with ELE power. Other wise get a 300k or 360k boiler and be done with it.

You increase the dia. of your column and reduce the vapor velocity.

Don't be scared of the upgrade.

If you use standard household electrical wire the arc and the way the weld looks will be totally different than if you use de-oxidize copper tig rod. It is also harder to weld with than De-oxidize copper tis rod.

Silicone bronze is good for joints that could flex because it is malleable. But a copper or even a stainless joint is far stronger.

Hey Mr. Dehner Distillery.....WTF is your problem? This was an experiment, not a finished result, and a first attempt. This is NOT about TIG, it is about MIG brazing. It is not about stacked dimes. This is something new and different. It works. Making it pretty comes next, with practice and more experimenting. There are plenty of threads on here about TIG welding. If you can't appreciate this for what it is then just go away.

Dude, settle down. I was just saying.... You have a long way to go to make it look good. Trust me, everyone was thinking it, I just said it.

So cool you jets.

You did not see me drop f- bombs.........

We go from the holding tank to a small pump to a filter bank to the reservoir on our 6 spout gravity filler. There are sensors on the reservoir itself to turn the pump on and off so it always maintains at least a minimum level. We love it. We can switch between products very easily. We can rock out to about 900-1200 bottles per hour. We easily fill a pallet 12bottles x 75 cases in 45-50min. That is with only 3 people.

I would shoot my self if we filled one bottle at a time.

Harley, nice job on the weld!

I did it. I used my Miller 200 with a spoolgun and Silicon Bronze wire using a brush on paste flux intended for oxy acetylene use. The flux made the braze flow nicely. Without it the braze would just pile up. The set up that worked was 24 volts on the Miller and #4 on the gun. The SS was a scrap of 304 SS 14 gauge, and the copper was 16 gauge. I have a SS milk tank that I am going to build a copper top for. Copper to copper and ss to ss also works just fine. I used a zig zag motion and moved pretty fast. This is just my first attempt, but I was excited to share. I didn't have any Argon and just used CO2, I expect this to get a lot better with Argon and practice. I can tell you that it is easier than welding stainless.

I am very sorry but that weld looks like crap.

You will get good results if you TIG weld it. The silicon bronze does excellent when it is welded. Also, you can use de-oxidized copper TIG rod and it will look flawless. I will post some pics if I get time.

We are looking to move this equipment!!

Please let us know how we can help!

We are looking to move on this equipment!

also, just another thought....

It is not "white rum" anymore because you used oak. Also, since you use oak chips you will have to put that on the label.

Please see TTB reg on using oak chips.

If you strip the color out, you will strip out all the flavor too.

There are ways to get the profile you want with out a formula, and not using oak chips. I won't say everything but here are a couple.

1. add flavoring to the mash right before you distill it. Let the flavor carry over in the distilling process. Example the vanilla flavor you talk about.

2. add flavoring in the gin type basket to make extracts you can use when it comes time to blend your rum.

3. a little bit of carbon goes a long ways. to make a great flavorful rum, just kiss it with carbon.

distill it again

run it like a stepping run.

Luwest is a great company to work with! Go to them for all your sugar and molasses needs. Save some money too!!!

>> And trust me we pulled out all the stops and had lawyers draw up special paper work just for them.

Really? Iike a patent filing? What's the application or patent number and when was it filed?

no, no we did not file a patent. That would make it public.

I am not that slow.

Look, it really does not matter. I am not letting the cat out of the bag. End of story. Thanks.

Back to the topic.

Depending on what base or sugar source type depends on if and what type and how much nutrient you need.

I always say- When you rehydrate your dry yeast it is like they are waking up from a super long nap, what guy doesn't want to eat after a nap before they have to go work.

Trust, but verify. Unless you can scientifically prove your claim and have it peer reviewed, it didn't happen.

I agree. I it is hard to believe. I don't make money by blurting out all my goodies.

We have spent a LOT of time, energy, and money trying to figure out how to do what we do. So I am sorry, I guess you will just have to not believe me then. Because there is no way we are saying are Secrets.

That is why only certain people at our distillery are a allowed to see the process. And trust me we pulled out all the stops and had lawyers draw up special paper work just for them.

Lets just call this our little trade secrets. I am sure you can understand.

I 2nd not using turbo yeast! That stuff is nasty, and cost way to much. Especially when you start doing things on a very very large scale.

Mow your yard

Personally, I think many distilleries fail because they aim to compete with big brands in terms of their target market. They make products that have already been made to death and are forgettable, instead of making products that are novel, unique and carry through to execution in terms of promise.

I think that could go both ways. I see your point. But I see some distilleries making so weird stuff that would never go big. There is a middle ground in all of this. I like making our own version of something main stream because people can relate.

Example- Spiced Rum...... good idea

Example- pistachio rum........bad idea

example- cinnamon whiskey...... good idea

example - grape whiskey....... bad idea

I'm in my first year and hopefully will be around long after *fingers crossed*

One of the biggest reasons I could see is planning on the dream during startup and then facing reality after you're open. Meaning one thinks they'll be doing 800 cases each month and then discovering it's only 200 cases.

There's some who can afford to operate in the red for 5+ years before things turn around, but most small businesses can't operate like that for longer than a couple months.

Skaalvenn is from MN, so he talks in 6-packs.

Over all it does not matter how much you sell, it is how much you keep.

>> I can get to 22%-24% abv on a ferment but it takes several days

In several days? With what fermentation source and what yeast. With all due respect I'm a bit suspicious with this claim.

Yes, It takes about 4-5 days depending on what time of the year it is. Thats because we keep it cool in the distillery in the winter time. I do not have a lot of patients to wait that long. In less than 24 hours I can get to lets say 12% so in 48 hours I can do 2 runs, or 24 hours or less with extra fermentation capacity. Or I could wait 4-5 thats like 5 times longer.

My mind set when we set out to quickly ferment was the ethanol plants in Brazil, I know it sounds crazy. They would never wait 4-5 days or not even 3-4 days for a ferment. They make millions of gallons a year from sugar cane. Why can't I? So we put a chuck of money into our own Scientific research. Lets just say it paid off.

You'll have to trust me, I would never say anything I could not back up.