Dancing Goat distillery chooses Miura boilers to meet its steam needs

Wisconsin-based distiller needed high quality, reliable steam for distilling

Dancing Goat Distillery, located in Cambridge, Wis., has a unique equipment set that includes a 240-gallon platform pot still and a 1,200-gallon hot liquor tank. The distillery chose Miura boilers to ensure that steam quality and availability would meet its demands.

Photo courtesy of Dancing Goat Distillery

Duane H. Maas had a successful track record in the distilling industry—having built a number of operations in eight countries—when he embarked on opening Dancing Goat Distillery in Cambridge, Wis., located just outside of Madison.

However, when he passed away, the family owned business reached out to food and beverage industry veteran Michael Reiber for help. Reiber, who has extensive experience in design, construction and operation of distilleries, came on board to help the company ensure that it would be able to get up and running.

One of the first things Reiber, who is now the COO of Dancing Goat Distillery, did was review the equipment needed. He immediately recommended switching out the boiler for a Miura boiler, because having reliable, consistent steam pressure and quality is critical to the distilling process.

Dancing Goat selected two Miura LX-50 SG LX Gas/Low NOx series, low and high pressure steam boilers to meet its steam needs. The boilers use natural gas or propane and are available in a range of steam options: 300 MAWP, 170 MAWP or 15 MAWP.

Their compact size allows them to fit through a standard doorway, while their naturally low NOx, or nitrogen oxides, ratings are as low as 9ppm depending on model. This meets or exceeds current and proposed regulations for nitrogen oxide emissions levels. Hot water boilers are also available depending on models.

The Miura LX Series design (available in boilers from 50 -300HP) consists of rows of vertical tubes sandwiched between two rectangular headers. Both headers are encased in a castable refractory with only the tubes exposed to flame and/or combustion gases. The upper header is attached to the lower header only by the tubes. As the tubes expand and contract, the headers float up and down accordingly.

“One of the many advantages of Miura boilers was their on-demand steam capabilities,” explains Reiber. “The company claims to produce full steam in less than five minutes, I timed it. The steam we needed was there in four minutes. That impressive feature saved us time and labor costs, while allowing us to be more productive.”

In addition to the steam capabilities, Miura’s safety track record was another reason to choose its boilers. The company’s design process includes low water content and a unique geometry of the boiler. The company says that it has never had a pressure vessel fail among the more than 140,000 units in operation worldwide.

Reiber also praises how the boilers allows Dancing Goat Distillery to have a clean, open environment, which results in no clutter, easy to read the gauges, and easy to do water checks, all part of their ongoing routine. He recognizes that “when things are hard to get to, people don’t always do them.”

“If it’s really hard to get to, people can get hurt, because they have to reach into things,” suggests Reiber. “With Miura, the design and layout of all the touch points makes sure that my operators, or myself, don’t come out with battle scars, so to speak, on our arms.”

For more information, visit www.miuraboiler.com

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Casey Laughman is the former Editor in Chief of Food Engineering magazine. He has almost two decades’ experience as a writer and editor for mainstream and trade publications. He spent several years as a writer and editor for two news services before becoming the editor of a legal publication and managing editor of a trade magazine that covered the commercial facilities market.