Scrounge

Thanks Aaron , i cant take any credit for how fast it went, but if anyone needs an affordable consultant to make the process go smooth, the guy I used did a great job. The TTB specialist assigned my app sent me one e-mail, to say that I did an "OUTSTANDING" job and that she recommended it for approval. She even wrote it just like that. So if anyone needs a guy,hollar at me! Woulda been even faster without the holidays too!

Just got mine today as well! App was accepted on Dec 3, and approved Jan 8. What is that 36 days? I'm to excited to count!!!!! Yeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaw!!!

Its stainless jacket used to be an engine? The stainless jacket is run by an engine? Ill figure it out.

That sounds like a lot of moving?

Hmmm. Surprised they won't allow in commercial zoning. My county is just, lumping it in with "winery and related businesses" which are allowed in every zoning down to "residential 5 ac minimum". But I live in CA wine country, and am lucking out with my local officials just thinking its cool, and not giving me much grief at all. Good luck to you! An agricultural minded area seems to be a good bet with this kind of business. Scrounge

Perty easy to have a cool down tank that you can pump the hot stuff into, get another run going, dump em both in the morning. Just a little floor space is all that's needed. Anybody ever look at PVC or abs's resistance to caustics? Not so good!

I think you are right. Think I got mixed up with a local zoning issue I'm dealing with about products grown on my parcel versus grown elsewhere, and my locals making me file for a non-permitted use if I use grain/fruit not grown on my parcel. Lots of legal mumbojumbo this last year trying to build a distillery and all. It's all mushing together. Sorry if I misspoke on that. Could always just call the state and ask, to be sure. There's a guy near me selling his brandy out of his tasting room, but he's on 100 acres or so of apples, so I guess that doesn't help answer the question either. Scrounge

You can build a fermentation room and heat that instead of the whole building. A nice insulated room, wouldn't take much once your ferments are rolling and putting of there own heat. Scrounge

Thanks Aaron! Happy Thanksgivings to you and yours today as well. Your a genuinely nice guy yourself, enjoy your holiday, and thanks again !!! Scrounge

I personally wouldn't pump to waste cooling water, but I live in the middle of a serious drought. Still that's a seriously wasteful way to go about it. Unless your irrigating from that well anyways? i think you could easily do the underground piping/reservoir tank idea( with some real good planing) for cooling water on the still. My set up is above ground 3k gallon tank for still cooling, and I'm not worried about that. I have cool enough nights even in summer here though. I think the one issue you really need to get down to the #s on would be mash cooling (like MG Thermal mentioned) you need to reliably cool that mash in a reasonable amount of time to pich yeast and not be worried about anything wild getting started first. Would suck to loose ferms on occasion to lack of that ability. I suppose if that was happening you'd get motivated to go the chiller route. I like your ideas, and would love to here more as you progress on this. I've got lots of ideas on reclaiming heat at my place too.

You must have your own backhoe, and lots of spare time for trial and error.Otherwise I'd go with the chiller.

You might have trouble with the barn thing as far as security goes though, depending on how awesome your barn is.

You don't have to deed it. Just lease it to the LLC. Save yourself the hasle and $ of subdividing. Read the reg again, as long as it is well separated your fine. Can't be attached. The more clearly separated the better. Also call the Ttb and describe your layout to them for a more definitive answer. Scrounge

James- " Theoretically, you design a system where the liquid needed to load the trays exceeds the volume of alcohol in the boiler." Is that how you meant to say that? If I needed more liquid than I had, I would never get my trays loaded. My brain might not be working properly yet? Or it might be working fine, one never really knows. Scrounge

You make an interesting point there, Hedgebird.

You could probably get the 95% with 6 plates, depending on exactly how your still runs. It's gonna be coming off very very slow though. Your product is not going to be very "neutral" though. To get to a good quality vodka product, you would need to run it several times, taking up lots of your time and $. You don't want a vodka to taste like young whiskey. The point of a large column with many plates is to achieve a neutral, quality distillate, in a single pass, in an manner that is manageable, time and resource wise. (After u pay for that tower of a still that is) Vodka=clean 6plates=not clean enough. Of course don't let me tell you what you can or can't do! If your trying to make an easy vodka, you could just charcoal filter and proof some NGS, but then you'd have a product just like most of the other vodkas on the shelf at my local liquor stop. Not to original or exciting. If you wanna make a quality vodka from grain, you need a lot of plates. Just my opinion though. Scrounge

Double check on that, I could be mistaken? But I think that's the deal.

You got it right. You can retail brandy if your a distiller and the fruit was grown and processed on your parcel. Has to be your fruit, from my understanding. And yes, no other direct sales. Scrounge

He's been doing some consultation for me, and ill be buying some fermenters from him in just a bit. I like his mash tun design with 2 separate jackets for heating/cooling. Anyhow, if you have any questions, you should give him a call so he can answer them. He has equipment in service, and I'm sure can provide references. Also is an active member of this forum. He just doesn't seem to be the type to self promote at every hat drop. Modest I think they call it. Dudes no dumbass, give him a call and you'll see. Scrounge

Check out corsondistilling.com. Super nice guy, does what he says he does.

Like a tube in tube heat exchanger, with a mega element in it.

The system they quoted me is there element with an optional protective sheath depending on what your heating, mounted in a tube, with water in and water out. Simple turn key. Just need a pump, and u loop your water out of an insulated tank, thought the heater, back into tank, thermocoupler and little set point controller telling it what to do until it gets where u want it. No welding, just simple plumbing. Minimal floor space required. Sounds easy breezy! Hmmmmm. Scrounge

Hey James. You are correct. I meant 275amp 220v. They make immersion elements up to 650 kw, but 3 phase im sure at that big Check em out Wattco Do the math for a boil time at 275amp 220v, I don't know how to do that, but the tech at Wattco did it and told me that size system would be real close. I have a 400amp commercial panel, so that's not a problem, even with running whatever else I need( pumps,etc ). It's not hard to wire appliances that big. I have a glass melting furnace in that size range, runs 24/7 last 8 yrs straight. Big wire, big breaker. Aluminum wire at that size to keep cost down. I'm not an electrical engineer, that's why I hire one if I need one, but the guys at Wattco crunched the #s and quoted me that. I don't know how to convert amps/volts/ to btu, but if you wouldn't mind running those #s again I'd love to see if he was close. I was/am really thinking of using one of these for mashing. Check out there web site. Sorry for the 275 watt typo up there hahahahgagag, that certainly wouldn't do it. Scrounge

Just looked em back up. WattCo in-line heaters, check em out

I'm also rural and propane or 1p electricity is what I've got to work with as well. There is one more option I know of that you haven't listed. It's basically an element in a tube that you pump the fluid your trying to heat through, or you could use it as a closed loop system to heat glycol or similar and pump through a jacketed vessel. I believe they're called recirculating heaters, and I believe WattCo? was the company I spoke with about there's. there tech ran the #'s and said a 275w 220v version would get my 300g to boil in an hour. I posted on here 6-8 months ago(try searching recirculating heater) about them and received some opinions, mostly that it was a good idea, and that they're used commonly in Canada for beer making. That unit with a computer controller was around 7k$ A lot better than a steam boiler($), perhaps just a little slower? Ill be looking back into this in a few months for my mashing needs. Also it was not a big unit, pump and tube with an element in it on a stand with a little computer. I think it was Natrat who tossed out the idea of having it tied in with a tank on the roof using solar preheating and the element would just finish it off after that heat was exchanged. I really liked that idea. Cheaper than steam boiler, more versatile too. Could be used for temp control on fermenters too, or? Scrounge