Bier Distillery

This is probably going to be market/state specific, but in Michigan, 12 bottle 750ml cases are standard.

40 minutes ago, lowerylisa1 said:

San Francisco Herb Co has orange peel granules (which is orange zest) for $9.40 / lb  https://www.sfherb.com/Orange-Peel-California-Granules--1-Lb_p_32.html

“Great for use in baking recipes that call for orange rind” 

I’m not sure how zest could be great for recipes that need rind.

23 minutes ago, whiskeytango said:

I know the Ravi comes in 1.1 lb bricks and it cost us about $14 per

Where are you finding Ravi zest for $14/1.1 lb?  That seems pretty cheap to me considering what a PITA zest is.

A quick Google search was about 2x that price.

The best part is talking to your customers who love absinthe.  Making it is rather unexciting other than the expense involved.

It is worth what you sold it for.

Other than that, it depends on what you want to use the value for.  At minimum it is worth your raw cogs + the value of your storage space.  A barrel might take up $60 in storage space per year, so a five year is cogs + $300.  It is probably actually worth more than that, but someone else could make it for the same amount.

Looking at my bitters bottles, Angostura and Peychaud's have a pretty small opening, but the Fee Brothers have an opening about the size as the Woozy orifice reducers.

To me, the larger openings seem to work fine, maybe not for you?

I'd be interested too if anyone knows of another option.

Search for "Woozy" hot sauce bottles.

Depending on the price for a pallet or three (and freight to Michigan), I might be interested.  Also the cleanliness of the bottles is important too.  If they require anything more than a quick rinse, a cheaper bottle might end up being more expensive.

Fairly minor, but I think that unless they're made by Piramal (I guess PGP Glass now), I'd say they are Arizona style rather than just Arizona.  I know there is a French made bottle that is nearly identical too.

This is essentially what we do, but with cows.  The cows don't get it straight, but it is mixed into their other feed.

Chinese clone?  I didn't know they were made in China, I think they moved their production from the US to India.

Thanks @Tom Lenerzfor answering the question.

14 minutes ago, SlickFloss said:

I’ve deleted a few snarky responses to you here.

So? Thank you??

I don't think you answered my question.  I have no horse in this race.  Cheers.

Is there a regulation that says your bourbon mash must be completely blended prior to fermentation and distillation? 

If it isn't prohibited, then it is permitted. The differences between distilling a bourbon mash in a pot vs column still are far greater than this.  A column still doesn't heat & distill everything at once either and the distillate is fully blended once distillation is complete.

Again, your example includes barrel aging which isn't what we are talking about here.

It isn't whiskey until it has been put into a barrel, so it can't be a blend of whiskeys either.

Slipping/inefficiency/wear would be the main drawback.  Can't see any functional difference.

Positive displacement (lobe) pumps for liquids with solids.

Centrifugal for for solid free liquids.

Air diaphragm pump for spirits.  Gravity is best though.  Air diaphragm is also the best for sucking/self priming.

There is no one pump that rules them all.

Flexible diaphragm pumps are prone to wear and burning themselves up.

@MichaelAtTCW has good advice.

"and still call it bourbon as long"

Sure.  The distillate from your fermented mash(es) is(are) >51 corn.  Must the fermented mash must be fermented once and together?

Try a formula and see if the TTB agrees.

A blockage inside the steam jacket on the still is nearly impossible, so assuming the boiler is set up correctly while a PRV and gauges are nice, they don't add much value.

Their system is probably a little bit more efficient than yours.

Stand them on end and palletize them.

24 minutes ago, jocko said:

Not sure why the assumption is that this is intended to allow you to leave the still unattended.

Call it deja vu.

The simplest, cheapest, and best solution for a coolant pump dying is to shut down the still.  The only reason you'd want a redundant pump is if there is no one around to notice the pump died.

There are hundreds of things that could possibly go wrong, a pump dying is just one of them.  Maybe a hose burst, maybe water main pressure failed, etc...

I do have two pumps, but not for redundancy.  One runs during spirit runs, the other during stripping runs.  If both fail I could run off of city water.  But again, that's not for redundancy, it is for efficiency.

BTW, a spare pump is a perfectly good idea.

Don't leave the still unattended.

Are they not making anything in the US anymore?

I got some of their Lincoln bottles from India.  The bottles were clean enough but the packaging was noticeably dirtier than I have been used to.  One pallet had a case that was missing (and marked as missing!) several bottles, another case had several broken bottles.  I was down about a full case between three pallets.  I've never seen that before.

A displacement pump with 1/2" is perfectly fine for a mash tube in tube cooler/chiller.

Don't expect your fermented grain-in tank to gravity drain well out of anything less than 3" though.  2" is pushing it.

I don't think 700 is an option in Michigan (super antiquated system).

No question stainless is better, I have a number of stainless drums I use.  I'm mainly wondering how I might make use of these things.