DrewKulsveen

We are replacing this with a 500hp boiler next month. We are asking $45,000 for the boiler and DA. Runs like a champ, we just need more steam. 200hp, 6900#/hr (6,696,000 btu/hr) Sellers Engineering (now Green Boiler) 150psig ASME 3 pass Wetback design, 4:1 turndown ratio setup for natural gas or #2 oil. Produced in 2005 and put into service in January 2012. We will have this operational until the end of May if you wanted to stop by and see it running in person. Available for shipment mid-June. Delivery not included. Please contact me for further details or questions drew@willettdistillery.com

Georgia may not have a specific law regarding registration or possession of a still, but rather require that you to have a state permit which they won't issue until you have your federal permit. You can find the regulation by searching 27CFR 29.55 regarding the registration requirements.

There's a couple of ways you could do this without straining the mash. The hard way--Get a wooden paddle and stir the mash until it heats up enough to start agitating itself. The easy way--buy an agitator that will stir the solids for you. If your still doesn't have a blind flange where it can mount to you can either have someone add one or buy a clamp on style agitator that will mount to the manway. For straining the mash you could put a mesh screen in the bottom of your fermenter where liquid could travel through but not the solids and pump out of the bottom of your fermenter. If you chose this route you may have to get a paddle to move the solids around when they start to inhibit the liquid flow so that the liquid can pass through.

I wouldn't use the color red either as they apparently own the color. Trust me, you'll definitely get a letter. We used to use red for a customer of ours a few years back, no tendrils, and he received a letter.

Ditto Chuck

You might want to check on the legality of charging for tastings. Here in Kentucky it is illegal as I am sure it is in other states.

Carbon filtering doesn't have to be done at room temperature, but nonetheless I would not recommend using carbon. If used in the wrong manner you will strip out color and more importantly flavor.

We've never had an issue with this as we've never bottled anything that young, it was just my interpretation. I don't see how it could legally stand up in court if someone chose to challenge it. I don't think it was intended to protect the revenue as it even goes to state that if it's bottled in KY and less than 1 year you can't call it KY Bourbon, it must have been a preventative measure for product less than one year hitting the market and keeping people out of the business who conformed to the extreme minimum quality standards, since technically it is bourbon (designate) once it hits the wood, the other part of the regulation regarding the taste and characteristics commonly associated with bourbon could have been challenged. How long it has to be in wood is up to the producer, except here in KY.

Very obscure statue which has always posed the following. -If bottled less than one year old you can not call it Kentucky Bourbon, if you do they will revoke your permit. Even though it meets the Federal Regulations for Bourbon and by Federal Regulations you are required to claim the state of distillation whether or not if it is in the address (i.e. It can be stated Kentucky Bourbon by the Feds but not by KY it MUST state Distilled in Kentucky and Bottled by...

Send me an email and I'll send it to you.

I do agree that there may be some potential marketing advantages of doing this but unless he's a famous moonshiner I doubt that having an old recipe will do you any good, especially if he isn't the one who will be in the market to whom people can preach about it. And what gaurantees do you have that this is a real recipe and not something made up to earn a quick buck?

Denver Distiller is correct. It is a local issue in most places, but here in KY it is both local and state. Our codes require explosion proof motors, lighting, switches, etc. at a distance of 25 feet or less to any vessel or apparatus that holds or processes alcohol. Your electrical engineers should know your codes off the top of their head, if not, run, and find someone else.

Is the boiler low pressure steam? If so, a jacket would be the most practical. If it is high pressure, I would put coils in the still since the advantage of high pressure steam is reduced heating time. Cleaning may be a little more difficult with coils, but then again, I would never put mash with solids in a pot still. If you have high pressure steam and want to do a jacket you will need a pressure reducing valve to turn down the steam pressure.

The heads and tails can be recycled, you don't have to sell them or send them down the drain. It is pretty common to add them to your fermenter just prior to distilling.

As long as your distillate is below 90F you should be in good shape. The only real need for a chiller is to cool your mash for fermentation. You can reference the gauging manual for temperature correction for your hydrometers.

We take everything down to 20F. You need a turbidity meter to check the clarity. We don't accept anything above .600 NTUs.

You can add your heads & tails to the fermenter just prior to entering the still.

All of our tanks have air spargers in them. We only need to agitate for a minute or two. As far as dilution goes, we use a pretty simple formula. Here's an example. The volume needs to be corrected for temperature variance by referencing table 7 in the gauging manual prior to reduction. Pre-diluted spirit proof=130. Wine gallons=500. To get down to 80 proof multiply your wine gallons by your proof (500x130%). This is your total proof gallons(650). Divide your total proof gallons by your desired bottling proof (650/80%). This will give you your total volume (812.5). Subtract the total volume by your original volume (812.5-500). This is the total volume of water that needs to be added in order to achieve your desired bottling strength (312.5). Our tanks have flow meters on the water lines which totalize the water added and volumetric gauges on the side walls. We always set our tanks a tenth or two high since we use a vacuum filler and we lose a couple of tenths proof when filling.

We gauge and bottle at temperatures close to ambient. On hot days we make sure that the bottling tanks are around 80F so that condensation doesn't form on the bottles and cause labeling issues. When it is cold we bottle around 65F. You need to correct your wine gallons based on the correction factor in table 7 of the gauging manual if you gauge by volume. Prior to bottling you should weigh your containers and tare them out. For 750mls you weigh and tare 5 bottles. Fill the bottles and check the weight of the product based on the alcohol content you are bottling and reference table 5. You will need to multiply the weight per wine gallon by .990645 to equal the 5 bottles since 5 bottles equals .990645 wine gallons. Adjust the fill by adding or removing product until you get to the correct weight. Even the fill between the bottles and that will be your fill height.

We use sparkler filters out of TX. We have 4 of them, one that dates back to the 1950s that we use on a daily basis.

Try McMaster-Carr www.mcmaster.com, they have build your own floor scales that are very accurate.

We have been using wax for over 25 years. Here are a few tips from our experience. 1. The two burner electric elements work best and they are cheap. 2. Don't buy pots that are too big, the wax will take forever to reach the ideal sealing temperature. 3. Heat the wax on medium heat until it starts to melt. It usually takes 30+ minutes depending on the type of wax you are using. If it gets too hot it will smoke and will become very runny. 4. As far as air bubbles go, use a paper clip or the like and pop them. Don't worry about a small spot that may have a void of wax. If you have a paint stir stick they work great for stirring the wax and also to fill those voids if you are quick enough to do so. 5. Dip the bottle only once! Hold the bottle on an angle so that it runs off of one side. 6. It shouldn't take you more than 10-15 seconds for the dripping to slow down. Once it does, give it a quick twist and bring the bottle upright. You should also at this time try to get any excess wax to run to the center of the cap. For instance, if you twist the bottle upward and the wax is to one side try to get it to run to the center of the bottle. 7. This I believe is the most important and most of you are unaware, but have a small bucket or pot of cold water handy. Once you are finished dipping, dip the bottle in the cold water for a few seconds (3-4) to get the wax cooled down. It will also make it shine a lot more. Drew Kulsveen Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, Ltd. 1869 Loretto Road Bardstown, KY 40004