BWFiggins

Welcome, Steve! I have been offered an heirloom variety of plums from this year's harvest off of 40-year-old trees, and I am hoping to make a first-rate slivovitz. Here's to great success with your project, and be sure to trade thoughts with the group any time you need an ear! All the best, Rusty

A sample petition, as entered this morning: Name Affiliation Street Address City, State, ZIP Code Dear Sir/Madam; This petitioner objects to the phrase Artisan Distilling Workshop being granted trademark protection. On the grounds that the phrase Artisan Distilling Workshop is such a generic term, and that if protected use is awarded to the applicant, it would preclude others, already engaged in offering similar educational programs, from using the phrase in printed material or even in the course of spoken promotional activities. I personally know of a shortcourse called the Artisan Craft Distilling Workshop, offered by Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington. I believe that because the coursework has become identified by this title, removing the college's right to use the phrase would only serve to create antagonism and demonstrate ill-will amongst industry colleagues whose interests would otherwise be to offer educational opportunities ahead of financial gain. Protecting one's commercial interests is a fundamental right that is shared by all, but this petitioner respectfully takes exception to the generic phrase Artisan Distilling Workshop being for the sole use of one individual. Thank you for your kind attention, //s// Name e-mail Address

Perfect! Yes this is quite allowable provided that your DSP is adjacent to the brewery in question. Mine is, but it is still not permitted in my case, because in certain states, like mine, bulk beer transfers are not permitted. This is just fine for me, because I purchase the custom-produced wort, and then I monitor the fermentation myself, the way I prefer to handle it anyway. All the best, Rusty

Rum is not an infusion of flavours into beverage-grade alcohol. If you wish to make it taste like it wasn't infused in the kitchen, you had better not infuse it in the kitchen. Daniel, please find your answer at a hobbyist site (spirits production is legal as a hobby in New Zealand), because there are only commercial producers on this forum, who cannot be seen condoning your activity.

Dear Marie-France; You may not be aware of this, but since 1986 in the United States, spirits may not be packaged in 500 ml bottles. You would do well to market this bottle to wineries for its use in Port-style wines. Bon Chance! Rusty

Hi Coop, For comparison's sake, four outfits carry what you are looking for: Napa Fermentation Supply The Compleat Winemaker G.W. Kent St Pat's of Texas All the best, Rusty

Hi Louis, There is another resource for you at this link: http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usfeatures/maltwhisky/spiritsafe.html Possibly the only shop capable of producing a spirit safe in the United States would be Vendome Copper and Brass Works in Louisville, Kentucky: http://vendomecopper.com/ Pictures of their spirit saves can be found on that site's photo gallery under "tail boxes," as this what a spirit safe is called in the U.S. industry. If you ever come across a used spirit safe that is perhaps for sale, please let us know! All the very best, Rusty

Hi Jim, The state of Washington allows those privileges to businesses classed as 'Craft Distilleries' and we hope that you can get the same permission. All the best, Rusty

Try using caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) then follow it with the citric acid. If caustic soda is undesirable, then a more gentle soda ash (sodium carbonate) can be used before your final citric acid rinse. The citric acid completely neutralises any residual caustic soda or soda ash.

Try "The North Woods Distillery" complete with "The" and I'll bet you'll be where you want to be.

Dear HootchBitch (can I get to know you?) Here is the truth as I know it: A bonded winery may chaptalise apple juice to make apple wine or hard apple cider (once called simply 'cider'), if that is to be the final product. However, a distillery may not distil this if it is desired to label the resultant product as 'apple brandy.' As sugar is a component of the chaptalised product, the resultant spirit made from this combined product is part rum and part fruit brandy and would then be, from a TTB labelling perspective, no more than just "Class A Spirits." In other words, if you are indeed making your base product, apple wine, with added sugar, it is permissible to distil it, but you can't call it 'apple brandy.' Here is a tip (no cover charge any time): Make your base apple wine with the apples that you have lovingly pressed, but instead of adding sugar (jokingly referred to as 'C & H fining'), add apple juice concentrate to 26 degrees Brix. In this way, you can retain the all-apple requirement for apple brandy and you can achieve a higher potential alcohol to maximise distillation efficiency. All the very best, Rusty

