pot still sizes and configurations?

[KittleShine]

Hi I'm new here though I've read a number of threads about micro distilleries and the kinds of stills they are starting out with, from 50 gals up to many hundreds of gallons. I'm personally interested in making double distilled corn whisky with traditional pot still(s) and worm(s).

To my thinking it might be better to start with a smaller still so you can experiment with your recipe on smaller batches, assuming you want to develop your own recipe as opposed to using a standard one. The startup cost will be less also

On the other hand it might be better to go with something much larger so that you can ramp up production very easily when the time comes instead of installing more or bigger stills. You could just start out doing single batches at less than full capacity and somewhat infrequently.

I'm also thinking about getting 2 stills, a larger one for stripping and smaller one for spirit runs. I'm wondering what the size ratio should be between the larger and smaller pots, if I planned on doing one spirit run per stripping run, or if it would be better to do multiple stripping runs per spirit run.

I've read some recommendations regarding suppliers for these types of still but any more recommendations are welcome. I think I would try to distill on the grain for the stripping run so an agitator would be important.

[KittleShine]

I had searched for answers to this question before posting, I didn't find this thread until browsing later: http://adiforums.com...wtopic=2801 sorry about that!

I like the op's idea of using a smaller still for both stripping and spirit runs, with the view to getting a much larger still just for stripping later The only issue I see there is that from what I've read you really need to clean all of your still apparatus very thoroughly before doing a spirit run after any stripping runs because fusel oil residue left over from stripping will come out in the spirit.

[mendodistilling]

I used the math to make my decision, with an 8% wash I can mak. 3 Barrels per week with 1 fermenter and a 330 gallon still, allowing me t. o do 4 low wine runs and a second spirit run in a week during the day, allowing me to operate during the week and see my girlfriend / do my regular life things on the weekend.

I'll have a fermenter and make batches large enough to allow this, which with wine @ 10% would. Only need 3 low wine runs to make enough for a spirit Second run. of 3. Barrels worth. 500 cases per month capacity so I could do at least 2000 per year and save some for later aged blending.

[Natrat]

Arithmetic is great, but the yeasties sometimes prefer long division!

I'd just forget about "regular life things" for a while, since you have not accounted for your marketing, bottling, TTB filing, cleaning, and all the time for the full time job you'll need to keep it afloat until you are cashflow positive.

I have personally found that doing washes at a lower sugar concentration have been faster to ferment, allowing greater throughput than waiting for the yeast to finish out on my super high grav mash. I also find I get better efficiency that way, so that overall I'm extracting more alcohol from a given volume of grain in a shorter time period. More work, though! :-P