sweetT14

I am introducing my idea of a distillery to my city and trying to get the green light to set up shop just a couple hundred yards from a pernod-ricard bottling plant. Not sure why I want to do it. I guess it is just sort of a motivation for me. Gives me a goal. I want to be better than those guys across the street. lol

When you all approached your city and told them your ideas, did you provide any type of monetary numbers, such as the type of revenue you plan to bring in, the taxes they will gain from it, jobs that you created... etc. or did you simply state what you were producing, how you were producing it, and what you needed to do in order to satisfy all requirements? This is my next step, but I am having trouble with how in depth I need to go or how much information I need to disclose.

I love so much the kiss French

sorry Dehner, do you recommend throttling back on the heat when the pressure drops? I have found, it takes a bit extra to get it flowing, but once the pressure evens out, I have to throttle back just a bit to keep it from running too hot and too fast. That way It comes out higher

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I gotcha, I was under the impression that it produced a chocolate like flavor, which I assumed was the reason you were using it, which is the reason I brought up chocolate. My mistake... Laugh if you must, I deserve it...

I realize yall were talking about malted barley, I was just curious why you didn't just use a consumer type chocolate instead, seems it would be cheaper but, 1. If its definitely a specialty malt whiskey that you are making then I can understand that, 2. I guess you answered my question. Its probably better to flavor after fermentation and distillation when not using a specialty malt since there are more efficient ways and fermenting on consumer type chocolate could produce off flavors but you cannot say from experience. Thanks for commenting to the "the best post of the year". Just trying to learn

I am really interested in this topic, and it has been very eye opening thus far... I have one question though, is it a must to use a malt chocolate as opposed to, lets say, store bought chocolate. I mean what are the faults with just melting down a chocolate bar and adding it to your mash? You can buy a 5 gallon bucket worth of chocolate icing like bakeries use and it would have fermentable sugars. I imagine you could buy it fairly cheap by the 5 gallon. Just curious...

I also read that corn will produce more of a burn than say rye, but the distillery I visited was mashing with corn and bottling at 125 proof, and was unbelievably smooth, No burn whatsoever. I have to learn his trick!

Sounds like a good learning experiment. Thanks sweeet

What about using IBC tanks for catching the distillate and to store for a few days before bottling? I have read some people say it is ok, and others say that the higher proof spirits will dissolve the plastic. I know ethanol is a solvent but if the IBC tank is food grade it should be safe right?

Good info Dan. I understand I need to be well versed in distillation knowledge before I begin, that is why I am on this forum talking with the knowledgeable people like yourself. No pun intended. I have already learned more than I expected to in the short amount of time I have been on here. Thanks

Awesome Pano! that's good info. I am going to combine all of these suggestions on my next run and see how it turns out. Sweeet

Yes Dan I agree, sorry I shouldn't just throw around the term Pot Still for everything.

wont that remove the flavor. I know It would make it smooth, but I would lose a lot of flavor also right? hence vodka has the dickens distilled out of it. Yeah it has a hint of flavor, but no where near the flavor Im looking for. I guess I will have to go back to this guys dsp and try to get some more info on how he achieves his results. I thought he said he runs in one time with his 5 plate 250 gallon, but I need to get some more detail out of him if I can.

Found this on a past thread. It makes sense to me...

I agree Dan, and I shouldn't use the term "pot still" so lightly. If it has a column, it shouldn't be called a pot still. I should refer to it as a column still, hybrid, or whatnot.

Ok, lets say flavor isn't an issue. Which still process will produce a shine that is less harsh? That's my problem right now, I get tons of flavor but my drink has a bad burn to it at 130 proof. I have cut it to 105 proof but still has the burn. That is one run with a copper pot. I know if I distill it a second time it will ease up but I will lose some flavor in the process. If I do one run with plates wont it keep a lot of flavor, be less harsh, and clean the taste?

Perfect! thanks that's exactly what I needed to know. I thought that was the deal but needed confirmation. sweeet

I am looking into a 200 gallon steam jacket still with a 4 plate column, but in trying to keep my startup expense low, I wanted to compare it with a 200 gallon steam jacket pot still. If I can do without the 4 plate column and substitute labor for cost, then that is what I want to do. I am looking for tons of grain flavor rather than high proof, pure, tasteless vodka. I visited a distillery that was using a 5 plate column and their shine was the smoothest I have tasted yet. No burn, and tons of flavor. My questions are... Can I achieve that extremely smooth and full flavor shine by distilling twice on a regular pot still, as I can by distilling once in a 5 plate column still? what are the tradeoffs of running these different types of stills?

Well I can see his point.... I see it like the craft distilling industry would benefit from using pot stills only. To keep the flavor, since craft distilling should be about Flavor, just like craft beer is. How is your whiskey going to stand out from the big dogs if you are distilling all the flavor away and aging it in barrels just like them. I feel a pot still with a few plates is just enough for a craft distiller but that's just my opinion.

I may need to try a column still then. I've always thought column stills were for vodka, to get the neutral taste. like the more plates the higher proof and less taste, but vodka is very smooth. So the art of craft distilling has to be finding that happy medium between losing taste and creating a smooth cleaner product.

Thanks guys! All of that makes perfect sense to me, and has pushed me in the direction that I was needing to go in regards to "What do I research?". I know the business side of the start up will be tough but I run several small businesses now, so I think I can handle that side of it. But I was working with only one light bulb when it comes to distilling whiskey, and ya'll have turned on a lot more light bulbs for me, so seriously thank you!

With that being said, why would someone run a pot still for a stripping run, and then use a column still with multiple plates for their spirit run. Is it simply preference? Also, everyone says these multiple plate columns allow for easier separation between heads, hearts, and tails. I have no experience with a column still, but by looking at designs Im assuming the heavier chemical liquids (unwanted product) condense out of the distillation process at each plate, causing only the ethanol to run through the main condenser into finish product. Am I right in thinking that? Sorry I know I sound very amateur but all the websites and research I have done doesn't fully explain the process of the column stills. And I only have experience with pot stills.

I can analyze chromatographs also. I work as a chemist now but unfortunately I cannot use the labs HPLC or GC for anything non-work related. I would bet you are correct Valerii but what would cause the organic compounds to be in the alcohol. My distillation technique must have error, correct?? That is the trouble I'm having. I do not want to lose the flavor produced by running a single run through a pot still but I need to find a happy medium for refining my distillation technique to increase separation between other organics and the ethanol. I think that is just it though, removing the organics from the alcohol is essentially removing the organic compounds that give flavor also. This must be where the art of distilling whiskey comes into play...