Hi, Vokurka! I have a winning design for you. It is 580 gallons in volume, and is all-electric. It is agitated with compressed air. It is a combination mash cooker / lauter tun / fermenter, and can be employed in such a way if the user wants to ferment on the grains. It draws 150 amps for rapid heat-up (2 hours) and then only 50 amps during your cooking cycle. It has three removable panels in the false bottom, and is easy to clean. It is all-stainless steel, and can be moved with a pallet jack. Please contact Dynamic Alambic Smiths & Artisans for a formal quote! All the best,

Great talking with you on the phone today, and thank you for thinking about us here in the PNW! All the very best, Rusty

Brandon, it's spelled distillery, and money can be made from owning one only after you sink considerable amounts of time, energy and cash sourced from your pocket and that of others. Along the way, you or someone else in the organization (or someone that you hire) will need to become an electrician, a steam-fitter, a metallurgist, a process engineer, a mathematician, a legal compliance expert, a talented distiller, a master blender, a skilled market strategist, a tireless salesman, oh, and much less important, a perfect speller. Most people who embark upon the foolish notion of distilling are compelled to do so because it is in their gut, and it just won't go away. It will start as a highly interesting and very expensive sideline that may not provide a paying job for you for several months or years to come. Keep at it with determination and make big strides into your market, and if you are a good businessman with a sought-after product, you may have what it takes. To conserve operating capital, some design and build their own distillation equipment, but this is not for everyone. Others might have a ready source of inexpensive but good quality wine to distill. Just be smart about your inputs and don't scrimp on the quality of your outputs. Remember that the public only beats a path to your door in cleverly worded fables. In a world of so many choices, the traits that will give you an edge are charisma, drive, integrity, talent, great brand name(s), product(s) of the highest quality and salesmanship. You will need them all!

If spirits are to be filled into the bottles, are you not rendering them sterile? No need to sanitize bottles that came off the line molten, and hence sterile. Washing will introduce water which will change your ABV. Tell Alaska that they should understand that no bacteria which cause food-borne illnesses can possibly exist within a bottle of spirits.

Dear Chris, Welcome to the Washington distilling industry! Good luck with all the preparations, and if you have any questions, please feel free to call. If any on-going consultation is ever required, there are several resources available to you. All the very best, Rusty

How many more people have been Skorupskied?

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What about direct-immersion electric heating? Has anyone else had any experience with this for low-solids substrates?

It's a topic labelled 'Fire Code.'

Ope! You gave up too soon. Keep on looking and there's one for 40%.

Hello Dave, Go to my profile and check out the attachments that I have posted in the past. One of them is what you are looking for! All the best, Rusty

Thank you for the encouragement, Bill! I have given in to the pressure, and I have signed four new clients in the past four weeks. With the ADI's help and good wishes, I am just trying to spread the good word about high-quality spirits production, and foster new growth amongst our ranks!

Due to great industry demand, a master distiller ~ distillery manager ~ stillsmith who produces spirits at two Washington distilleries now offers consulting services on a project duration or hourly basis: * Graduate Diploma of Distilling (Distinction) from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling; London, England, UK * Certificate in Distillation Science from Ethanol Technology Institute; Milwaukie, Wisconsin, USA * Factory training from Arnold Holstein GmbH; Markdorf, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Please contact The Travelling Stillsmith, Berle W Figgins, Jr, if you are interested in a complimentary assessment of your craft distillery plans. By electronic mail, the address is bwfiggins@gmail.com. Still design and construction, process engineering and control, product development and branding are all areas of particular expertise. If expert advice is what you need, then confidentiality is guaranteed! Contact The Travelling Stillsmith today!