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judgment

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  1. Thanks all. I am working on a follow-up to this post which will have more relevant information, but I have to wait until I can stay put long enough to write it.
  2. Sorry, there is a weird error that pops up that... encourages me to accidentally post multiples of the same post if I'm not careful. Perhaps a Mod can delete the duplicate for me?
  3. It looks like we are going to start small with ~50 gallon still. Now, the way I see it there are several different "classes" of still-builders to choose from. In no particular order: 1.) German/brand name/high dollar models. 2.) Industrial/big shop American builders 3.) Backyard/small shop American builders 4.) American design/middleman and Chinese manufacturer 5.) Deal directly with a Chinese manufacturer 6.) istill (don't know how to categorize this one ) 7.) anything I haven't thought of Sooo, any thoughts are welcome. If you like my classifications, if you don't. Pros and cons for or against a generic "type" of manufacturer. If you have a specific builder in mind and/or specific line of reasoning to support a certain builder. I'm most likely not going to go with the big name/German types for the obvious capital investment-type reasons. HOWEVER, if there are people out there that would rather have their fingernails pulled out than use a particular still that may fit in this category, I'd like to know why you feel that way. I will also probably avoid anybody with limited experience building, etc., assuming they exist and I'm smart enough to figure out who they are. If you can help me look for legitimate signs to be wary of, that would be very helpful. I'm especially interested in anything you consider to be a "must-have" or a "deal-breaker". Basically, I'm hoping some of you guys with way more experience than I have (not a high bar to clear, unfortunately) will help keep me from making any incredibly dumb mistakes. I appreciate your time.
  4. I had to look up the word "flocculation" but I believe that is what it is. Small white particles, possible "naturally occurring lipids held in suspension". Certainly not anything like the junk in this bottle:
  5. I've recently noticed that one of my whiskeys has some particulate matter floating in the bottle. I looked this up and found that it could be considered "normal" based on the idea that some particulate matter may accrue during the aging process etc. However, I am curious how this is perceived in the craft distillery community; whether this is considered acceptable/unacceptable; desirable/undesirable, etc. Thanks
  6. Thanks, "Jiro dreams of Whiskey?" That's funny; sushi is just about my favorite thing on this planet. Good analogy.
  7. Thanks for your insight. I keep trying to "like" posts that I appreciate and the forum tells me I have reached my limit, though as far as I know I haven't successfully "liked" anything yet. But I digress; sorry.
  8. I'd like to describe an experience I had recently and see if anyone had any thoughts... Without naming any names, I recently visited a very nice craft distillery and had a lovely experience. The people were friendly, very encouraging to someone considering getting into this industry, and didn't make me feel rushed at all. This is something of an accomplishment with me because I am hyper-aware of anything I might do "hold up production" or "get in the way of a working man" or whichever cliche you prefer. At the end of my visit, my host took me into the tasting room and let me taste a couple things. One item in particular completely blew me away. I was very impressed with what I perceived as the very high quality of the item. Based on the strength of that tasting I immediately went to the nearest ABC store and bought a bottle for myself. However, when I got home and opened my bottle, I was somewhat disappointed. I'm no professional taster, but I got the distinct impression that the bottle I purchased did not live up to the quality of what I was given to sample on site. I did not feel that it fell within an acceptable range of normal variation from one batch to another. Honestly I felt like I had paid top dollar for what turned out to be an inferior product. Is this common? Am I nuts? I have considered that perhaps I was in awe of the production facility and this may have put me in a particularly appreciative mood... At any rate, I thought it was worth mentioning....
  9. Thanks for the information. Lots of good tidbits to help me focus my research.
  10. Thanks for your reply. However, my question is, assuming I have to skimp somewhere, what is the least painful area to try and save a few pennies? What will come back and bite me later if I ignore it? I tend to be a bit talky trying to get my point across. I hope all the blah, blah, blah doesn't obscure my basic question.
  11. My current plan is to start by producing a Gin of some kind. I am currently reading reviews and taste-testing different styles and varieties of Gin in an effort to determine what direction I want to take it. If and when I can make a decent Gin and get it up and running, I think I would like to try my hand at producing a truly excellent whiskey, but I think there are too many "ifs" in that sentence.
