Production estimate

[birgirms]

Hey gang

I need your best guess or personal experience. Running a 250 gallon still 5 days a week, how much whiskey is produced? Ballpark figure.

[Sherman]

20 per day 100 gallons. If you are doing sugar shine slightly more. 500 Bottles per week single shift.

[birgirms]

20 per day 100 gallons. If you are doing sugar shine slightly more. 500 Bottles per week single shift.

Thanks for the input, Sherman. Just to clarify, is that 20 bottles per day using a 100 gallon still?

I'm mainly looking for someone who can fill in these blanks: A 250 gallon pot still can produce _______ gallons of ___% (____ proof) whiskey per week.

[bluestar]

Let's do it rough: 250g of 10% might push 8% into the strip, or 40pg. Your spirit run will yield 50% to 80% of that, depending how conservative your cut, and how you use the feints, so 20pg to 32pg. Let's say 30pg, efficiently recycling feints and clean cuts. Now, you can run maybe 4 strips into each spirit run. So 5 runs of the still gives you 120pg. Assume you can run the still twice a day for 5 days, thats 240pg, or 240g at 100 proof, or 300g at 80 proof. Or 1500 fifths per week at 80 proof. Not so far off from Sherman's estimate, if he was assuming 500 fifths per week from a 100g still. Tweak any of the numbers along the way up or down, and you can move this estimate up or down 40% easily.

[Sherman]

I based my estimate on having run 10 different stills last year with cuts. 100 gallons at 50 % ABV.

[birgirms]

Let's do it rough: 250g of 10% might push 8% into the strip, or 40pg. Your spirit run will yield 50% to 80% of that, depending how conservative your cut, and how you use the feints, so 20pg to 32pg. Let's say 30pg, efficiently recycling feints and clean cuts. Now, you can run maybe 4 strips into each spirit run. So 5 runs of the still gives you 120pg. Assume you can run the still twice a day for 5 days, thats 240pg, or 240g at 50 proof, or 300g at 40 proof. Or 1500 fifths per week at 40 proof. Not so far off from Sherman's estimate, if he was assuming 500 fifths per week from a 100g still. Tweak any of the numbers along the way up or down, and you can move this estimate up or down 40% easily.

Thanks for a very detailed answer. The thing is, though, I'm looking for a much simpler answer. Not that I don't appreciate the info, it's just that, seeing as I'm not a distiller nor a brewer, I'm not very well versed in the lingo you're using, plus, english is not my first language

[whiskeytango]

Id say you can expect about 190-225 750ml bottles at 80 proof every time you run your still. So just take that times how ever many times you run per week.

[birgirms]

The answer is not "simple". The math to derive the answer, however, is simple. Except the math takes work. And so does distilling...

If you are not a distiller, nor a brewer, then what are you doing here? And if you are legitimately trying to get into the business, then it only gets harder from here. Posts like this piss me off and continuing to insist that you want a simpler answer devalues the work real people on the forum put in every day.

Best of luck, you are going to need it. -Scott

You're a real ray of sunshine, Scott.

I'm sorry for bothering you... I didn't know this was a forum for experts only, and that anyone who has an interest in knowing more or perhaps taking their first steps in the art of distilling should fuck off and look elsewhere.

[Scott @ Twenty2Vodka]

wow. your english is good enough to curse i guess.

Every time someone answered your question, you insisted on wanting a simpler answer. It takes a calculation to "fill in your blanks". And if you aren't willing to fill in the easy early blanks now, you are going to have a very unpleasant time with all of the other harder blanks that are still in front of you.

Again, best of luck, you are going to need it. (I'm talking about the luck).

-Scott

[Panoscape]

Birgirms,

You might start your meandering adventure into the spirit world with a trip to this site, homedistiller. Here you will find a resource full of information and a whole bunch of calculators that you can use to find out just about anything. It's about the simplest way to compute your output.

[TetonDistillery]

The Modern Distiller forum is also a good resource for at home "Do It Yourself" scale distilling.

That forum might be a better source of info.

http://forum.moderndistiller.com/

[nick jones]

I'm mainly looking for someone who can fill in these blanks: A 250 gallon pot still can produce _______ gallons of ___% (____ proof) whiskey per week.

Birgirms,

Like you I did not enter this world with inborn distilling knowledge, and unlike Scott I applaud your making use of this resource to learn more about distilling. There are many additional resources out there for you to take advantage of, and you will find references to them throughout this forum (from those posting helpful comments, that is).

There is no simple answer to your question, just like there is no simple pot still. For example, I've heard of a 1000 gal still that is hooked up to a 3/8" worm condenser that takes over 48 hours to complete a single distillation: the volume of a still, taken by itself, is meaningless.

The person to whom you should be addressing your question are the various still manufacturers. Since they're the ones building the stills, they've discovered through experience how much one can produce. If you decide to build your own still, the only way that you'll ever know how much it will produce is through your own experience.

Best of luck to you,

Nick

P.S. my favorite ball-park number for yield is 10% of the volume of the still (moving a decimal point around is so simple) at 120ish proof. How many hours does it take your still to achieve this? That's a separate question dependent on many factors.

[rumfarmer]

ADI is a great resource for you. All work is hard if you intend to do well. Distillation is no different. And, as a life long entrepreneur, I can tell you most people have told me not to do the things I have done in life. There are always a lot more reasons to quit than persevere, and most people are quitters, or naysayers in the world. Just a basic fact of life.

ADI pushes teaching through courses and provides great information for all levels. Go out and look at home distiller, too. And, talk to the people on this forum who care and enjoy the craft. They will truly help you without any arrogance. I have spent hours on the phone with people I've never met talking distilling. Don't give up. Just find good mentors.

