Silk City Distillers

Aw heck, just take the temp out of the equation and just do it by weight of the collected distillate (you said load cell, got the idea). Assuming you are running the same recipe - and can keep a consistent enough ferment and abv. The weight of your cuts would be very similar each time, and wouldn't be impacted by temp. Wouldn't this be even easier? (Or just do it manually, I'd never keep a still running unattended, so what's the big deal with watching the parrot and trusting in your tongue?)

Wow that is elegant, I was following this thread and I hadn't even considered multiple hydrometers, that opens up many possibilities. You could probably do this much more inexpensively with cheap microswitches (vs expensive proximity sensors that need to be calibrated). Geez - even easier, a slot type photosensor like one of these: http://www.ia.omron.com/products/family/2716/ Just need to find one with the slot a bit wider than the hydrometer, and mount it on an adjustable slide so you can adjust the trigger points. Maybe a little guide to make sure it can ride up and down without binding. I'd break the light path with the tip of the hydrometer, so the photosensor would need to be mounted a little distance above the liquid level of the parrot. Adjustment would be as easy as holding the hydrometer and the correct level and raising or lowering the photosensor until it trips.

Woo hoo! I knew someone was out there. Heard a rumor about someone setting up shop in Red Bank - would that be you? Keep an ear out for my call. We'd initially considered Asbury Park as our home, but the daily drive would have made it a challenge.

Hello out there! Calling all New Jersey craft distillers who are interested or are currently in-process of gearing up (or the two that are already running!). We know you are out there, we've heard rumors about you, or perhaps you've heard rumors about us. I'd like to get us all together to discuss organizing and forming a state craft distillers guild. As far as I know, and based on the in-state folks I've talked to, nobody has yet started this process. God knows we will all be stronger working together. For those who haven't heard of us - we are Silk City Distillers - we're working as quickly as possible to get up and running, and our timelines have us operational in 2014. Our home is in the Paterson, NJ vicinity. For those who are already underway, I'm sure you've come across road blocks similar to the kinds we have - building/zoning/fire inspection departments that have no idea how to handle a craft distillery, in some cases complete confusion, in other cases townships not even willing to talk. Our hope is that we can leverage our own collective energy to further the craft within the state. I'm sure most of you would rather work collectively with the legislature, where necessary, than blow all your capital on NJ lawyers! And for those not in NJ - as of December 1st, 2013 - NJ's Craft Distilling law is active - you can find more information here: http://www.nj.gov/oag/abc/downloads/Notice_New-Craft-Distillery.pdf http://www.nj.gov/oag/abc/downloads/Craft-Distillery-License-Package.pdf Oh - I suppose this counts as my first "Welcome" post as well! So big thanks go out to the folks on this forum that have spent time working and talking with us, all greatly appreciated! Feel free to reach out to me - james@silkcitydistillers.com or reply here.

Nice Tig! What rod are you using if you don't mind me asking?

Wish I had those kinds of problems, a few hundred gallons a day for dilution purposes.. You can put together a standalone DI at your point of use for a few hundred dollars, plumb it off your house RO system. You shouldn't need any more than a couple of feet of silbraid or ptfe tubing. Operating cost shouldn't be more then 2-3 cents per gallon above your RO costs. Agree for large volumes this wouldn't at all be sufficient, but if you can deal with 12-15 gph flow rates it can be done relatively inexpensively. You could probably plumb a set in parallel if you don't have time to wait around. YMMV. Put all your process water through RO/DI? Agree, it will cost you a small fortune and is largely unnecessary. Realize that a few hours in 304 or 316 is irrelevant from a corrosion standpoint (it's probably better described as aggressive, since people tend to associate corrosive with acids). If you are worried, you could easily add a small known quantity of product to the empty tank and calculate accordingly. A couple of ml of product to 1000l is more than enough to sufficiently pollute the DI to where it is no more corrosive than RO. Hell, extremely low final mash pH is probably even more corrosive than DI. Even better, if you rinse down with RO or Tap, they'll leave enough minerals on the surface after evaporating to negate the aggressiveness of the DI. We obsess about everything else, why not the water?

For dilution I would recommend RO/DI, as opposed to straight RO. The overall cost wouldn't be much higher, and the overall purity is higher. I'd recommend against storing RO or RO/DI for too long, unless you are meticulous in the cleanliness of your RO storage. Remember, RO or RO/DI no longer contains disinfectants, which may make it a nice place for bacteria to grow. For mashing and fermentation, you might be able to get by with a newer nano filtration unit. Less pure than RO, but significantly less waste too. And based on your source water tests, might save money on adding salts/minerals to RO. Highly recommend reading: Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers by John Palmer and Colin Kaminski Part of the same series as White's Yeast book above, a bit harder to read if you slept through chemistry though.

While the final flavor profiles will be different, in either case barrel contribution will be high, perhaps higher than you expect (based on some oaking trials that we've run ourselves). Your short aging time, 6m in 15g, will likely have a bigger impact on overall flavor and color than going toast vs char. Of course, 2 variables in a process with hundreds, so your mileage may vary. The other reason about char vs toast is implication with regards to ttb classification. I believe new toasted barrels would be classified as a Light Whisky (or whiskey distilled from xxx mash). Might matter to you, might not. Wonder if the guys from Dehner or Artisan are working on a time machine, something we all could REALLY use.

We've gone down the direct fire route, and it's a challenge due to where we are (very restrictive). In my area, the fire inspectors have quite a bit to say about everything, so you might want to explore that first. Anything that looked even remotely jury rigged would be called out. Exposed insulation of any type in direct contact with flame would be a huge no-no. Bigger question is how you are managing open flame and ventilation? It might be more cost effective to build an insulated firebox or firebrick enclosure for the tank with an integral chimney. This should store some residual heat and provide a higher heating efficiency. Or just insulate the walls instead.

You can probably rig up a co2 purge system for the closed tank pretty inexpensively. The variable capacity has a lid that has an adjustable height to vary capacity and headspace.

Check out the Letina or Enotalia closed wine storage tanks or the variable capacity tanks