  12. I apologize for the multiple re-post. Every time I tried to post this topic, I got an error message. I assumed that the post was failing and re-submitted it three times before I closed the board down and reopened it to find three instances of my question had indeed posted live. Mods, please help me out here.
  13. Hello. I have been reading posts at this forum for some time but this is my first post. I have tried to find information in existing posts directly related to my idea and have decided to ask for additional input - or, if I just suck at searching forums, perhaps a friendly nudge in the right direction? I have been considering starting a micro-distillery for some time. I have been doing what I assume is the typical research into the necessary equipment, legal requirements, etc. I have visited several distilleries at all ranges of capital investment, from a guy that has a very nice, profitable operation crammed into a 500 sq. ft. industrial space, to a monstrosity of a facility that looked like the dang Death Star. (Very intimidating, in case you were wondering. ) One of the facilities I visited seemed to me to be in the Goldilocks zone for me. In other words I want to be just like them when I grow up. I have a tentative plan to get into this just on the legal side of "hobby", buying equipment as I can afford to pay cash for the items I need. I hope I will find the project of putting together a working distillery as enjoyable as eventually producing a viable, marketable product will be. I intend to start with a tiny operation with minimal overhead so that I can enjoy playing with my new toy without the immediate and over-arching concern of having to either answer to angel investors or to a bank forcing me into production before I am ready. I am attempting to put together a small system that is capable of excellent tinkering, but can also be ramped up to a certain minimum standard of profitability when/if the need arises. In addition, I'm trying to plan my infrastructure in such a way that as much of my operation is as scalable as possible. As I research the equipment, I am finding that at virtually every step of the process there is a potential bottleneck that I may regret getting stuck in at some point in the future. What I'm hoping others on this forum can do is help me with deciding which bottlenecks are the most annoying or expensive to address down the road, and which can be more easily taken in stride. For example, 1.) Mash tun - Purchasing a small-ish mash tun would save quite a bit of money up front, but is ultimately decisive when considering total theoretical output. 2. ) Fermentation tanks - My first thought is that I should purchase fermentation tank(s) large enough that each tank volume is equal to the largest volume boiler I can imagine ever using for a stripping run. On the other hand, you can always add more fermentation tanks later if you have the space. 3.) Chiller/Heat exchanger - Initially I had really hoped to avoid the expense of these items for my phase one "hobby" set up, but I am afraid that if I do not at least pay some attention to the infrastructure requirements, having to add them down the road as an upgrade will be more costly and troublesome than if I had just ponied up the dough in the beginning. 4.) Infrastructure - I don't want to find out down the road that I need to rip out my slab because I didn't install the right diameter drain pipes or whatever. I have admittedly spent less time on studying this topic than many others. 5.) Still - The funny thing is, the longer I research this topic the less important the size of my initial still seems to be. I assume that no matter what I buy first, I will eventually be getting something bigger, better, faster. I'm sorta leaning towards a small still (50-100 gallons at the most) with the assumption that it will eventually be used for test batches or specialty items. If this sounds nuts, please let me know. These are just examples of things that have occurred to me. Please add anything you consider to be a major bottleneck that needs to be carefully considered. I am currently running a small business that is successfully supporting my family and several members of my extended family. I have access to trainable labor resources that can be repurposed to help run a distillery at any production schedule up to full 2-shift operation. I already have a 60' x 40' x 16' building that can be converted to this purpose. I do not expect to have to expand out of that size facility. Presumably, if I ever truly need to build another, or a larger space, I will be in a whole different ball game by then. I already have plans in place to attend a couple of the distilling training schools that are available. I realize that my research into this idea is in it's infancy. Any input at all that will help me direct my attention to the most important aspects of the process is welcome. Even, especially if, you think starting with an extremely small operation is a horrible idea, I want to hear from you. Thanks in advance, and I apologize if you feel this post falls into the category of asking too broad a question. I know people hate that "do my homework for me" vibe.
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