A View of the Local Goat Distillery

Hey guys and gals. I wanted to show all of you what we have been working towards since I joined StillDragon.org. I know I don't have StillDragon products but I have learned a wealth of knowledge from all of you and still am. I don't have anything against SD products and to be very honest I would of had a way easier time if I did go with them, but I got a to good to be true deal and it bit me a bit. One day I may upgrade for sure. Here are pics all over my distillery where we currently have a rum and a vodka we make from whey. We also focus on Craft/mixology type cocktails and have invested a lot into our tasting room. Enjoy and let me know if I'm missing anything, besides SD stills. The bar pics were taken on our soft opening last week.

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Comments

  • Incredible, well done!

  • edited February 2018

    Looks super inviting.

    As a matter of interest, are you pumping column bottoms back to the kettle from the second rectifier? Or gravity draining?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • @Smaug said: Looks super inviting.

    As a matter of interest, are you pumping column bottoms back to the kettle from the second rectifier? Or gravity draining?

    There is a pipe in the rear that drains them all back into the boiler via gravity.

  • KK thanks.

    So where does that put your working volume / total volume ratio on the kettle?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • well that's an interesting question with the product i'm working with. I only get about 5 gallons of vodka per 300 gallon ferment of Whey. My yield is really low and it creates mozzarella in my boiler. Gross. I also have not been able to hit 190 on this still yet, so I have the smaller one for a finishing still. On my rum I did it came out pretty fast at 178. I really couldn't tell you the ratio and all that because I was just eyeballing it. You guys confuse me all the time with ratios, and tilt meters and stuff. Hell I never even measured PH before until I came on this site. Glad I did, but I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. I have Flow meters coming in for my Dephlegs and condenser so I can make it more of a science. I also have oil on the way to fill my jacket.

  • Ah sorry. I was thinking (and could be an optical illusion) that it appears that your drain back piping enters into th kettle pretty low based on how low the column bases appear to be? This would limit your max fill capacity.

    With respect to yield, are you stripping or trying to do a single run?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Oh sorry, I am stripping first. I take about 2000 gallons of fermented whey and strip it 220 gallons at a time. After that I do a spirit run through all 16 plates.

  • I'm wondering if two (full blast) strips and then a spirit run would allow you to spend less aggregate time at the still at the end of a year? And also give you better column behavior due to higher abv on your spirit run kettle charge.

    What is your abv on the spirit run kettle charge?

    Or are you fighting to hurry and get some product in the bottle?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • usually about 25%. I am also fighting. we opened last week and I'm pretty much sold out. Over 1500 people in 4 days

  • edited March 2018

    Great problem to have.

    If you could push/blast 2 strips to collect at say 140 liters per hour, then a spirit run, I bet you'd spend less aggregate man hours at the still by the end of the year. A 40 % kettle charge will give you really compliant behavior out of your column and should get your abv up nicely.

    Seems it would be more work on a daily basis especially because your trying to get bottles filled. But in the long run will save time and get you a cleaner product.

    Of course then there is the challenge of storing bulk low wines....

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I never went lower than ~40% when running vodka, gone as high as 60%. Though I am fairly surprised you're not hitting it with 16 plates, lower ABV still makes it difficult. I've ran brandy higher than 50 proof.

    Are you going full power maybe? Start low and find that sweet spot. Balls to the wall won't get you 190 either (add another column to test that theory).

  • No matter what your starting charge % is, half way through your run, the ABV will be half of that. In order to reliably make vodka, you really have to be able to hit 190 with a low % ABV charge.

  • Thanks for the feedback everyone. To bad none of you are close to help me troubleshoot it.

  • on the mozzarella, I know that to make Ricotta (re-cooked) cheese, they raise the temp of the whey 10C above the normal cheese temp and add fresh milk and it solidifies out the cheese enough to be strained... could you do this and get a side product?

    This is my friend Pete stirring the sheep's whey before the addition... From when he took me to his hometown in Italy in 2005, his brother in law Beradino has made cheese from his 1000 sheep for 40 years without a day off... mind boggling....

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  • Jeebers that place is sexy!

    I had no idea that you can pull a solid from whey. That’s crazy!

    Have you thought about converting the smaller unit into a continuous stripper and running that way?

  • @CothermanDistilling said: on the mozzarella, I know that to make Ricotta (re-cooked) cheese, they raise the temp of the whey 10C above the normal cheese temp and add fresh milk and it solidifies out the cheese enough to be strained... could you do this and get a side product?

    This is my friend Pete stirring the sheep's whey before the addition... From when he took me to his hometown in Italy in 2005, his brother in law Beradino has made cheese from his 1000 sheep for 40 years without a day off... mind boggling....

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    Im going to try this. May seem like a stupid question, but do you think I would lose any sugar if I did that?

  • I do not think so...

    How to Make Cheese with Sheep’s Milk – 3 Pecorino Cheese recipes

    Here is the closest published thing I can see to what my friend showed me.. they have 36c for the cheese making, 60c for adding salt (I remember now they added salt while it was warming), and 85c for adding the milk... (the 'ricotta fresca' portion) I do not remember it being that warm, he might have added milk at lower temp and then heated until the ricotta formed...

    Thinking an agitator spinning it might help you skim the ricotta curds right off the top

    on the salt, not sure if it will affect the distilled product, I guess you may have to try both ways...

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