Tom Lenerz

We use a 3 inch pipe on the bottom of our fermentors, reduced to a 2 inch for moving mash. We have a 1 inch ID port on the side of our tank for our sight tube. It will properly fill as we fill the tank, but it will easily clog during fermentation. If we want to have it accurate for transfers, we back flush it with water and knock things loose, but it usually clogs again.

I'd highly recommend not using 1 inch for grain-in fermentation, especially if you are using a true conical bottom like that.

Not sure what the size of your bucket is, or how it mounts to the the hoist, but something that might be worth looking into is the Buckhorn Centerflow boxes.

It is food grade.

http://www.buckhorninc.com/products/specialty-boxes/centerflow.aspx. The base holds probably at least 6 or 7 bushels, and you can pallet jack it around on the ground for filling and getting it there.

We use them here, and you can typically find them used from a seed supplier for a couple hundred bucks.

I'd highly recommend finding someone who specializes in what you are talking about to design and build it for you. We've been working with a local company, more specifically the guy who runs it, for almost 30 years and his expertise and experience has helped us immensely.

If you have an existing chiller, it seems like it would be easier to pipe off of that directly. Assuming your CLT is just water, depending on the temp of your glycol, freezing could be a major issue.

Make sure your jackets, piping, tubing, etc.. are all rated for the pressures your pump is pumping. Also adding an expansion tank for warming water is a must.

Also you will need to have a high point with a bleeder valve to get all the air out of your system. They make something, can't remember what it is called, that will bleed out the occasional air bubble.

Hoses on the floor are not only a trip hazard but assuming they are not in use, the FDA would be concerned with them not draining well, holding water, bacterial growth issue. Duct tape isn't a FDA approved material for food transfer, all materials for hoses and conveyors should all be FDA approved, they were assuming the duct tape might come in contact with food product.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I do believe breweries, wineries and distilleries are exempt from most of the FSMA requirements, like the bottling clean room. The list of things they can make you do gets shorter if you get rid of FSMA. HAACP as an example is not required.

Sounds like you already are on the right track. The DISCUS fire protection manual is really detailed and helpful, it is what our architects used for design, and we had no trouble with the fire marshal or any other inspectors.

I'd highly recommend getting involved as an employee in an existing business (either brewery or distillery) that shares your passion. Be up front with the employer and let them know your intentions, some employers in this industry are looking for people like you, some aren't. Don't be afraid to travel to find the right position, as a good fit with a good mentor is what you will need.

I do agree that there is no replacement for hands-on experience, but reading the right books is equally important.

Depending on your model, and types of products you are interested in, I'd either recommend doing some homebrew or extremely recommend it if you are planning on starting from any sort of raw material. Any homebrewer, just like any distiller, knows things rarely go quite as planned and homebrewing can teach you a lot about troubleshooting process. It also will help with understanding cleanliness and sanitation, fermentation and flavor development. You can't make spirits without fermentation, and I'd argue mashing and fermentation are more difficult to learn than distilling.

Also, Moonshine University has very good hands-on courses, I'd recommend doing.

Source: I've spent 5 years doing this, and am now a distiller.

John,

Makers 46 is still bourbon, but because of the additional wood treatment it is no longer straight bourbon. I am not sure if the label requires the extra text ("Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey Barrel Finished with Oak Staves") or if they add it for marketing. Angels Envy's label is similar.

We have a tube and shell with 1 inch ports going to 3 either 1/2 or 3/4 inch tubes. We run 30 gallon beer no problems with clogging or cleaning so far. Only been using for a few months, but have done over 40 cooks through it.

Tom - What size boiler? HP or Lbs/Hr? Sizing is close to us so it would be helpful.

We are way overkill on our boiler for if/when we add more stills. Also we are doing steam heat in several places, but I believe it is 60 HP 2.2 million btu. With both stills running and my cooker going full bore I rarely drop below 12 PSI on my steam manifold.

Our fabricator picked up those nozzles for our cooker. He originally had sized a single inch and half or two inch unit, but after speaking with a representative from the company they recommended going with several smaller units to reduce noise and shaking. We now have a total of 4, either 3/8 or 1/2 inch, on a manifold. We have the nozzles pointed toward the bottom of the kettle to help with agitating dish. They work quite well and are key to our 3 hour cook. We are going from about 100 or 120 to boiling in 45 minutes to an hour with a 500 gallon cook.

Ozone water would probably do it. Would have to keep replenishing the ozone.

http://www.teambuzick.com/

Replying to my own post... We considered the 60° to accommodate the rum & single malt styles as it would be useful to leave the yeast cake behind. I suppose we could have another TC fitting tigged to the 15° to pull the beer out from above the cake.

From the drawings the 15 degree has a racking valve below the door. Pump from there and once you get below the door, open it up and stick a hose in and rack off the yeast cake on the bottom.

The regs are pretty clear on the oak part for brandy. Maybe you could do something under distilled spirits specialty.

That being said, the reason oak is used for barrels is because oak has tyloses that are key for holding liquid. Maybe some other wood might work, but to my knowledge oak is the standard for that reason. Some people have done stuff with different woods and chips.

You could use an older oak barrel which would have little flavor contribution, and then chip with desired wood. I'm not certain, but I believe that would meet the regs.

Woodford did a maple barrel finish for its masters collection, I remember hearing varying numbers as high as 50% loss in one month. I saw a picture of one of the barrels, and it was leaking like crazy.

"One account suggesting that maturation of period of 4 years in a traditional American white oak barrel will result in a 20% loss due to evaporation, compared to a 30% from the Sugar Maple within a period of 3-6 months!"

-http://www.nicks.com.au/woodford-reserve-master-s-collection-maple-wood-finish-bourbon-whiskey-700ml

We do outside of the 'back' and inside of the 'front' head at the same time. Coopers probably recommend inside for the same reason we do it this way, it keeps the the logo and stuff on front looking good.

We will be using manually operated steam rated globe valves.

Here is how the big guys respond to it.

http://www.brown-forman.com/responsibility/stewardship/GeneticallyModifiedOrganisms.pdf

My limited understanding is YAN will vary depending on the particular lot of grain, but I would imagine it would remain inside a reasonable range for each mashbill. At our winery we test YAN for wine with a UV Spec, and we plan on using it for whiskey mashes as well when the time comes. I would imagine you could always send out a sample for testing for relatively cheap to a lab or maybe even a nearby winery or brewery. That wouldn't tell you what you need specifically for each batch, but it can give you a pretty good ball park.