Where to use plastic in a distillery

[Pofarmer]

I know some folks ferment in plastic tanks. Some hold low wines in IBC Totes or even HDPE "food grade" buckets. What about holding process water in a plastic tank? Is it ok to hold finished spirits in HDPE before barreling? I'm of the opinion that stainless would always be better, but, hey, there's always availability and budgets.

[Kindred Spirits]

According to code, high proof spirits cannot be stored in plastic. It is ok to store water in plastic.

If you need a good resource for stainless tanks let me know, I have a few clients looking to sell some and work directly with a manufacturer as well.

[Pofarmer]

1 hour ago, Kindred Spirits said:

According to code, high proof spirits cannot be stored in plastic. It is ok to store water in plastic.

If you need a good resource for stainless tanks let me know, I have a few clients looking to sell some and work directly with a manufacturer as well.

High proof is 120 proof, correct?

[Kindred Spirits]

Yes, anything above ferments would most likely be considered by your AHJ as high proof

[Foreshot]

40%ABV/80 proof or above is considered combustible or "High Proof". But don't expect your inspector to understand that and go with what Kindred said - figure that they will consider anything stronger than a ferment to be something they will count against you regardless if it's correct or not. 

 

[Glenlyon]

I don't generally ferment in plastic totes because I find they can be prone to a lot of bacterial problems. We don't use plastic containers of any kind - but we do have plastic winemaking spoons for some basic stirring. Thank goodness I don't have to worry about inspectors having an opinion, but I still wouldn't use anything other than stainless or glass for high proof alcohol.

 

[Golden Beaver Distillery]

We ferment in roto molded 600 gallon open fermenters with no issues.

Each get pressure washed then sprayed down with a citric wash prior to adding the mash. 

These fermenter are much cheaper ($1,200 with stand) than stainless and are highly portable.

We love them so much we are buying more to add an additional shift to our operation.

 

[Pofarmer]

On 7/12/2023 at 4:31 PM, Golden Beaver Distillery said:

We ferment in roto molded 600 gallon open fermenters with no issues.

Each get pressure washed then sprayed down with a citric wash prior to adding the mash. 

These fermenter are much cheaper ($1,200 with stand) than stainless and are highly portable.

We love them so much we are buying more to add an additional shift to our operation.

 

Do you use plate chillers for cooling?

[Golden Beaver Distillery]

On 7/14/2023 at 11:01 AM, Pofarmer said:

Do you use plate chillers for cooling?

We avoid doing fermentation above 100° F and use a yeast that is good to 110°F, so we've never had to chill down the fermenters. We do have large cooling coils to drop in if needed but we have never needed to.