Dark Corner Distillery - Greenville, South Carolina

[Dark Corner]

Hi,

My name is Joe Fenten and I am an electrical engineer and co-founder of Dark Corner Distillery in Greenville, SC. Our initial product focus will be on whiskey and brandy. Later we plan on introducing beer schnapps and grappa. We have satisfied all local and state permits and hope to have a federal permit in hand within a month. For equipment, I personally designed our 80 gallon copper pot still in the tradition of the Dark Corner moonshine stills that can be found preserved in the Blue Ridge Mountains. My father’s best friend fabricated the still locally. Our distillery is situated on Main Street in downtown Greenville with ample foot traffic and visibility.

For more information please visit our website, www.DarkCornerDistillery.com. I cannot wait to communicate with each and every one of you.

Cheers!

Joe Fenten

Dark Corner Distillery

241-B North Main Street

Greenville, SC 29601

864.356.2736

[Curtis McMillan]

Beautiful website. And your still behind glass is breathtaking. Would love to talk more with you guys.

[Jedd Haas]

hi Joe, what is the purpose of the three copper bolts on the top of your still cap?

[Dark Corner]

Beautiful website. And your still behind glass is breathtaking. Would love to talk more with you guys.

Great to hear from you Curtis. Thanks so much for the kind words. I designed both the website and the still myself. Please call my cell phone at anytime day or night. I look forward to speaking with you!

Joe Fenten

Dark Corner Distillery

864.356.2736

[Dark Corner]

hi Joe, what is the purpose of the three copper bolts on the top of your still cap?

The three copper NPT fittings are for a pressure gauge, pressure relief valve, and temperature gauge. Thanks for asking questions!

[Jedd Haas]

I would love to hear more about your design and fabrication and see more pictures. What thickness copper did you use?

Your manway is also kind of unusual. It appears you re-purposed something else? Did you use a gasket there?

Also, at the end of your lyne arm, it looks like you have a brass fitting; were you concerned about the lead content, or did you pickle it? I see a bunch of pictures of stills with brass fittings, and wonder about this. There is a lot of discussion of pickling brass on some of the other forums.

[Dark Corner]

I would love to hear more about your design and fabrication and see more pictures. What thickness copper did you use?

Your manway is also kind of unusual. It appears you re-purposed something else? Did you use a gasket there?

Also, at the end of your lyne arm, it looks like you have a brass fitting; were you concerned about the lead content, or did you pickle it? I see a bunch of pictures of stills with brass fittings, and wonder about this. There is a lot of discussion of pickling brass on some of the other forums.

I would be happy to discuss the design in more detail. We chose to use a solid 3/8 piece of polished stainless steel for our manway. I have heard stories of glass breakage problems and didn't want to incur the same. It was cut with a waterjet cutter and was specially designed for our still. We are using a gasket.

That is a brass fitting and it is lead free. The solder is also lead free. Feel free to look at other pictures on my website. I will try to upload other pictures for you.

[Peter]

I am also in Greenville and would very much like to get to know someone with similar interests! I won an SC Launch Honorable Mention for a distilled beverage idea but when I investigated implementing it I couldn't get traction. The federal regulations seemed pretty clear but how to stay legal in SC was a puzzle.

I stopped by on Main Street this past weekend but I missed catching someone "at home". I'll try again later. Anyway, I'd like to learn more about the practicalities of distilling!