Ironworks Distillery

The product tends to be room temperature, it is sitting in the same room as it is bottled in, normally about 20 C. The condensation appears shortly after bottling in the neck of the bottle. The store room is also about 20 C, no different from the store or bottling room. We work in these spaces so the temp does not vary hugely, though in winter the building does get a bit cooler at night.

We continue to be plagued by condensation in our bottles after filling/sealing. Elsewhere in this forum the suggestion was made to let the diluted spirit sit overnight before bottling. This does not seem to work well enough, we still get condensation even after letting it sit longer. Any other thoughts on how to solve the problem. Thanks!

Here at Ironworks in Nova Scotia, we chose to go with a still from Muller (http://www.brennereianlagen.de/)that is fired with wood. When we first heard of this equipment we were quite skeptical but further research plus a visit to a nearby winery which had one up and running convinced us. The fire box is high efficiency and heats a 200+ liter water jacket. The pot that we had them make for us is quite small - 210 liters so the whole unit takes approximately 4 hours for the first run of the day. Thereafter the subsequent runs of the day take only about an hour and a half. Once the fire is going well, it only requires feeding every half hour or so, a couple of good sized logs do the trick. We use it to do our stripping runs for vodka as well as make our rum and various fruit eaux-de-vie. Regulating the heat is not as difficult as you'd think. Much like cooking on a wood stove you quickly learn how to make the fire spread appropriately and there are various dampers to help with the air flow. We live in an area that is rich in firewood as many people use it to heat their homes in winter and woodlots are bountiful so access to good quality fuel is easy. The cost is less than propane or electrical. Another factor for us was the fact that we have our distillery in an old blacksmith shop so the theatricality of adding a wood burning element into the shop / tasting room environment is a plus for the visitors' experience. I suppose the downside might be the wrangling of the wood itself - it's messy and a definite workout. This system isn't for everyone but we absolutely love it and recommend it highly.(Even the fire marshall approved!).

We make several liqueurs here using the local berries; cranberry, blueberry are the main ones - both are selling very well. We also have blackberry and arctic kiwi liqueurs coming ready in the new year. We use no ascorbic acid at all, keeping the sugar to a bare minimum and thus far we have no colour issues whatsoever. We package in clear glass but suggest to our customers that once they open the bottle they keep the liqueurs away from light. Seems to work.

After skulking about on this forum, learning much from the previous posts, it's time to join officially as Nova Scotia's newest craft venture, IRONWORKS DISTILLERY. We've just completed our first summer season after opening our distillery in a building that housed Lunenburg's marine blacksmith from 1880 until circa 2003 . Exciting and exhausting simultaneously, we met with almost universally positive responses from our visitors - both local and tourist. As the season winds down, we are about to bottle our first barrel of rum, which has been aging in a corner of the shop for the past year. All goes well so far - so much more research to be done but glad to be here.Cheers Lynne & Pierre Ironworks Distillery Lunenburg NS