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DonMateo's Distillery Shed

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  • edited April 2022

    Finished concrete floor before helicoptering.

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  • edited April 2022

    Last action shot. You can almost see the concreters crack.

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  • @DonMateo, so you were able or not able to get floor drains installed?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Yes the floor drains were put in yesterday. I have bought the materials for the water systems today. I am getting permanent electrical individual control panels getting made next week. So painting next week. Epoxy the week after and the water and power systems after that. I am going out to see the floor drains tomorrow. Its going well. I will have some more fotos tomorrow.

  • I have mentioned a couple of times about how hard it is to import equipment into Argentina. A couple of days ago I was talking with a mate of mine who works in the wine industry here and he told me he paid $120k for a piece of equipment for wine clarification and he signed the PO. Put the money in USD in his bank account and asked for the approval to send the money out. After 6 months the govt finally approved hte first transfer of $50k. The vendor in Oz was going crazy at this time. Another 6 months after this they approved another $50k and he is awaiting for the approval for the last 20 so the vendor will send the gear. Then he has to put up the cash for the import duties. This place is Venezuela light.

  • Oh that sounds horrible.

    We have a continuous system on the way to Venezuela. Actually scheduled for the delivery to the customer door step yesterday. We didn't have that kind of troubles thank gawd.......

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Argentina is the twilight zone. The first columns I bought from you guys. I put them in my suitcase and jumped on a bus. At that time the would scan some bags and not others. This one time I had all the components of a 4" 4 plate column deflegmator and condensor ( yes it was heavy). My bag got scanned. I thought I was phucked. I open it up and this asshole customs guy comes up and said whats this. I said its a fractioning column for making whiskey. He said Whiskey no-one makes whiskey here. I said yes this is why I am going to do it. He said this kind of gear is prohibited here in Argentina. I sais yes thats why I am bringing it in its hard to get here. He said no its prohibited to import it not to have it. I said yes thats right I am bringing it in so that I can start learning how to make whiskey. He said Whisky no-one makes whiskey. I said thats right. He said no one does it and this gear is prohibited. So his calls his supervisor over, he said whats this stuff. I said its a fractioning column for making whiskey. He said whiskey, no-one makes whiskey here. I said yes this is why I want to do it. He said this stuff is prohibited here. I said thats right you cant get it here. Let me come back. Anyway it just so happened there was a distant relative of my wife who was at my wedding with here comes up and looks at me and winks and said. Hey this is for personal not commercial use correct. I said sure it is. He went inside and his supervisor comes out and said. Is this for Personal use. I said sure it is. He said OK fine. Do you have a receipt. And I handed over the SD receipt. He said wow this stuff is expensive, no wonder you cant get it here in Argentina. I said actually its not that expensive. He said OK I have to charge you import duties. How about 30%. I said sure. So I fork out my credit card and he hits it for 1500. He was looking up his list of good he said what do we put this under. I said hmmmm Kitchen equipment. He siad OK sure. Then after he rang up the charge he said whiskey, no-one makes whiskey here in Mendoza. I said sure thats why I want to do it. Then he pulls out his work business card and said look when you get up and running I really like whisky, can I come to your distillery. I said well I am not sure as its only for personal use. He looked at me and said bullshit now get out of here and get on your bus. This is one of many stories.

  • Another tale from the darkside. I bought 2 x 6 plate crystal dragon columns from you guys I brought over the steel in my car but I had to leave the glass in Chile. Finally about 4 weeks later I fly to Chile for a business trip and go to my mates place and I am looking at the 12 x 4" glass sections thinking, wtf are Argentine customs going to say when I bring these things over. I thought fuck it what do I have to lose. So I packed them up and took a taxi to the airport. I take the flight get off the plae in Argentina and I get to customs and they had 3 customs people watching the screen. They all look at it in complete confusion and puzzlement and this customs agent guy said he said OK open it up. So I open it up. Hes said as polite as he could What the fuck are these things. I took one section out, I said with a completely straight face. These are parts of a chandellier for my mother in law. I am pissed of with her that I had to bring them over but here I am. The guy looked at me while feeling the borosilicate glass and said, your mother in law right. I smiled sweetly and said Yep Mother in law. He said Chandelier. I said yep chandelier for my mother in law. He said how much does one of these things cost. I said Five bucks. He looked at me and knew I was lying. And handed it back and said. Get out of here. ( I am sure he wanted to say and dont come back). I had to supress a smile until I was out of the airport.

