Hali'imaile Distilling tour

[3d0g]

Hali'imaile Distilling on Maui. Been around a few years, but just started allowing public access. Some interesting stills, for sure...

[DAD300]

Strangely, I like it. I love the glass #1...wow.

When I tour some of the "Garage" Craft distilleries, I see innovative stuff like that.

How they are applying it is more important then what it looks like.

Before the crowd starts ragging on the plastic...not one copper (copper in descending vapor path is poisonous) Product Condenser! Ha!

[bearriver]

Cool distillery, specifically the glass boiler. Reminds me a little of the glass bok Odin built with a PTFE takeoff tube.

This is precisely why I no longer drink commercial. There are no concerns about leeched plastic in my high proof spirits. Take it or leave it, it is what it is.

[3d0g]

It's a fair point bearriver. Everyone's got to make their own call. Plastics are pervasive in any commercial distillery. The IBC totes seen here are ubiquitous in the industry. At least everything I saw here was HDPE.

The copper question is more interesting IMO. There is a small piece of copper tube in the product condenser runoff of the glass (vodka) still, but nothing obvious on the CM potstills used for stripping / rum. Cane sugar is a prolific sulfate producer so I have a sneaking suspicion those stainless columns have some copper in them. I also find the twin Liebig condensers interesting.

[LWTCS]

Interesting stills? Ok.

What product do they make with those cute little antiquated stills?

[3d0g]

What product do they make with those cute little antiquated stills?

Vodka (from pineapples), and rum from local cane sugar.

Hali'imaile Distilling

[WIski]

If they are trying to reach the higher priced "Craft" market I think they were better served with the closed door policy.......

[LWTCS]

Vodka? And make money to boot?
Ok sure.
I reckon a tote or two of GNS will be needed for blending if they plan on making money with those cute little 1.3 liter per hour (with a 40% kettle charge) systems.

[LWTCS]

No offense intended. Perhaps they are still working on "proof of concept"?

[3d0g]

Woke up full of piss and vinegar, did we LWTCS?

Unless you're pro, color me unimpressed. Mark, the head distiller, has been doing this since before the craft boom started, and they've had products on the market for years. A little research might allow you to shed some light on their financials and the hyper local market that is Hawaii.

[LWTCS]

You are right. Shame on me.

Good spirits are easily rendered from a variety of systems.
No need to over complicate since distillation in it's simplest form is nothing more than evaporation.

Kind regards and best of luck to the master distiller and of course the distillery.

[DAD300]

I've been to more than a few using 55 gal SS drums and he has ten. I've also seen places using 300 gallon SS totes.

I think this setup is great! All Stainless, all electric...couple of guys making a living.

[shadylane]

Looks like home distillation on the commercial scale.
Distillers can dazzle me with beautiful copper or impress me with ingredients and technique.
I'd drink their product.

[3d0g]

Craft distillers tend to be an inventive lot. Whatever works within the budget; it doesn't always need to be pretty.

I'm most interested in seeing space layouts and processes these days. I quite liked how they plumbed all condensers back to a 500 gal tank and used a single chiller to draw the heat from it. They also manage to get by with no forklift, not the first distillery I've visited to do so. Love the converted quonset hut, but all affordable space like that dried up long ago in Colorado thanks to weed farms.

[shadylane]

Rhum agricole and vodka made from pine apples.
That's unusual, I'd like to have a drink or two with the master distillers.

[Bushman]

I am spending the month of March on Maui this is now on my list of places to visit.

[3d0g]

The rum is fine. Good for mixing. I personally like my rum funky as hell, a la Lost Spirits. Personally not a vodka fan so it won't be produced out of my distillery, but the pineapple origin *is* interesting. Definitely comes through on the nose. The bottle I actually did buy was Paniolo, a blended whiskey of 4-year bourbon sourced from KY and pineapple distillate. Nice twist that worked well.

[rad14701]

Of that entire distillery the one thing that concerns me the most is using a 6.5 gallon carboy to collect high proof spirits... Perhaps not as big of a safety concern considering that the entire plant is electric, but it could definitely be the cause of lost profits...

[RandyMarshCT]

I've tasted some pretty lame vodka and whiskey that was made on the most beautiful Holstein Still I've ever laid hands on. I've also tasted whiskey that knocked my socks off that was made on a homemade plate column run over a beer keg boiler.

I, personally, really like to see commercial distilleries that were obviously built from the ground up. Walking into a brand new distillery that has over $1 million in equipment is not as impressive to me. One of the reasons I liked Balcones was because Chip Tate built the whole place from scratch. I'll bet he wished he did it without investors now.

Cool post 3d0g!

[bearriver]

Honestly, I would hope the synthetics they use are safe. There are good options available. Sure its a concern, but what isn't? Looking back at my original comment, I'll say given the opportunity I would at least sample their wares.

Not a Holstein type of guy, and see nothing wrong with a drum boiler besides the obvious ugly factor. Holstein stills to me are like using Ferrari's for a taxi service. They are cool, but how practical is it?

[thecroweater]

Honestly, I would hope the synthetics they use are safe. There are good options available. Sure its a concern, but what isn't? Looking back at my original comment, I'll say given the opportunity I would at least sample their wares.

I have seen outfits that sell bulk spirit to wineries and other distilleries and it is all in them ICBs . I don't like the idea but it has been an industry standard for a long time, my cousins husband was a distiller in one that does exactly that and has for many yrs. My great uncle was a master distiller in another that did not (they used ss drums)

Not a Holstein type of guy, and see nothing wrong with a drum boiler besides the obvious ugly factor. Holstein stills to me are like using Ferrari's for a taxi service. They are cool, but how practical is it?

yes it is practical a damn lot of commercial distilleries are not open to the public, they run these stills because they are efficient and produce the type of spirit they wish to market

[3d0g]

I, personally, really like to see commercial distilleries that were obviously built from the ground up. Walking into a brand new distillery that has over $1 million in equipment is not as impressive to me. One of the reasons I liked Balcones was because Chip Tate built the whole place from scratch. I'll bet he wished he did it without investors now.

And we get to watch Chip do it all over again, a little better funded this time now that he's got his settlement $$$.

[DAD300]

And we get to watch Chip do it all over again, a little better funded this time now that he's got his settlement $$$.

Settlement $$$, better business sense, and probably more support!

It will be interesting to see what he does.

[live_free]

if nothing it looks neat. like to see those glass boilers in action

[woodshed]

Fancy equipment does not make good likker. Good protocol makes good likker. Love setups like this. Shows true spirit.