[Sudzie]

ADI is a great resource for you. All work is hard if you intend to do well. Distillation is no different. And, as a life long entrepreneur, I can tell you most people have told me not to do the things I have done in life. There are always a lot more reasons to quit than persevere, and most people are quitters, or naysayers in the world. Just a basic fact of life.

ADI pushing teaching through courses and provides great information for all levels. Go out and look at home distiller, too. And, talk to the people on this forum who care and enjoy the craft. They will truly help you without any arrogance. I have spent hours on the phone with people I've never met talking distilling. Don't give up. Just find good mentors.

Here, Here, Smoogdog

[nick jones]

Peace out indeed Scott.

Thanks for all of the helpful advice, and welcome to the big leagues.

Best of luck, you're going to need it.

Nick

[bluestar]

Thanks for a very detailed answer. The thing is, though, I'm looking for a much simpler answer. Not that I don't appreciate the info, it's just that, seeing as I'm not a distiller nor a brewer, I'm not very well versed in the lingo you're using, plus, english is not my first language

Well, I gave you the reason, but the answer is still the same if all you want is the answer. Except one point, I mislabeled ABV as Proof. I corrected my original post. 1500 fifths per week at 80 proof. That's what you asked for, that's what you got.

[Mash]

I gotta agree with Scott, If you don't like the answer don't ask the question. I personally did a lot research and studied the language, read the CFR-27, read every post with ithe fourm before I asked completly uninformed questions. People with no business sense, no disire to plow through the tough jobs, like research, business planning, cost analysis, supply line charting, costs, costs and more variables than you can imagine want simple direct answers to questions that can not be quantified. I learned a lot the hard way. There is this guy who wants to work in my distillery in the worst way, will work for free...but he is curently applying for his own DSP.... do I want to teach him how to run a distillery only to help him be my competitor? I don't think so, after numerous calls of where to find this and that I told him he had to do it in his own, this is no distillery developement 101.

As members of ADI we assume that the membership is one of a professional nature, ( as it should be), and I understand that the fourms are open to the general public, so must we suffer fools? Sure, but only to the extent that we are willing to put up with them. Put up a couple of hundred thousand dollars, and post your DSP number and I'm willing to help or not, it's my choice.

[Sudzie]

Can we say Mentorship? ? ? One thing I can say with having over 40 years of self-employment experience and the privilege of building over 16 business, ( 75% still operating today and very successful) is that the more you unconditionally give of yourself to others the more you will receive, both personally and financially. To this day I have always received and asked for help, as I always wanted to be the student learning from those whom possess greater subject knowledge than I. Don’t forget that we are only as good as the people that we surround ourselves with. And just coming off of the ADI Conference I feel that, all-and-all most everyone I met there gives great unconditional information that will help all excel the this fledging industry called “The Craft Distillery”.

Tidbit #2: There is some who feel that competition is going to be bad for their business. Look at it this way it will make you better, faster, smarter and wealthier if you do take that challenge in business called competition. I Love Competition………………

Now back to the subject at hand.

[rumfarmer]

Can we say Mentorship? ? ? One thing I can say with having over 40 years of self-employment experience and the privilege of building over 16 business, ( 75% still operating today and very successful) is that the more you unconditionally give of yourself to others the more you will receive, both personally and financially. To this day I have always received and asked for help, as I always wanted to be the student learning from those whom possess greater subject knowledge than I. Don’t forget that we are only as good as the people that we surround ourselves with. And just coming off of the ADI Conference I feel that, all-and-all most everyone I met there gives great unconditional information that will help all excel the this fledging industry called “The Craft Distillery”.

Tidbit #2: There is some who feel that competition is going to be bad for their business. Look at it this way it will make you better, faster, smarter and wealthier if you do take that challenge in business called competition. I Love Competition………………

Now back to the subject at hand.

Could not have said it better myself! I am sad I couldn't get to Colorado this year to meet everyone in person. Delay, delay, delay in my launch. Next year I will be there.

[mattabv]

It is my humble opinion and answer to the original questionsimply put.. Without knowing what your conversions have provided for imput into your still you can not find a valid answer to your "simple answer" with any true accuracy. So i suggest dropping back ten and punting and derive your answer with proven formulas which are straight forward. Then ask for validation of YOUR calculations.Hope this redirects the imput from all those willing to help in the future. After reading many of the answer posted I would have thought this woud have come up somewhere in the conversation. VARIABLES. NO SIMPLE AANSWER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[bluestar]

Sure, there is no simple answer, but I assumed he wanted some ball park estimate. That's why I did my walk through: provide a number, and give the assumptions it was based on and how derived. And if he got a couple more such inputs from others, the scatter in the data would make the point clear.

[mattabv]

Ball park estimates are great and your desciptions were right on. the point i was making was there are too many answers based on too many factors, as a teaching point. i have sarted with one yield and after tweeking my mash procedure, fermentation procedure and distilling procedure have been able to increase my final by as much as 35%. However, now and then a dud comes out and for what ever reason i hear an oh well. water, grain source, outside temps and who knows what else can change your on final output in one way or another. Consistency and tweeking in my book are key. I have made what at the time was a mistake and blew the batch and turned out even better. learning everyday. CONSISTENCY is your best allie. learning from trial and error can be costly and under/over calculations can make or break an operation. All on this thread who shared in one way or another gave proof that this is work and not for the faint of heart. If its a hobby, keep it as such. Good luck, be safe and prosper. Proof being, some questions are not simple.