Vermont Smooth

Got it. Thanks. We have a building abutting the distillery, also radiant, and what your observations point out in addition to the small amount of heat demand the building will have outside of distilling is that when we get our production up we will with a little imagination be able to heat both buildings with the residual heat from our distilling process all the time.

Thanks for the input. As we get set up, we hope to utilize "waste" heat as much as possible. Our system is big enough that at full production our radiant floor heating and hot water preheat won't touch the cooling capacity we need, but by having a tank system that stages 100F water from the condenser loop and likewise an intermediate tank for stillage at 200F we can loop to heat exchangers for the above mentioned purposes. We have a river next to us and lots of 50F ground, but the location is a flood plain so environmental concerns must be addressed and we need a system that will work anytime alternative cooling is not available. It is a work in progress. The latest estimate is for a 30 ton chiller with ice formation between runs to maximize cooling capacity during operation. Also included is a liquid to air heat exchanger for the cold months(we have several!, basically a big radiator outside. Please keep the ideas coming. Is there a place on forums where we might put a summary of equipment we use for heating, cooling, mashing, and of course distilling so that one could find others with similar systems or parts of systems with whom he/she could collaborate with?

Thank you all, I'm getting it. A bit bull headed, but each attempt is a learning experience. I have a mash fermenting now, looking forward to the first sip...

Thanks, that helps.

Our Distillery is under construction and we have come to cooling. We will have a 500 gal pot still and a 250 gal rectifying still, not to mention fermentation vats and a mash cooker. We think we will have a supply tank for chilled water, probably in the ground, and a receiving tank in house that we can hold to draw heat from in between runs before cooling and sending back to the supply tank. We have an engineer working with us to figure the most efficient cooler to use, but he has not worked on a distillery before. How do those of you with comparable production size deal with cooling. If you use a chiller, how big. I am very interested in innovations, but we also want what will work when my hair brain ideas don't! The pipe in the river is on hold for now. Thanks for your input.

How big is your chiller and where are you located? I'd be interested in spirit tanks, storage tanks, and pumps, etc.

I am just learning to work with grains and am currently frustrated by an illusive negative starch test. I am cooking corn meal and treating it with alpha amylase. The textbook says not to go on until I have a negative starch test. I can see the gelatinization and liquefaction effects, and the mash gets sweeter, but the iodine test still shows purple. Can Anyone advise me here. Even to say, yo bro, you just got to do it over til you get it...

Hi lamb, Where are you located? I'm in Vermont. It would help when folks post for sale items they indicated what state they are in, maybe you did in earlier posts. Thanks

please e-mail me the specs and price info