  • edited May 2022

    Here is a foto of the floor drains. They are in epoxy grout to falls.

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  • edited May 2022

    Painting progress.

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  • edited May 2022

    Outside

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  • edited May 2022

    Control panel

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  • It's coming together what a great project. Enjoying the progress reports.

  • edited May 2022

    Plastic is off the floor. The slab falls from left to right. 120mm in 12m. I am waiting for it to dry out. Epoxy in 2 weeks.

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  • edited May 2022

    I like the gutter style floor drain system. Could you talk a bit about how they executed that?

    In retrospect I wonder if slot drain and the like aren't a bit of an over prescription? Beyond any ADA ( handicap) issues, this style of management has been around for centuries really.

    If done thoughtfully I would think it is far more cost efficient than some of the more expensive/ modern solutions?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • They put in a simple blockout channel that left a channel in the final concrete then came back and mixed an epoxy grout and shaped it and graded it to falls to the exit pipes ( two of them in 28m length). In the final foto the on the right side is the channel and there are two floor drains in the channel that go to the outside.

    When they were doing this I asked about a steel channel with a cover as they do install those with wineries here and the said look we can but that but its going to take a long time and cost a lot more money. dont worry. So I didnt worry. At the end of the day the whole floor slab cost US$90/m3 thats with supply and install. I didnt think that was possible and I work in project cost. Everything cash, no questions asked. I am a happy camper, soon to be distiller. the next part is the bottling room and barrel room that I need for my license. I will post the piping system when thats done, its also simple as well. Electrical control panels and bar will be complete in about 3 weeks. I hope these fotos are not boring people.

  • No,no. Not at all boring.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • totally agree. Not at all boring, I look for the progress before anything else. More please.

  • I have a vide of my control panel being energised but its 14 megs. Not much happening this week. Next week piping systems are being set up and I am doing a small gallery for support for solar hot water systems for my mash water. In a weeks time the epoxy goes down. So more action shots in a week.

  • DonMateo, Did you buy that building?

    Are you getting any enthusiastic feedback from any of your neighboring businesses? And the local zoning/building/planning authority?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited June 2022

    I bought the building. Its on a 3100m2 lot and the zoning is agricultural/industrial so no problem with the approval. I went to the muni before I bought the lot and told them I want the build a distillery there. The woman in charge of zoning said. "What your an Australian and you want to put money into Argentina. Are you crazy?". I said yes actually so can I do it in that location. She sure. If its for tourists you can do it no problem. I am still waiting on the title transfer. Six months and counting now.

    I need that for the final approval. If i dont get it by august i will build anyway. The fine would be about $500.

  • edited June 2022

    Control panel fotos. I am getting 4 of these made up. 1 for the 300l spirit still. Two for the 1000l stripping still and another for the gin/ vodka still.

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  • edited June 2022

    OK, I am building a timber type gallery to support my solar hot water systems that i will use for the strike water. And later i will put solar panels on the front. Its right in line of sight where people drive in to the lot. It will also double as shaded car parking.

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  • edited June 2022

    And this is the drainage on the backside with two grain traps installed going put to an infiltration pit. Not much exciting about drainage trenches. Epoxy floor painting next week. Then electrical control panels and water lines.

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  • @DonMateo said: And this is the drainage on the backside with two grain traps installed going put to an infiltration pit. Not much exciting about drainage trenches. Epoxy floor painting next week. Then electrical control panels and water lines.

    So the liquids will drain into a drain field essentially?

    How large are the grain traps?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Yes. I have a drain field. The grain traps there are 3 and they are about 400m x 400m x 400m deep. The largest one before going into the drain field is about 600mm x 600mm x 400mm. Tomorrow the epoxy goes on.

  • edited July 2022

    First section of epoxy up to 1.8m high on wet area walls.

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  • edited July 2022

    Close up.

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  • Nice.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

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