Diary of a Distiller: Chapter 21 - Hangin' Tight

Hi Folks, well the last of the work in building the brewery, then distillery, is well under way. I mentioned that we are finally installing the steam boiler for the brewery. It's a difficult and heavy job. First we took apart all the old steam pipes attached to the brew kettle, and scavenged all the pieces that we could use. Then we cleaned them up to remove mild rust and treated them to prevent further corrosion. Many are already cut to the perfect lengths and threaded at the ends. So it will save us a lot of time and work to re-use them.

We here at Winterport Winery / Penobscot Bay Distillery & Brewery live by the New England and Maine way of thrift. As Francis H. Sisson said almost a hundred years ago, "Thrift was never more necessary in the world's history than it is today." But there are many sides to thrift. As Orison Swett Marden said, "Thrift means that you should always have the best you can possibly afford, when the thing has any reference to your physical and mental health, to your growth in efficiency and power." This holds true in business, as in personal matters. So, while we use and re-use what we can, we also make sure to use the best quality available as well. So in matters of construction, if it is good, solid, and recyclable, it's back in the game. If not, then chuck it out; and replace with the best available.

Just as a side note: the type of pipe we are working with is called "Black Pipe", the type of steel pipe used for natural gas, hot water and steam circulation in boilers, and it is made of heavy steel. It's thick, strong, but not as hard as stainless steel; and so more malleable. It expands and contracts better and is able to handle shifting; that would crack the harder, but more brittle stainless steel. You need heavy equipment to cut and tread the pipe ends. So we rented a pipe cutter/threader to do the job. This pipe is connected with even more malleable cast iron fittings. All of which are very solid and long lasting, but weigh a TON.

The first thing we had to do was drill holes in the floor for the pipes to come up from the basement. We put in PVC pipe sections to line the holes and siliconed them in. The PVC collars come up a few inches higher than the floor, and will act as a dam to hold back water from being able to leak through the floor where the pipes go through. The floor has been sealed several times, and when we are done will be finished with several more coats of sealant, or even a thick layer of resin. This way we can clean the brewery/distillery equipment and floor with a steam jet, which also sanitizes without chemicals, without flooding the basement or damaging the floor under-structure.



Then we attached pipes to the kettle and put them down through the PVC collars, through the floor, into the basement / winery. At this point the real work started. We had to hang heavy 3" steam pipes from the basement ceiling beams and run them 100' to the boiler room. This wasn't an easy job. Four of us spent several days on this. As we went along we would cut the massive, 21' lengths of black pipe to the right lengths; with very small tolerances, then thread the ends. A 1/2" cut too short or long meant cutting the piece all over again. At around $300 per length of pipe we weren't going to waste any by goofing up on our measuring, cutting, or threading. So we measured twice, then once again, at each step of the process.

We had installed pipe hangers from the ceiling beams earlier, so now the grunt work came of raising the pipes to the ceiling, and attaching them. We could have used hoists to lift the pipe. There are anchor pints for hoists mounted all over the ceiling of the basement winery and storage areas. But we decided upon speed and brute force to get the job done faster. This usually meant that I grabbed one end of the 200 - 275 lb. pipe and got it up on my shoulder, while one or both of my partners, Mike and Jody, as well as our friend Fred, grabbed the middle and ends. I then walked the pipe up the ladder or movable stairs and got the end into a pipe hanger. Then I did this with the other end, while the middle hangars were speedily connected.

Next we had to attach the connectors, valves, L's, vents, rising pipes, condensing pipes, etc. Every connection required brute force to screw the 3' pipe in so tight that live steam, under pressure, won't be able to leak out. As you can see in a few photos, we used 3' long steam fitters pipe wrenches. Most of the time I got on one of the wrenches, while one or two of the other guys got on the other. Then with every ounce of our weight and strength we made the connections. By the end of the first day Fred was calling me "Gorilla Boy" as I muscled the pipe into place and tightened the connections.



Each day ended in total exhaustion with me sore and completely brain dead. I was asleep each night by 9pm, and slept until 6-7am the following day. Then back to doing it all over again. By yesterday we had a majority of the bulk work done, and started the smaller, 1-1/2" and 3/4" pipework. Now we just have to cut, run, and join, the last of the condensed steam return pipes. We'll work on that today and Saturday. But first we need to take a half day to bottle our new, sparkling, wood aged hard cider.

I am looking forward to this. Our Back Porch Maine Hard Cider was started last Fall, and fermented slowly in the cool depths of the winery all Winter. It was aged on wood for many months, and then was slowly carbonated under pressure in the cold room the past few weeks. It is a nice 7% abv. with a tangy, semi-dry, slightly woody, apple sweet flavor. Most will be bottled in 750 ml. sparkling wine bottles. But I hope to save some to put back on wood in used whiskey/rum barrels to further age. Then we can serve this as a Special Reserve, Barrel Aged, still cider; directly from the barrel, in our restaurant later this winter and next spring.