Absinthe Pete

Uh, the spider comment was supposed to be a funny.

It all depends on the building and fire code where your business is. Call the building office and the fire chief. Stillwater Distillery in Petaluma has a dedicated fire rated boiler room, they had to get it by the city.

CIP doesn't need to be explosion proof unless you have open barrels near by with vapors seeping out, which you shouldn't anyway. By the time the still is drained you don't need an explosion proof motor. I would use an electric pump for CIP. CIP Pumps are specialized as I said before to handle heat and have the right amount of pressure and flow.

You really don't want to ever use inline oilers. For one most diaphragm pumps use a special lubricant that you only need to use once or twice a year. Second inline oilers will make oil spit out of your exhaust on any air device you use and you DO NOT WANT aerosolized oil spraying around your liquor. What you want to do is use a very good water filter/water separator for your compressor so it doesn't spit water either. If you use an inline oiler you'll never be able to use that air hose for blowing things off as there will now be oil in it. Every air device can be manually oiled and there are very few modern air devices that need constant oiling, certainly nothing in this field.

Yes, it can be. But when you buy something used you want to take it apart and make sure every surface is clean and free of contaminants. Once it's at that stage just run some water through it to clean it. Teflon cleans pretty easy.

I don't think so they don't have enough pressure or volume. CIP pumps are specialized so they can handle heat and are extremely powerful. You could use a modified pressure washer.

Lots of questions lately about pumps. My new years present to you all is some info. First off diaphragm pumps are recommended because they are explosion proof. Getting an explosion proof electric motor is expensive. Diaphragms are too if buying new. Next plastic pumps are fine if they are made out of ethanol tolerant material, most are. The only problem is the type of hose you have to use with ethanol is usually PP or PE and that is very stiff hose. So you'll have to use plastic threaded/barbs for the pump so they break, and they will break, instead of the pump body. Here's my present. EBAY PEOPLE!!!!!! EBAY!!!!! You can find 3/4" Diaphragm pumps Stainless Housing and Teflon Diaphragms for $300-$500. These are rebuildable. That means you buy if for cheap open it up and wash everything put it back together, add lube if it's required (on the air end of course) and pump till the cows come home.

Are you talking about the bottle washer? If so it looks custom made as the Stainless Steel Pan it's in is a steam tray pan.

We compensate for that, but yes we drain it.

Why air, we use water to thorough rinse a bottle out. Not saying one is better just curious. I kind of like water knowing that I can see it get every crevice. P.S. The bottle sparger is for wine bottles to purge the oxygen in it to prevent oxidation in wine. Not that it can be used for your purpose too.

Surprise? I wonder. See if you can find out why you had a 'surprise inspection' if they tell you because someone complained or called it in then you know it's your neighbor. If that is the case I would go over there politely and have a frank conversation. Something along the lines of "I asked before moving if a distillery would bother you and you said no" "this is an industrial complex, I mean if someone moved in next door grinding metal all day long, loudly, you would probably not like that either, but this is not residential it's commercial business property", finally "this is my lively hood if you continue to pull this kind of stuff I will be forced to retaliate with my lawyer"

Well if you asked him and if its an industrial complex I wouldn't worry. First off it's industrial commercial space, two just cause someone is in recovery doesn't mean the rest of the world can't drink. Lastly I don't think fermentation smells that bad it's not like its manure farm.

First off, I have no idea what a liter is I live in the USA, I know what a gallon is so that may be your problem. Just kidding. All joking aside. What type of space are you in, I assume it's a business type of area and not a converted home next to another home? What type of business does he run next door if he is running a business? Next did he move in next to you or did you move in next to him? Any pictures of the space from the outside?

I get my bottles from bottle manufacturers. Oddly when you try to buy bottles from cheese manufacturers they look at you weird. I get mine from Bruni Glass. Saver and United Bottles are also pretty popular.

That seems about the same. Not sure about the discount as I've only ever ordered one pallet at a time. For custom bottles what I've heard is if you order 30,000 then the mold is free and the bottles comes out to about $1 each.

Cool still. What did that cost ya? If you don't want to say no problem.

Here's my thought. I wouldn't run it with oil in a compressor for a few different reasons. So air that goes into a diaphragm pump does not come in contact directly with what it's pumping BUT the air coming out of the pump will aspirate anything that's in the air line. For example we have lots of water in our air at my distillery so when the diaphragm pump is running, water is spitting all over the place, not good we are working on getting a better water separator. This bad because if we don't cover the exhaust on the pump that aspirated (dirty) water will get in the containers we are pumping from. If you compressor line has oil in it that will turn to a fine mist and possibly get in the air and probably your open top containers. Also most diaphragm pumps have to lubricated a few times a year with special lubricant from the air side so the oil in your compressor might harm the pump, not sure, but it's possible. Since the tenant left it, is it yours to do with what you like? If so sell it on Craigslist and get a modern oil free compressor.

What he said. If you already have a chiller it's not that hard to add a flexible line, such as corrugated stainless steel to create a cooling snake. http://morewinemaking.com/view_product/6800/103259/Cooling_Snake_-_80_Meters Also you'll want to use a system that has a temperature probe as well and use the chiller/heater all the time if you plan on making consistent tasting batches all the time. The more you are able to keep the wash the same as every other batch the more likely you are to make consistent tasting batches and temperature is one of the most important. What kind of wash are you making and are you sour mashing it?

Not to undermine Panoscape's actually expertise and numbers, but I've been told by some marketers that they are already passe and the trend is over. Just my opinion. Also what Panoscape says is true what do you want it to do? If you put that on then you might not have room for a real web address and the people who don't scan it might not ever look you up.

LOL who doesn't!!! Rye is very foamy. There are some tricks that can help. There is no problem using anti foam. I use about 3-4 liquid ounces per 160 gallons of 8% wash. I then set my agitator to a pretty fast speed. If that doesn't work I would suggest a control for your electricity that can regulate how much electricity is used and not cut the power, because then you'll get surging and your batch won't be consistent. That doesn't matter too much as hopefully you're doing stripping runs. I don't know what you're using for heating and what kind of power levels but one of the cheapest ways is to buy a variac. If you're not sure how they work PM me and we can talk. Here is a link to ebay that shows what a variac is. http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-AMP-110V-VARIAC-AUTOTRANSFORMER-VOLTAGE-REGULATOR-POWERSTAT-0-130V-OUTPUT-NEW-/380453842256?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5894d0ed50

Don't forget you're state excise tax. Here in California it's grouped into brackets. I pay $0.66 times two because my absinthe is 136 proof. I think 40% would be just $0.66. Check your state.

@Palouse, Thanks. @Panoscape, sorry can't divulge trade secrets.

Thanks for all the thanks. Absinthe doesn't technically need to be aged, but there are some tricks they used over a century ago to help the mellowing process along. Since I've got that show coming up at the end of the week I'm bottling a limited run of my gin as well. Bottling that today. I'll be posting some pics of the finished product when I get a moment today or tomorrow.

Well today we successfully bottled our first product Absinthe. It's been a long road and I'm glad I finally have a product. Thank god that there is a Craft Spirits Carnival here in San Francisco this coming weekend at Fort Mason where there will be a retailer and we can actually sell on site. Check us out raffdistillerie.com. Nothing special yet on the website we really need to get someone to build me a better one as I have no time for that creative touch right now.

Sorry couldn't resist.