SlickFloss

Luckily the great state of Wisconsin appreciate's Brandy more than any other spirit. Start a new thread and lets run wild with it. Tag me in bro!

That figure is staggering I am going to find that material to peruse, thanks for the reference..... We pitch super low but let em finish high on our Ryes, I am going to look at holding temp vs our current method

I have found this to be essential for nuanced flavor...... We actually have found that making wine from grapes picked at night instead of during the day actually matters big time in the brandy end result...... Which I find just absolutely captivating.

Have you considered not using all malted grains? Are you using any enzyme for conversion? We ferment thousands of gallons of rye a week I have never heard of your snorkel issue

-Get rid of the meta tabs they're fuckin your mojo and they're cranking up the still. IMO/E thats the core issue with your fault. -I would recommend not cleaning a copper still with true caustic -Flush out all that copper sulphate and keep it out of there. This is going to jeep keep you fault free in the future. -We like to allow our fermentations to start low in temperature (sixties) and naturally regulate themselves (if possible) to complete fermentation. -We've found that allowing ferments to sit a little after fermentation usually makes for a better distillate -We've found specific acidic adjustments can have consequences (sometimes good sometimes bad) in final distillate, so we try to use buffers that all us the least volume addition without negative ester formulation/transformation.

SF Spirits comp judges feedback on a brand I consulted for in 2016 (Brandy). Upon receiving that feedback that I had also never heard before I delved deeper into the google and found this from pg 10 of Bergland's Artisan Distilling: a Guide for Small Distilleries (2004). ""The bacterial decomposition of citric acid leads to formation of lactic acid, acetic acid, formic acid, and acetaldehyde which can be detrimental to the mash and can appear in the resulting distillate."" Section is on fruit fermentation, not all wheat, but that's what I have for you.

This is a request for research material recommendations on advanced vacuum distillation theory. Short path or other. Thanks

Theres an enzyme that will shear lactose into all fermentable sugars making it accessible to most commercial yeasts. Now you just need to worry about flavors. Don't try to adjust ph too much with acid it can get realllllllly funky. Run a clean ferment and take a clean cut of it and it can be palatable

Backset is our preference for adjustments. You can trigger faults in distillate judgings when adjusting with citric. high concentration mallic is a great acid to use for adjustment

All systems have their shortcomings. A direct fire still drawing vapor into it is a disaster waiting to happen. Think pouring gasoline onto a fire, its not just going to burn off what it draws it's going to ignite back to the source, boom. At least with a jacket there's no open flame. Good luck. Keep asking questions, you're gonna get it eventually. It's better to make the poor choices theoretically sounding off on a forum then in practice with dollars cents and lives

Competition is really tight for small guys, you're gonna need to really be a craftsman to be competitive with this business model because people just down swoon over the small guys with not a pretty space as much as they do the real polished and aesthetically designed places. Im not trying to talk shit, it's just a fact. Look at who is selling equipment because they're offline. Its all smaller sized equipment in unpolished places. I want you to do well, but you gotta understand there's much more to this business then just making good products. You need to make stellar products, and make people want to buy them while at the same time making it available for them in the market place while protecting your margins to continue production. This industry is not a side hustle industry. You have to commit and fucking flourish or you will fail. Good luck. Reach out for advice wherever you can. Be a sponge. A lot of newbies around here spend time telling people what they're going to do.......... it's wise to ask what you should.

any US or Canadian domestically produced glass is going to be expensive....... Big time expensive..... I have used Mexican Suppliers for purchases over 1M units before to great success, just as good as chinese lower lead times and cheaper shipping! Glass may be the one part of our canadian puzzle you cannot figure out...... Ill tell you for sure though you won't want to figure it out price wise when you see the difference....

