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Brewery & Distillery
Craft Brewery
vessels in his brewery are made from 304 stainless
steel and built in Wisconsin by either Quality Tank
Solutions or Pristine Process Solutions.
“In the brewhouse, we have three vessels: Mash
tun, lauter tun and wort kettle/whirlpool,” Legler
said. “In conjunction with the brewhouse, we utilize
a hot liquor tank and a cold liquor tank. Within the
cellar, we use fermentation tanks, brite beer tanks,
yeast brink, utility hot water tanks and CIP tanks.” glycol jackets for cooling, spray balls for cleaning,
Palmetto Distillery in Anderson, South Carolina,
has been doing things a bit differently from other
distilleries since it opened in 2011. It has worked
hard to keep the distillery authentic, just as you
would find a bootlegger using out in the woods.
The big differences are that the Palmetto Distillery
makes legal moonshine with government labels
regulating what is inside the jar, pays taxes and is
located directly behind the county courthouse, so it
doesn’t have to out-run the law.
Treg Boggs, President of Palmetto Distillery, told
Beverage Master Magazine that his distillery start- is crucial for proper fermentation with regard to
ed with a 30-gallon, 100% copper still made by a
fifth-generation bootlegger in an undisclosed area
of the mountains.
“As soon as we were legal, we quickly graduated
to our 250-gallon copper still built by the same
fifth-generation moonshiner,” Boggs said. “We
outgrew the 250-gallon immediately within the
first year we were in business by the demand from
people wanting ‘bootlegger-made but taxes paid’
moonshine!”
Boggs said that Palmetto Distillery had to find a
metal fabricator capable of handling the current
1,000-gallon copper still since that bootlegger was
not capable of manufacturing anything that size.
“Something that we learned from the old distill-
eries in Scotland over in the UK is if they dupli-
cate, replace or rebuild a still, it has to have every
scratch, dent or any type of character so that
they can duplicate the same quality spirit,” Boggs
said. “We took our time and made sure we cop-
ied this same process by creating the one-of-a-
kind, 1,000-gallon still. We will not make a bigger
still, only duplicate when needed to keep up with
demand. We have a backup 1000-gallon still in
the warehouse for our busy time of year, which is
usually October to January 1. Keeping the size of
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the still the same is very important, so we do not
lose the quality for the quantity while distilling our
handcrafted spirits.”
Tank Systems for Beverage Production
Concerning tank systems, Mayes said, “Each tank
is equipped with level sensors, pressure sensors,
temperature probes with automation to control the
sample ports for collecting analytical and microbi-
ological samples, and safety valves to ensure we
operate under the correct tank pressures.”
Legler from Sonder Brewing said that it is common
to have a pressure relief valve along with a vacuum
breaker on the tank to protect it from over-pressur-
izing or creating negative pressure.
“I would also recommend adding an additional
PRV on the vent line when bunging (spunding) the
tank for the same reason,” Legler said. “Having
complete control over the product temperature
flavor consistency and quality. This is achieved by
glycol jacketed tanks controlled by software inte-
gration, allowing you to have ramping capability
whether decreasing temperature with glycol or
increasing temperature with heat produced natu-
rally in fermentation. The better the tank is insulat-
ed, the more efficient your system becomes.”
Boggs from Palmetto Distillery said that his dis-
tillery uses every bootlegger tip that it has learned
from some of the best and infamous outlaws on
the planet.
“For example, some fancy distilleries use clamps
to make sure there is not any steam leaking out
of the stills, but we used flour and wheat mixed
together to make a thick, putty-like paste to put
around all of the seals,” Boggs said. “If you see
steam, you are losing liquor!”
Maintenance of Tanks & Systems
However, having high-quality tanks in a brewery
or distillery requires more than just buying the right
products upfront. Tanks need regular cleaning and
upkeep to ensure proper maintenance and avoid
premature replacement.
Mayes from Pittsburgh Brewing Company said
3/25/22 1:25 PM