BWFiggins

I live in a country that monopolizes the alcohol production. I can, however, buy pure beverage grade alcohol for roughly $1.75 per liter.

I understand the best time to infuse flavors into rum is during distillation but unfortunately I do not have this option. What would be the procedure to go from pure alcohol to infused rum without it tasting like it was infused in the kitchen.

Daniel

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.

United Bottles & Packaging is presently offering a CLEAR OUT on a 500ml spirit bottle from Saverglass.

As shown in the picture, the glass is antique green acid etched (looks almost black) and has a bar top closure. We presently have 71,000 bottles available in 1176 bottles per pallet in bulk.

We offer a very competitive price of $0,69/bottle in bulk FOB Montreal. The minimum order quantity is 1 pallet of 1176 bottles.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for additional information or samples. You can also see more items on our FaceBook page and if you become a fan you will automatically be updated on new available items.

I am looking forward working with you in a near future.

We thank you for your interest and trust in United Bottles & Packaging.

Have a pleasant day,

Marie-France Pelletier

450-622 1600 #235

marie-france.pelletier@unitedbottles.com

If you want to be a fan of United Bottles & Packaging!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-Bottles-Packaging/183475782233

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!

My name is Louis from Sweden and I collect information and photos of spirit safes on the website

www.glenlochy.com

I have so far gathered photos from spirit safes from 77 destillieries round the world.

If you have photos of spirit safes which you are prepared to share please email me louis.reps@glenlochy.com,

I am also interested in producers of spirit safes in US and the rest of the world.

Many thanks in advance!

Regards

Louis

Stockholm, Sweden

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

Looking to get new legislation passed in Georgia to allow a distillery to operate both a tasting room; and retail product on site. Currently working to change distillery law/guidelines based on current Georgia Farm Winery Act. I need a list of states that currently allow a tasting room and retail sales room. Need this information pretty quick. All help appreciated. Thanks. Jim

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

I have been using Citric acid bath to clean the cooper column. After flushing with water there is a film still on the cooper. What is the best way to get rid of this film.

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.

I have just begun the licensing process to open a distillery. It looks as though I will be Wisconsin’s 7th distillery. I have kicked around so many names for this business, many that I really liked and that so many of my friends hated. I would like your opinion on my current title: “North Woods Spirits”. This area of Wisconsin is often referred to as the North Woods. Please let me know what you think, Thanks.

Hi We are new in this business.. We have been making apple brandy all fall and winter.. It's been very good... does anyone know what the deal is around adding cane sugar to brandy during the fermentation to bump the % .. There are two different types of sugar, are there any rules around whats allowed ... Hoochbitch

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

Hello all,

I'm looking for some cooker options. I need a 500 gallon cooker, steam jacketed or live steam sparger, cooling coils, and an agitator. Can anyone point me in the direction of some quality equipment manufacturers?

Thanks in advance!

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,

I've watched these blogs, and talked to many of you for stories -- which is always enlightening (and often highly entertaining!). Keep plugging along... I'd say the distilling business is a bit like journalism. You've got to do it from the heart. And it is clear that is where so many of you come from. Looking forward to talking to more of you in 2010.

Jenn Garbee, Los Angeles, www.jenngarbee.com

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

All the very best,

Rusty

I'm searching a business opportunity. One of my friend suggested about distillary business. How much can i earn from this annually? What is competition level? Is it logical to start minimum investment? send me your suggestions.

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!

We were wondering what systems people were using to sanitize and dry their bottles before bottling. State of Alaska wants to see our methods for food safety requirements. Thank you.

Bare Distillery, Inc.

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?

???

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

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

It's a topic labelled 'Fire Code.'

Hi Rusty,

thanks for getting back so quick.

All i could find was this attachment http://adiforums.com/index.php?act=attach&...e=post&id=9 which was in fact an MSDS, but it was for 70% spirits. I am looking for 40%.

Any leads on this?

thanks again

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

Hey all,

i was wondering if anyone had a PDF of an MSDS for 80 proof spirits ( gin, vodka, etc).

I have scoured the interweb and have not been able to find it.

any help is much appreciated.

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

Rusty,

A traveling distiller is needed!!

Bill Owens

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!

Just to share with the fine folks here. In today's Seattle Times business section, there is an article discussing the growth of distilleries here in my home state of Washington. The article prominently mentions our distillery, includes some photos of us, and a video of one of Seattle's top cocktail bars louching up a glass of Pacifique. Here is the link:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/busi...alliquor10.html

Way to go, Pacifico!

Congratulations on the fine coverage.

All the best,

Rusty

Washington, too, allows this but only at craft distilleries, and with restrictions on volume. Up to 2 ounces of free samples, and no more than 2 litres per person per day can be sold from the premises.

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
  
• Certificate in Distillation Science from Ethanol Technology Institute
  
• Factory training from Arnold Holstein GmbH
  

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!

I purchase my "parrot" spirit receiver/hydrometer wells from Iberian Copper; six so far. I order them from Portugal on a Sunday evening, the order is filled and I consistently receive these by Wednesday via FedEx Express! David offers great service and has earned my trust!