Silk City Distillers

We're about 4-5 months out at this point - how about a friendly race? Give me a call, we should chat - we're looking to set up a state guild. jb Silk City Distillers

There are just so many factors that might play into whether or not an entrepreneur will be successful or not - some that can be controlled, some that can't be. I've worked with some personality types that needed the motivation of utter financial failure, and worked with others so risk averse that they'd fail in the same situation. Had the opportunity to work with a number of startups over the years, some close, some from afar, and from my perspective - "I want to leave my job" is a warning sign other than not. Much too easy to have rationality and objectiveness clouded by the emotion associated with an existing job, especially if there is some kind of resentment attached (overlooked for a promotion, didn't get a raise, issues with supervisors/co-workers, bored). It's too easy to get caught up in the passion and romance of an idea, without the necessary pragmatism. Don't get me wrong, that passion is a necessary prerequisite, but I've seen how easy it is for people to fall in love with half-baked ideas. Keeping your day job is probably a good recommendation for most. Quote from someone on ADI I heard a few weeks ago stuck in my head. You pay your bills from 9 to 5, you make your fortune from 5 to 12.

Always thought that a potential option for an undersized steam boiler installation would be to get creative with reducing your mash delta-t, specifically by utilizing tankless hot water heaters to preheat mash water to as near mash temp as possible. Not proposing you knowingly undersize your steam boiler, but if you found yourself in that situation, it's easy to add another 200kbtu, at relatively low cost compared to replacing your boiler. Commercial units can heat up to near 175, if you can deal with the much lower flow rates as trade off. Many manufacturers offer units that can be chained together to increase temp or speed, as with anything else, money is time and time is money. Depending on your workflow and schedule, it could be a lifesaver, or, it could be meaningless, up to you to determine. This approach is starting to become commonplace among budget nanobrewers who hit the limits of electric heated HLTs.

Someone check my math, was up early and only had 1 cup of coffee.

Regarding your strip run math, you'll run into diminishing returns into the tails. You've got to weigh the cost of time and energy against squeezing out every last drop. 20% is probably more realistic at 8.5% abv. Check your yield - 840 liters at 8.5% abv is 142.8 liters of 50%, 178.5 liters of 40%, and that is only if you squeeze out every last drop, which you likely won't. You need to take into account the volume of the grain vs your mash tun capacity. 1200 liters (317g) water and 1000 lbs of grain would require something around 2000 liters capacity. More realistically, if you aren't pushing for high yield, and you want to deal with a nice easy mash (and not a monster), you'll probably be doing something like 250 gallons water, 500 lbs grain, which should put you somewhere near the total capacity of 300 gallons, the only challenge is now you're dealing with much less than the original 8.5% you factored for (this isn't a suggestion, only an example). You can make your own decisions, but sometimes it's easier to just go bigger than deal with trying to get the highest yield possible. If you are using the same still to both strip and spirit - you'll want to do more than 2 strips per spirit run - otherwise you are wasting time. Based on the 20% figure above, factor 4 strips to a spirit - depending on losses, lower than expected yields, etc, you might be able to do a 5-to-1

Thanks for the info on that Danfoss Valve - something to be said for the simplicity of the approach. Natrat - are you simply just controlling the pump on/off with the relay, or are you using some sort of proportional control valve? Last question I promise on the steam valve - any suggestions on a controllable proportional valve? Was looking at something like a Belimo LF24-MFT.

Would love to see it - we're currently using modified 5g corny and 15.5g sankey kegs.

Too small to reach your goals. When I plug your numbers into my production spreadsheets, and adjust for batch sizes, your 3500-5000 case production capacity looks like a long shot, and I'm assuming 6 pack cases of 750ml. Unless of course you are just redistilling GNS, but you look to be including a stripping and spirit still, mash tun, and fermenter. Initially, you are going to be limited by fermentation capacity, next limiting factor will be the number of realistic production hours in a week. This, of course, assumes that labor is entirely free, since if you factor in labor costs, well...

The reason you haven't seen much is because it is irrelevant to the process, you don't control it, it controls you... The boiling point of the wash is a function of the alcohol content. To simplify, your boiling point will range from 78c to 100c as you go from 100% to 0% ethanol. If you were going to try to control it, you'd find yourself having to raise the wash temperature through the run in order to keep the still running, otherwise, if you set a midrange set point, once that set point was reached and the ABV of the wash fell, you'd cease to generate sufficient vapor. In terms of how quickly you can heat your pot, that's going to depend on how much money you have … no, really. You will get to a point at which you need to employ alternative (read: more expensive) techniques to get your pot up to temp faster. A full jacket would be able to heat faster than a 1/2 jacket without scorching. A full high pressure jacket will be able to heat faster than a low pressure jacket. Agitated boilers will heat faster than non-agitated boilers (these are all gross oversimplifications by the way). Easier to think of the process in terms of the amount of energy you need to add to get the volume of vapor you require. You want to run faster, you need more energy, run slower, less energy. All the techniques you list above are just mechanisms to transfer energy, some have benefits, some have constraints.

We propagate yeast from slant to pitchable volume, it is more work but it allows us to utilize yeasts that would otherwise not be available (in dry form) or too expensive at the volumes necessary for pitching. We personally feel that there is a somewhat substantial flavor contribution of the yeast, and that this process is worth the result. I know others do not share this opinion. We've done informal double blinds and differences are relatively easy to discern. I personally prefer a more complex fruit/estery aroma on the nose, and that is much easier to get with an ale style yeast than a standard distillery style yeast. A single white labs vial is enough to inoculate thousands of slants - that $9 is a bargain. Haven't looked in a long while, but I thought pitchable volumes from White for 7bbl were something like $150-200 shipped - not bad for beer, very expensive for whiskey. I have no formal microbiology training, only two semesters of micro in college, yet with good process and meticulous cleanliness I can achieve very consistent results. It is a considerable amount of work however, think of the yeast as having a few more kids to babysit.

