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Welcome to StillDragon Europe!

edited November 2014 in SD Europe

Edited by Moonshine: This initial posting from SDeurope is outdated, the European website is already online, please see the logo link button at the top of this page.

Dear reader,

My name is Michael, I am from Austria, and our company will be responsible for distributing StillDragon products in Europe and the surrounding area.

We are not operational yet, as we are just assembling our initial order to fill our warehouse. If you are in our area and already know you need some special SD equipment later this year just send me a PM so I can have a look.

I am aware that the majority in this forum is scattered around the world with only a few Europeans being present by now. Europe speaks many languages, but English is pretty much a common ground, so I hope we can get more people from Europe to participate. We will have a similar forum like this one in German language, and if the need should arise we can add more languages later.

It is a great honor and pleasure to be part of such a fantastic community and the craft. :)

Greetings,

IEng Michael Sperandio
Managing Partner of Sperandio Limited Partnership

StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

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Comments

  • Hello Michael and welcome. It's good to see StillDragon branching out across @SDeurope =D>

  • Spent some time in Austria... somethin in the water there the gals are quite amazing

  • edited May 2013

    Austria is nice, we have a lot of hills, mountains and woods, good & clean water, but also bureaucracy that can thumb you down and taxes found nowhere else on the planet. Distilling in Austria can be quite tricky, but it's legal if you meet certain requirements which involve quite some limitations... Something I'll write more about another time. ;)

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • I spent a couple of months in Linz and traveled around did some touristy things... one of the greenest places i have ever visited.. but alas the Danube was not blue as it was made out to be... wonderful beer and wine, pommes frites with mustard from vendors on the street... streets were spotless, its sticks out in my mind the shopkeepers and street sweepers we saw at night cleaning up in from of their businesses. The food was wonderful always, never had a bad meal while i was there..

    The sauna at my hotel being full of naked models and me with only one bottle a Trockenbeerenauslese desert wine and few glasses will be saved for a different story telling time...

  • Great stuff Michael and welcome to our little team. :O)

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Pleased to meet you Michael,you are with a good mob,enjoy!

    It is what you make it!

  • sounds like we will need to start some german lessons should i be buying shares in SD? $-)

  • Hi guys, great to see SD branching out! Need a proper rig built by the best :-D

  • Hello @Brewingthomas,

    No problem to get stuff up to Norway once we are up and running, though preparations seem to be endless, Austrian bureaucracy is causing us delays at every corner, and we are already behind our own schedule. Hopefully you are not in a hurry.

    If you already have an idea what SD equipment you are interested in, you can submit a non-binding wish list by PM, which helps us estimate the initial demand.

    I'll keep posting about our progress here in the SD Europe category.

    Greetings,
    Michael

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • It took USA about 6 months to get up and running, it's not as easy as most people think but it was worth it.
    The hard part is getting everything setup to take and fill the orders promptly. SDeurope is trying to do it right from the beginning which is totally opposite of what we have done before :)) . We overstocked what nobody wanted and understocked what everyone had to have. We seem to need to learn the hard way so it can set into our thick skulls.

  • edited June 2013

    Hello SD Europe I can only speak for Sweden and here uses almost all the private customers ( its note legally to own any type of destillations equipment in Sweden without permitts from tax goverment) themselves by LM or VM unfortunately and I'm trying to introduce this with plates, both bubble as sieve plates ... through the Swedish "brewing forum"

    Majority use copper but also stainless occur there too. The few commercial distilleries available have small 150 liter plants majority brandy from Kothes or Carls in Germany and they have get to pay a lot for these small and simple plants and there is only some( 1-3pc) that are bigger than this that use column with bubbelplate system ....

    So Stilldragons 8” both in glass and ss can be a rell bestseller to small new started destillery here in Sweden..

    Cheers

  • @harley, we already have some 8" equipment in mind, there definitely is a market here in the EU for the big guns. :)

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Hello @SDeurope That's great, I've sent you a PM with my wish list :) No worries I'm not in a hurry, just glad I even get the chance to get a rig in the near future.

