Every Still Has a Story

When an opportunity arose to purchase an Arnold Holstein still located right here in New Zealand, at a time when we were considering options for increasing our capacity, it felt like the right opportunity at the right time.

Arnold Holstein stills are some of the best designed and built stills in the world, but being 30 years old meant there would likely be some refurbishing required. It's while refurbishing equipment that you often learn the most — opening the still right up, figuring out why each part was designed the way it was, and trawling through technical drawings — so curiosity got the better of us, and we became the new owners of a beautiful 220L Arnold Holstein still.

Refurbishment Job

Arnold Holstein has a great heritage in designing stills for distilling traditional European grape and fruit spirits, which is why the still had a gas burner. Cognac, for example, must be made in stills heated by a naked flame, amongst other requirements, so traditions like this carried over into this still. With the way we have set up our distillery, a naked flame in the still room isn't a safe option, so our first job was to convert the heating system from the original gas burner to electric elements. After we picked the still up from the previous owner, it wasn't even unloaded at Humdinger — instead it went straight to the Site Services workshop in Temuka, who have some of the best welders in South Canterbury.

The still, straight to a local workshop

The first order of business was to remove the gas burner system and replace it with flanges, ready for the custom-made 30kW heating elements on order from the UK.

The old gas burner water bath removed, and replaced with a stainless-steel water jacket heated by elements

The last step while at the workshop was to remove the catalyser from the top of the still's column. The catalyser is another feature for distilling fruit that contains pips, stones or kernels, as it removes some of the compounds they contain. Because we start with a pure neutral spirit, this isn't needed for gin production — and we confirmed this with the Arnold Holstein team in Germany just to be doubly sure.

Site Work

After a nervous drive from the Site Services workshop to our distillery, it was time to stand the still up and see for certain that it fitted in our still room! Half of the Site Services team was on hand to help, and to be part of this historic moment. With some final measurements and calculations, we lifted the still from lying on its side to standing proudly upright. We held our breath for the final push, but it made it up safely without incident. The still was then moved into its final position, levelled and bolted to the floor — another milestone ticked off! After all the planning and design work, it was a satisfying moment to see things working out.

With the still secured in place, the site work could begin. Every gasket and seal was replaced; every valve was removed and replaced with a new equivalent after some weren't holding pressure; the automated cleaning system for our existing still was extended to also clean this new still; the ventilation system was modified to suit the new room layout; and other pipework changes were completed.

With the mechanical work complete, we could begin the electrical install. Having a strong engineering and manufacturing background, we knew how we wanted the still to be controlled and where we needed full control over how it operated, so we worked with a good friend — and one of the best industrial electricians in the region — to make our ideas a reality. Some people believe a craft gin can only be made with a fully manual still, where the distiller is continually making adjustments throughout the run. We believe that balancing simple automation with manual controls, so we can make the same gin batch after batch and fine-tune every aspect of it, is still craft. After all, how can you improve and make the best gin possible if every batch is different and unpredictable? And it's still the nose and palate of the distiller that make the all-important decision of when to make the heads and tails cuts in every batch.

Connecting the new still to the existing cleaning system pipework

Commissioning

Anyone who has installed and commissioned new equipment will have fond cleaning memories, as every nook and cranny needs to be cleaned, then double-cleaned, and then inspected to be absolutely sure the still is ready for production. It's a laborious task we don't enjoy, but it's a fundamental step that can't be glossed over.

After many months, it was finally time to turn the refurbished still on and see what it was capable of. Before adding any alcohol, we simply added water to the pot and heated it until it turned to steam, checking for leaks, making sure the heating jacket pressure was under control and that the safety systems were fully functional. After a 100% pass on the steam run, it was time to add alcohol to the still.

Running steam through the still as part of commissioning

We were expecting great things from a Holstein, but the control this still gives over each batch is phenomenal. It ran like a dream during our test runs, where we tuned all the finer parameters — such as heating and cooling rates — and we couldn't have been happier. Hearing about German engineering is one thing, but experiencing it is in a league of its own.

Cleaning the new still

Gin Time!

With the test runs complete and every parameter of the still's operation fine-tuned, it was time to make some Humdingers! We charged the still with our neutral spirit, pure water and carefully weighed botanicals to start the 24-hour maceration, ready for distillation the following day. After barely sleeping in anticipation, we opened the distillery doors earlier than usual and kicked the still into life. We made continual checks to ensure nothing was leaking, the still was heating up correctly and everything was safely within operating limits — and before we knew it, the first drips of crystal-clear gin were running from the still. Gin needs several weeks to develop its full potential, but the first signs of the spirit steadily running from the still couldn't have been better. With some final adjustments to the still's parameters, we had it dialled in to make our clean and crisp Citrus Gin, as well as our deeper and more complex Dry Gin. Sleep came a little easier after that!

Still History

With the still up and running, our curiosity led us to look into its history, since it had been in New Zealand for several decades by this point. We're very thankful to Ben Leggett from Elemental Distillers, who kindly shared the following history of the still.

This still was first imported into New Zealand by the original owners of a Marlborough winery called Merlin Estate. They were Europeans, and their love and heritage of distilling grappa came with them to New Zealand. They used this still to produce their own brandies from their grape must.

In 1997 the winery was purchased by George Michel, becoming a wine label of the same name, and the still was included as part of the acquisition. As the still was already set up, he used it to make his own grape spirit (think a New Zealand version of Cognac, Armagnac or brandy) and shared it with others, such as Hans Herzog, who made an outstanding grappa from his organic Montepulciano.

Since then, the still spent some time in storage, waiting to be returned to its former glory.

Past and present spirits made using the same still

Given the still's history, we're having to contain our imagination about what else we could make with it.

The Arnold Holstein still proudly sitting in our still room, like it has always been there

Taste what this still makes: explore our small-batch gins — or see how we put this German-engineered still to work for other brands with contract distilling & custom spirits.