334 – When Mechanical and Distillery Engineering Meet with Shrout Tate Wilson Consulting Engineers

When we typically talk about building a distillery, we usually think of things like stills, mash tanks, and where to store all the grain. But building a distillery is no different than building a house. To make all that stuff work, you need electricity, plumbing, and pumps… lots and lots and lots of pumps. Before you even begin breaking ground or rehabbing an old abandoned distillery, a lot of this needs to be planned out. This is one topic that we’ve never covered on the podcast and that’s how the heck do you actually build a working distillery? We invited Nick Morgan and Ronnie Flerlage to be on the show. They are mechanical engineers from Shrout Tate Wilson Consulting Engineers and have experience on how to design and build a distillery from the ground up. They specialize in being a one stop shop that will guide you through the entire process of making sure you have all the guts needed to turn on the lights, but also specialize in working with companies like Vendome to create the best still and distillation equipment to meet your needs.

Show Partners:

Catoctin Creek has been honoring that tradition of small craft rye whisky since 2009. Learn more at CatoctinCreekDistilling.com.
Smooth Ambler builds on the traditional roots of American whiskey in West Virginia. Visit SmoothAmbler.com to learn more.
Wilderness Trail is Sweet Mash Kentucky Straight Bourbon and Rye Whiskey distilled, aged, and bottled in Danville, Kentucky. Learn more at WildernessTrailDistillery.com.
You can now buy Barrell Craft Spirits products online and have them shipped right to your door. Visit BarrellBourbon.com and click Buy Now.
Spirits of French Lick is delivering the finest hand crafted Bottled in Bond bourbons. Check out SpiritsofFrenchLick.com.
Total Wine and More is wonderland for wine, spirits, and beer lovers! Explore more in store or online at TotalWine.com.
Heaven Hill Distillery has been lifting America’s spirit since 1935. Check out educational resources and sign up for their newsletter at HeavenHillDistillery.com.

Show Notes:

This week’s Above the Char with Fred Minnick (@fredminnick) talks about if bourbon goes bad.
When did you realize you had an interest for how distilleries work?
Tell us about your background.
What did you do for Vendome?
Tell us about the still designing process.
Do you prefer designing column or pot stills?
Where do you start when building a distillery?
Where do you use water for cooling?
How do you know how much power you need?
Where do you put stillage?
Who do you usually work with at a distillery?
What happens after you break ground?
What has advanced in distillery design?
Talk about fermentation tanks.
What’s a standard pump?
Do you think past sanitation processes had an impact on the flavor of dusty bourbon?
How do you know how big a doubler needs to be?
What is a tailbox?
What do you need for fire safety in a distillery?
@stwengineers
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