    Cheers

  • Hi guys,

    We had to remove a few comments which touched a gray area. Please don't discuss "hints" on customs treatment here in our forum that may be of questionable legality.

    Greetings,
    Moonshine - Your devoted forum administrator

    Your Place to be >>> www.StillDragon.org <<< Home of the StillDragon® Community Forum

  • Yes, that surely was the right decision.

    For the record: We have a long history in doing international mail-order business. Deliveries within the European Union are not subject of customs handling, and all exports to destinations outside the European Union will be handled accordingly.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Hi @ SDeurope, Something that I personally feel lacks in the EU is 50 liters and also 100 liter "milk containers" with connections for 4 "at the top and the remaining connections for both distillation and to stock containers of finished alcohol product, then they shall fill 2pc purpose .....

    This is something that I myself looking for to temporarily storing finished products and I also know that many other peopel in Sweden is looking for this for other purposes ...

    Cheers

  • @harley, the 50L milk can boiler as just arrived in the U.S. are new and we'll get these as well, I don't see a 100L version but the typical 120L boiler which just arrived in Australia. @Lloyd has already repurposed one 50L as a high proof storage tank, so that's definitely possible, we'll see.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • I am really looking forward to the launch, I hope you will be able to supply European sizes of ferrules like 54mm instead of 2" for example. I do have a few ideas for a new still based on your products, so please hurry!

  • For your info the brass 2" will fit 54 mm tube and the brass 3" will fit a 76 mm female fitting - it is a bit too big for 76 mm tube, although the smaller diameter (the depth stop) might fit.

    I am using one with a 76 to 54 mm reducer and it fits that just fine.

  • Thanks, Myles, good to know. The mold fees for the brass ferrules are quite expensive so if they really do work for EU that's a big plus.

  • So what's going in in Europe? Not much right now! We are already behind schedule, our responsible customs official decided to go on holidays for more than 3 (!) weeks, we are still working on the SD Austrian Farmer's Edition (design of the 150L boiler), and Austria is hit by another Sahara heat wave with new heat records to continue for at least another 2 to 3 weeks. :@)

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Shanghai reports almost daily records for heat. And that's going back for more than 140 years. Going to be a very hot summer.

  • Hi SDeuropa, When do you think that you are up and running...

    Cheers

  • @harley, I wish I could tell. As mentioned in my last comment, preparations are proceeding incredibly slow right now, our responsible customs official is on holidays, and paperwork has still a lot of gaps. We'll have to separate boiler and parts ordering as boilers take longer to produce. I'll post any updates here as they come along.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • Hi SDeurope, how is it going, a lot of peopel in Sweden is waitning for you to be "in buisniss"

    Cheers

  • Progressing too slowly, looks like I'll have to step down as CEO from our other company do be able to give SD my full attention. Right now we are still waiting for our customs official to return from his holidays, it's ridiculous that he has no substitute (but I don't like to have to deal with too many different officials anyway).

    If there is anything out of the ordinary our people from Sweden are interested in, they better tell now, because our first large sea fright delivery will be more like a test run for determining the importing process. We'll take care to have all standard parts included in reasonable quantities, but larger items (e.g. 8" units) better get added to the wishlist.

    As mentioned before, I'll provide updates here as they come along.

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • I relly dont nowe what peopel from Sweden whant to order, but a nowe that many peopel on "Swedish brewing forum" is waiting for you to be "ready to sell".. but am personally little interessed to se how yours "SD Austrian Farmer's Edition (design of the 150L boiler) " Looks like.

  • Might be worth your while joining the brigg forums, sdeurope.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • I think the 150L should be a milk can style boiler with dual elements, a larger drain and a larger fill port.... set up for a 4" column .... i am just thinking out loud but a 40 gallon milk can type boiler might be the most cost effective for the farmer set up? Or set it up with two 26 gallon (98.5L) milk can, boiler/fermenters and you could distill in one, preheat with the other then drain the finished one and refill it from the second one with minimal down time...? two 26 gallons (98.5L) might be less expensive than one 150L boiler

  • Not a bad suggestion but personally I would opt for a 6" entry with a reducer to a 4" column. A 6" port is a bit more convenient for getting hands and tools in and out of.

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