captnKB

Working on developing a flavored whiskey made with unaged light whiskey. aka whiskey distilled to 180, not aged but flavored with natural ingredients. My goal is for the spirit to be clear. COLA had kicked back my label on flavored whiskey due to the fact that there in not a oak storage component to the spirit being used. Has anyone out there produced a spirit like this? How did you get around the oak storage component?

Jeff is right, but it is all about how much time you want to spend bottling. Ive used the TCW rinser and it is first class reliable equipment. Money well spent if you ask me

Hi David, Welcome to our forum and the wonderful world of distilling. Best of luck on your venture

Dang! that turned out beautiful! Well done.

Ive heard of a few if the big whiskey distilleries adding hop extract to their mash before fermentation. There are a few different reasons ive heard its done. (reduces potential for infection, flavor enhancement, ph adjustment) Any one out there encountered this or tried it?

Yes without a doubt you have to have a either a forklift or a level loading dock. A forklift would be the better of the two options to have

I am interested to hear why you are selling all your equipment. If you would can you elaborate on why?

Hi Eric, welcome to Texas and our fun little industry forum

Hi Gordon, I did someting just like this with a winery in central cali. Now with that said I was not a part of the legal conversation the owners of the company participated in I just distilling the brandy. Can a winery age brandy on their premises? No, it must remain in your bond • Can a winery bottle the brandy themselves? No, it must remain in your bond • If not, can the producing distillery bottle for them? Yes • What would label requirements be? See COLA for requirements, will vary based on spirit type • Can a winery sell brandy made from their wine? Yes • Can a winery provide tasting samples of their brandy? (I don't believe they can.) I dont believe so • Can the producing distillery sell (and taste) the winery's brandy (if agreeable with winery)? Yes Again, this is only from my experience on the production side of a distillery with what I did. My advice is to consult legal before you jump into it

you will need a still with an serial number to apply. Once you have your still and location you can apply. We got our DSP before we even started construction on remodeling our building

Hi Jon, welcome to the forum. There is no quick way to answer all your questions as each question has a hundred different answers and they are all correct. My suggestion is to start searching the forum, all the answers to your questions are out there, they are just not all in one place.

You may be able to fetch a 100 bucks a barrel. Only way to know is to try to sell them. The cost you can sell them at will vary based on your local market. Barrels will get funky pretty quick depending on your climate. Ive heard steaming the barrel will help to prevent it from growing bugs but have never tried it.

If there is any way I can help provide additonal data please let me know

Hi @meerkat I believe I would second what mechwarrior said. 55% down to 20% are the range of liquers I have seen.

Id second indy. Wood floors would be setting your self up for huge headaches down the road unless you are building a micro micro distillery

Would love to see what @meerkatis working on as it is a huge time suck checking proof obscuration per the ttb guidelines

oh and dont forget to aerate your mash. That yeast needs oxygen if it is going to do its job fast and well

@Greenfield a good target for your PH of water before you add grain is 4.5 to 5.5. I would suggest not adding you malted barley till temp is under 155. Ideal conversion temp is +- 150 F and if you swap your two row for 6 row barley youll have a better DP and should get faster more complete starch conversion. Hopefully this should help fix a few of your issues

A refractomer is only intended to read pre fermentation. If you rely on it to read post fermentation is is very easy to mix up a finished ferment with a stuck ferment as they will both register a brix of roughly 6-8 on a refractometer. Best to strain out a bit of clear juice and read gravity with a hydrometer as it it the only sure fire bet to know ferment is truly complete.

@Greenfield try lowing your PH a bit with citric acid. Starting with a PH of your water at 5 will help to ensure a healthy ferment. If you are fermenting on the grain. Try pulling a sample and filtering out the solids before you read gravity. dont forget to correct gravity for temperature when you read. if you have a healthy dose of yeast when you started your should have a gravity near 1.000 after 2.5-4 days. @Huffy2k are you using a refractometer to read the finished Brix/gravity?

Hi SIlverback, welcome to the forum. Nice looking website youve got there and i dig the branding. Are your spirits available in Texas?

https://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9923956

1 zolotnik for every hekat of spirit is a good start

Anyone out there using slotted floor drains in their distillery? http://www.slotdrainsystems.com/ Like these? Pros, cons? Id love to hear any input or experience.

Try BSG. They may send you samples to try. Rye makes a nasty mess without enzymes