And if you're not married to the Rite boiler, you can get a smaller foot print, more out put, better quality steam and slower start up time with a Miura! (sorry and to plug)

I have a team based out of southern WI that did all our advanced work. We have organic capable facility (stainless steam lines) with multiple stills as well as cookers in multiple rooms, and we are really happy with our system's form and function. They also have a great insulation guy they referred us to. I know a team out of Janesville is not exactly Chicago but they do unbelievable work and I cannot recommend them highly enough. They do projects from our distillery, to other breweries large and small, municipal jobs, auto plants, and even humongous food plants so they have experience for every size and scope. Degarmo Plumbing and Piping. They even custom fabbed us working decks around our big tanks and small tanks, as well as a 100 degree drop heat exchanger that is possibly the most beautiful piece of equipment in the building!

Tit doesn't use plated columns he likes RAP better for white spirit

You're looking for information on tied house laws. Many states make it very difficult to blatantly hold both licenses by the same person, obviously other people have navigated this issue creatively before.

Seconded. For reasons of process we like to try to keep things consistent run to run. Makes KPIs easier to assess for distillation goals.

How are you sure they are proteins? How long is your initial rest? At what point in time of your process are you proofing your spirit, with what type of water, and how long are you taking to do that proofing?

Goat yoga

We have a much larger and intricate sustainability program then most other distilleries so I wouldn't recommend everything we do to everybody but this one is great. We purchase compostable napkins and straws for our tasting room and add them to our organic compost matter from he tasting room itself instead of throwing them in the trash. We acquire these from Gordon Food Service, which you probably have in your market. They also have compostable to go containers for food as well as compostable "silverware". If you don't have a GFS in your market try the other restaurant supply stores. It essentially comes out to the same price as the non compostable. The recipients of our compost have not complained about them not breaking down etc.

Fuck Yeah.

Vacuum still are incredibly useful in any application where one would want to protect flavor compounds adversely affected by heat. While not the most practical for the every day run of the mill weekly stripping run in a whiskey centered distillery, I bet if you knew how to use one creatively it would make your own operations better, more unique, and more versatile. Broad reductionary statements are ridiculous. Most would be better off making a habit of using them less.

Head frames are wicked I highly recommend them. It is truly a complete continuous system. A lot of people in this country have columns to strip beer or batch hybrid columns. This is a true continuous column. If you want to be really unique build a vacuum still. If you're not familiar enough with the equipment to know what you want to buy for who to talk to, I think the best place to start is with Paul at affordable. I'm not trying to talk down to anyone, but you can get some equipment for a reasonable price to learn on (I recommend limiting the size of your errors with your batch size) and buy something nasty when you know more about your process

Hey Don, are you still having trouble with mashing and conversion? How are your corn whiskey cooks going I remember you asked about those somewhere before...... My initial response is what exactly is your goal with this enzyme? As a rule of thumb in modern production, unless you're intentionally avoiding enzyme which you are not, I would always use both Alpha and Gluco amylase enzymes to help with sacc. in any grain whiskey mash. If you are having conversion issues look to those two enzymes. The beta glucanase will help with viscosity, which will benefit you everywhere from your mashing, transfers, fermentations, and distillations. Also important for Rye, foaming is a mofo. Either go super slow with a hot break on your strips which is frustrating, or start using some natural oil of one of your component grains or anti foam to help with that. Finally, just something to keep in mind, high Rye will foam. Either in distillation or fermentation. So be aware or antifoam hard amigo!

black oily flakes are often indicative of a dirty still, for us it was on the condenser side. Do you ever CIP/chemical clean your condenser? Is your lyne arm removable? As long as you're cleaning receiving tanks, spirit safe, condenser, and still regularly (especially between strips and finishes) you should be okay. That gunk comes through in the tails because it's more soluble in water than ethanol. I found that rinsing my confessor and line arm out end of the day with my straman hose (hot hot hot city water) then a quick rinse with room temp RO flushes most of that out. We do that in-between strips of the same wash instead of doing full cleanings (we will strip for a whole week then friday and saturday clean with CIP for finishing runs the following week) If you let it go on too long you run risk of Copper Sulfate issues. On grain gives better flavor but it needs much better cleaning protocols IME. That black gunk is a pain though! After you drain the receiving tank it will stick to the sides, I like to wipe my receiving tank down in between strips after transfer out to keep ahead of it. Also, just in case you do, don't leave cooling stillage in your still over night, it will deposit a ton of that stuff in your lyne arm and condenser as it cools.