Does anyone have a source for steam injector nozzles? I assume they are similar to mixing tank eductor nozzle, but I've only ever seen those in plastic.

Saw an interesting setup a few months back using a 300g plastic IBC tote and an aquarium chiller, he said he just set the timer to turn the chiller on very early in the morning. I've got an old 1hp aquarium chiller out in the shed that I've been meaning to try (it was able to keep my 300g reef tank with over 4,000 watts of lighting from boiling, but at about 12000 btu, maybe not enough). Would imagine from a cost perspective, the reservoir approach allows you to trade time for a lower initial investment. By pre-cooling your reservoir temp prior to the run, and then through the run, you can get by with a smaller chiller (or no chiller depending on your climate). Is there an easy sizing rule of thumb? Say, if you are pushing 250k btu to heat your boiler, you need to knockdown somewhere around 250k btu on the condenser, or is it even higher?

Just passing this one on, no affiliation, just a good deal. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Flow-Components-FGR-Sanitary-Process-Hoses-/251490522286?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8e00d4ae Guy on eBay looks to have some decent condition FGR sanitary hoses in various sizes, with integral fittings, for what looks like a great price. They are used and are rubber, but might be great for drainage, wash down, moving stillage, etc. If I was closer, I'd pick up a few, he's asking $75 each.

Like a gas chromatograph?

Last guy here that tried to lauter a corn mash went mad before it finished.

If you are a stickler about materials contact, note that while santoprene diaphragms (in your pump specs above) are probably fine for occasional high proof ethanol contact, santoprene not rated as high as other materials like teflon, polypropylene, stainless, for overall compatibility. For a $1,000 investment - I'd be asking for materials rated excellent for high proof ethanol contact. That Wilden P4 is one BIG pump. I think the max flow rates on those are around 80-100 gallons per minute, and they require a pretty big compressor. You could move mash with that pump. You might even be able to get by with a smaller double diaphragm pump depending on what your volumes look like. We use a small 1/2" pp/teflon ARO that can do 13gpm max (the one listed above can do 15 per the specs). Works just fine, and I don't need to worry about a large volume of liquid in the hoses (3/4").

Don't forget about the cost necessary to upgrade the electrical service if you don't already have 480v 3 phase, suspect this might be equal or more than the boiler install costs. Don't even try those volumes with 240v 3 phase service. Also, don't forget about the cost of the heat transfer fluid, even if you could get by with only a single 55g drum, I suspect the good stuff would cost you about $1,500 delivered. A 600g tun would probably need more than 55g (it's too early to do the math). Suspect that it'd have a finite life if being pushed hard enough, making it an pretty expensive consumable. Don't forget about the disposal costs as well. Every once in a while there will be a screaming good deal on a good condition Sussman electric boiler on eBay, keep in mind that at scale, you'll probably be pushed right back into the 480v/3ph. Consider yourself lucky if the previous tenant made the investment in power.

The Impact of Copper in Different Parts of Malt Whisky Pot Stills on New Make Spirit Composition and Aroma Barry Harrison*, Olivier Fagnen, Frances Jack and James Brosnan Journal of the Institute of Brewing Volume 117, Issue 1, pages 106–112, 2011 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2011.tb00450.x/abstract

I'd start with Zainasheff and White's Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, followed by Fermented Beverage Production by Andrew Lea.

Was under the impression that citric acid was the most common preservative in organic foods. I know I've seen non-gmo/organic citric acids available.

Steam and citric acid?

These guys were clearly of the make now, sell later variety. Who gets prosecuted? Check the date, this was released last week. This wasn't 8 people with 46 stills among themselves, this was 8 arrested, with the remainder lucky enough to get their hand slapped (probably because they'd never used it, or weren't caught with spirits or enough other materials to implicate them in production). Forfeiture of property? Worth losing your house or other property over? I especially like the cheeky comment at the end: "encouraged to visit…and apply for a permit" http://www.ttb.gov/press/fy14/press-release-march2014.pdf For Immediate Release March 7, 2014 Contact: Tom Hogue (202) 453–2180 FY–14–3 TTB and Florida Authorities Conduct Joint Moonshine Operation Washington, DC — This week, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) investigators conducted a joint operation with special agents from the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco targeting illegal possession of stills and illegal production of distilled spirits. The joint operation resulted in 8 arrests and seizure of 46 stills by Florida authorities. The possession of unregistered stills and the production of distilled spirits without a Federal permit and without payment of tax are Federal felony offenses which may result in the seizure and forfeiture of land and other property associated with the illegal activity. Persons wishing to distill spirits legally are encouraged to visit the TTB distilled spirits homepage at http://www.ttb.gov/spirits/index.shtml for guidance and to apply for a permit.

Here's the sales literature from a company that provides a similar product. Thought it was interesting since it includes some quantitative figures about resulting improvements from mixing during fermentation. http://www.alfalaval.com/campaigns/tankequipment/mixing-and-agitation/rotary-jet-mixers/Documents/Application_note_beer_fermentation_March_2010.pdf

To the moon!

Malt ratios are typically a balance of providing enough enzyme to convert the total grain bill and the kind of product or flavor profiles you are trying to achieve. Spend some time with an all grain brewing book, you'll learn everything you need to know.