Silk City Distillers

Just call Lallemand BDS and set up a small account, they'll sell you small quantities and they have better prices than anyone else.  Their product support can recommend a suitable yeast and nutrient regime based on your fementation material.

Your local bulk chemical suppliers should be able to get you a 50 pound bag of USP grade citric for about 50 bucks, there is not much simpler than that.

The way to minimize upfront costs is to ensure that you are completely buttoned up with regards to the building/facility selection and local approvals, and that you've ensured that your location selection is not going to expose you to unbudgeted build-out costs or a capital bonfire while you fight local authorities.

On the equipment, you are going to spend the money either way - you can't produce without it.  Whether you spend it in month 1 or month 4, it's still getting spent.  You aren't lowering this.

It's the unexpected that is going to be the problem, not the known costs you are budgeting for.

In terms of specifics regarding equipment delays - the TTB says what they say, but they don't set any minimum requirements for equipment.  Delay with your fermenter getting delivered?  No problem, get a 55 gallon plastic drum - label it Fermenter-1 - done.  Amend the equipment after the fact, nobody said you couldn't.

That said, you are going to be burning rent and overhead for months while you wait for federal and state approvals, you need to budget for this.  Assuming you are making sales on Day 1?  Probably unrealistic.  Budget as pessimistically as possible.

Probrewer classifieds?

We have temperature control on the dephlegmator and product condensers, as well as monitoring/logging on vapor temp, distillate temp, wash temp, and jacket pressure.

We do not yet have steam jacket pressure control hooked up, but will likely do it in the next few months.

From an "automation" perspective, we are finding that dephlegmator temperature control is the most useful/beneficial - as evidenced by extremely tight batch to batch consistency.

Wash temp is very helpful to monitor the progression of heat up.

System will shut the boiler down on high distillate temp.

Product condenser temperature control is useful as well - as we run a recirculating water system - our reservoir will heat up through the run, so as the run progresses the system needs to increase water flow through the condensers to maintain the set points.

We are using Omega Ethernet-connected PID and Process Controls/Meters.

Not sure how you define automation though, we designed our system to work as an assistant, not an automaton.  So, we want to control the reflux ratio (dephlegmator temperature), but I don't want to fiddle with a valve to do it, or have to fiddle with valves the whole run to keep it where I want it.  I could imagine a much more complex PLC based system that essentially automated the entire run.

Don't forget about backset

Lactic

Picked up the first two from Jim, very happy with them.  Great transaction - Jim went out of his way to help us arrange very competitive freight.

Dave - Nonsense, your answer is the correct one.  I only provided an alternative for experimentation that would get around that.

Dunder is more about microbiology than aged stillage.

If you really want to get a culture started, you don't need to base it on rum stillage, you only need to approximate rum stillage.

Here is a rough starter recipe and process:

   1L water in 2L Erlenmayer
  40g blackstrap molasses (trace sugars)
1/8th tsp of DME (for nutrient)
1/8th tsp dry yeast (for nutrient)
trace yeast nutrient

Boil broth for 30m to provide some basic sterilization and remove dissolved oxygen.  If you would like, you can add a trace amount of ethyl alcohol.

You now need to consider how you are going to get your broth inoculated with the right bacterial.

If you don't have any bacteria, I'd say adjust the pH to about 4.5, and let nature take it's course.

Scale as necessary.

If you are using bacterial culture, you might want to consider keeping the culture anaerobic and using a temperature controlled stir-plate.

Do your time with the hydrometers.

Isn't Ethyl Acetate, by far, the most common ester in distilled spirits fermentation?

Just for giggles - with the power off - check to see if all the terminal screws are tight and that none of the wires are loose.

Sometimes a loose connection can arc and create an overheated component.  This was usually the cause of hot breakers in panels.

Its curious in that the location is very specific to one of those center two wires above the logo.  This does run contrary to the fuses blowing though.  That's going to require tracing the circuits.

Can you post a photo or two of the control panel with sufficient resolution to trace the wiring?

