Day 2, I got to meet Kris today as he returned this weekend from a trip to New York.  He was a bit busy tying up some loose ends.  Hopefully tomorrow we will get to sit down and lay out the plan for the two months in more detail.  However busy Kris was, we had an eventful day.  My first task was to go around the big column still and the 650L Pot still and tighten down all the joints for a pressure test with water.  I got to go up on the roof with Justin Aden to put one of the plugs into the second section of the right column.  It was cool to see them from the top down.  Forgot to take that picture.  Maybe we'll get up there again.

I also got to meet Ari Sussman who is Justin's partner in crime as far as the crew involved in operating the distillery.  Which I want to add special congratulations to Ari who's first son was born just a day ago, so we were all surprised to see him around.  Ari and I ran some errands for the parts to plug up some open gauge ports and for a Mashtun/Fermenter/Still getting a refurbish.  (pictures to come)  Ari and I had some good conversations about what is really going on in this craft distilling industry.  Who is making what and who is just buying and bottling.  It was eye opening.  We also discussed laws for craft distilleries in Michigan and how I might approach my state (Minnesota) to get similar measures implemented.  This will be a sit down learning talk later on, which I will pass on as much as possible when I get a more detailed picture.  It was a very encouraging and enlightening discussion about the future of craft distillers.

The distillery took delivery of a brand new agitator for the new large mash tun.  You can see the size of this bad boy in the crate surrounded by Ari, Justin, and Junior.  It came with the shaft and agitator blades. We will be installing that soon as well.  I'll keep you posted on the install as it happens.

We got to the pressure test and fired up the potstill with water in it.  We got the steam going into the second column and then found two sight glasses leaking steam and water.  We had to shut it down to repair those and that was the end of the day.  The last picture is Ari and Justin surveying the stills as the pressure test got under way.