Watch a Tutorial on How to Use the Deutsche Distillery Calculator
Are you looking to start or expand your distillery and wondering what size and type of equipment you’ll need? This video is here to help! Thomas, a design engineer at Deutsche Beverage + Process, walks you through our Distillery Sizing Calculator—a powerful tool designed to give distillers, both new and experienced, the insights they need to make informed decisions about their equipment.
Hello everyone, my name is Thomas, and I’m a design engineer here at Deutsche Beverage. Today, I’m going to walk you through a new tool we’ve added to our website—a Distillery Sizing Calculator. This tool is designed to help you navigate the process of sizing equipment, including pot stills and hybrid stills, based on the production schedules for your preferred spirits.
To find the calculator, go to the “Learn” tab on our website and scroll down to “Still Calculator.” On the first page, you’ll enter various parameters that we need to properly size your equipment. These include the types of spirits you plan to produce, the number of proof gallons or liters of packaged production you’re aiming for in your new distillery. This page also lays out all the different distilled products you can make.
Let’s go ahead and enter some basic parameters for a potential distillery. We’ll start with whiskey production, aiming for an average proof of about 100, and we’ll age the whiskey for four years to account for age losses that can affect total production. We won’t be doing any single malt in this scenario, as it requires additional equipment like a lauter tun, but we’ll focus on producing a bourbon-style whiskey. We’ll also add some rum production, keeping it at 100 proof, and age it similarly. For gin, many craft distillers use grain neutral spirits (GNS) for production due to its cost-effectiveness, so we’ll add some gin production at 120 proof using GNS. We won’t be producing any vodka on our pot or hybrid stills for this example.
Next, we’ll move on to your work schedule. We recommend starting with 250 working days per year, accounting for holidays and weekends. This may vary depending on your personal schedule, but 250 days is a good starting point. You can also specify your shift schedules—whether you’re running full production around the clock or working 8, 10, or 12-hour shifts. For this example, we’ll go with a 12-hour workday over 250 days. In distilling, fermentation time is also a key factor. While in brewing, fermentation might take around two weeks, in distilling, it can average between 3 to 5 days. We’ll use 3 days for this example, although it can vary based on your yeast and mash bills.
Now, let’s look at the results. At the top of the results page, you’ll see a summary of your production numbers based on the inputs you provided, displayed in different units. The total production for whiskey, gin, and rum is summed up to 150,000 liters, converted to gallons and proof gallons, which are adjusted for 60°F at 100 proof. The calculator also factors in losses from aging, so it calculates the actual amount of proof gallons needed to achieve your final production goals.
Moving down, the results are divided into two still types: hybrid still and pot still. Both can be used for multiple spirits, but the choice depends on your production goals. Pot stills are typically used for lower proof, higher congener spirits like whiskey and rum, while hybrid stills offer more flexibility for higher purity spirits like gin or vodka. The calculator allows you to toggle between hybrid and pot still options, and it adjusts the production numbers accordingly.
For instance, if you opt for a hybrid still, the calculator might show that you need to perform fewer runs to meet your production numbers compared to a pot still. The recommended batch size is designed to keep you close to one batch per workday, though this can be adjusted based on your preferences. In this example, a 500-gallon hybrid still results in approximately 1.1 batches per workday, while a larger 1,000-gallon still would reduce the number of batches needed.
The calculator also takes into account your fermentation setup. For a 1,000-gallon still, you would need around two fermentation tanks to keep up with production. If you work a 250-day schedule, this may require more fermentation tanks compared to a full 365-day schedule. Adjusting your work calendar and fermentation times can significantly impact your equipment needs.
Finally, the tool provides a starting point, but we recommend reaching out to your Deutsche contact to discuss your specific production goals, work schedule, and preferences. We’re here to help you fine-tune these numbers and guide you through the different still options that best suit your distillery’s needs.
Thanks for your time, and we look forward to working with you!
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