What led you to test the fuses?  Did something trip?  Was something not functioning or running properly?  

You are talking fuses, right?  And not din-rail mounted breakers?  If there are really fuses (does anyone use fuses anymore?) - are you the original owner - possible they were replaced incorrectly?

Ryan - I think your last post is the big clue - you shouldn't be pooling a significant amount of condensate in your jackets or lines, at least not so much that you would see a big overfill situation.  You might want to make sure your steam trap is sized correctly and working properly.  If you are getting a large amount of pooled condensate in your jacket - you are going to see significantly reduced heat transfer.  Or, potentially, you are seeing a stall condition - http://www.tlv.com/global/US/steam-theory/stall-phenomenon-pt1.html

Is this something that happens at startup?  If so - suspect undersized trap.  If it happens sporadically, you might have a sticky trap - you can take these apart to inspect and clean out.  We had a trap on our steam water heater clog up with junk - even though it was protected by a strainer. 

Does your make up water system use a float in the condensate tank or on the boiler itself?  (it should be the latter).

You mentioned that the plates were "off" - not sure if this means bypassed or that there was no dephlegmator water flow.

If there is no dephlegmator water flow, and there is minimal passive reflux, it must be heat input like Meerkat suggests.

What is the hole size and spacing of the sieve plate? What is the grind on the wheat? Are you cracking or grinding to flour?

What is your mash procedure look like? Are you mashing in a manner similar to a wheat beer? Protein rest?

Malted or unmalted grain? Either way, are you utilizing any additional enzyme, specifically beta glucanase to reduce viscosity? Unmalted - protease/xylanase?

Grind coarser, use beta-glucanase, sparge hotter, use a larger sieve hole size - you are going to be getting more solids carry-over into the fermenter, but you are probably crashing and racking off the yeast/trub anyhow.

Don't be concerned with trading mash efficiency for streamlined workflow.

We use filtered steam, easier than filling and dumping, and doesn't seem to require much liquid water to swell. They stay pretty on the outside.

Probably not "wild yeast" - not sure how many yeast strains you use in house - but if you are using one yeast strain, and especially if it's a competitive factor yeast strain - it's probably the same yeast.

Drum heater and a forklift...

Have you tried antifoam? Fermcap-S

While corn itself is much cheaper pound for pound, to use corn as your feedstock is going to require a significantly higher investment in equipment. It's too early to do the math, but unless you are processing massive volumes and are OK with payback being calculated in years, white sugar is going to be a cheaper fermentation feedstock.

I'll drop some positive comments about Mark - great guy - great tanks at great prices.

We're hoping to buy another from him, despite being the goldilocks of tank buyers. No, that one is too tall, that one is too too long, and that one is too lumpy... Thanks Mark!

COD or BOD, or both - and what about TSS?

Couple options...

Low cost/easy options:

Recycle 20% as backset in new wash - you take 20% right off the top, free money, you save on both sides.

Dilute spent wash with cleaning water - use alkali cleaners - not only will you reduce overall COD, but you'll help shift pH balance.

Dilute spent wash with cleaning water and cooling water - depending on your sewerage costs, you might find it to actually be cheaper to waste water for cooling, dilute your wastewater to the point at which you pay no additional surcharges. If there is a chiller in the mix, you might find co-mingling of all wastewater to actually be cheaper than running a chiller and disposing of stillage directly.

Make sure you are side-streaming your high-test waste - no yeast down the drain, ever.

Medium cost options:

Dilute spent wash with cleaning and cooling water - inject ozone to drop COD - if you use an oxidizing cleaner this will help, but you'll then need to manage pH separately. This may not impact BOD.

High cost options:

On-site sewerage treatment facilities - pond or tanks - microbial digesters.

Or ... Just pay ...

Still dragon's Traditional Rum Still is by far the most compelling design I've seen if you are looking for a traditional high wines/low wines thumper approach. I'm not aware of anyone making anything similar. I'm sure Forsyths or Vendome could make something in this style that is stunning too though, if a traditional Caribbean approach is what you are looking for.