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smaug

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smaug last won the day on September 9 2019

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    http://www.Stilldragon.com

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    Male
  • Location
    North Palm Beach
  • Interests
    All things distilling and of course my banjo...

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  1. The role of the first column is to do some dirty work in front of your rectifier. The issue is that too much good alchohol gets sent back to the kettle. Kind of like swimming against the tide or driving with the windows down while your A/C is on. How much ceiling height do you have remaining? Are you able to add plates to the rectifier? If so, you'd be better off bypassing column #1 altogether and send vapor straight to column #2. The strategy of little to no reflux on column #1 is to reduce as much as possible anything returning to the kettle as bottoms from column #1.
  2. Steve, A thumper at the base of the column would be very similar to an added plate. The extra liquid volume would give any alchohol in the thumper juice an additional opportunity to flash. So that's a good thing. The bad part is that with a higher RR the thumper juice will eventually have to be managed. Stumpy's continuous rig only has to have the thumper pumped down once in an 8 hour day with a 350 gallon per hour feed rate as I recall? I have no idea what proof is in his thumper but his is a decent example with which to theorize how optimally a system like that would run even though batch and continuous are at opposite ends of the distilling planet. Maybe Adam will chime to add some food for thought for the sake of theorizing?
  3. Based on the OP's pic, there is no room for additional column height. There is a drop in efficiency because with multiple columns, it is typical to return previously distilled alcohol back to the kettle. This makes it difficult to maintain purity and also hold proof at that purity. A single column would be optimal. But sometimes a single with the requisite amount of plates for a vodka snob's vodka just won't fit
  4. Yep. The assertion is sophomoric at best. EDIT: blanket assertion
  5. To further add to the devil's share, "to make good whiskey, you have to put it up a little dirty" is what a pretty skilled whiskey maker said once or twice. Zero heads + zero tails = insipid. Throw that insipid into an oak barrel and you've got yourself toothpick flavored insipid. Not everybody likes Lima beans...
  6. Adam Stumpf,,what say you about whiskey produced on a continuous rig that also renders finished product?
  7. Welcome Hendo, Good luck along your journey
  8. This is one of those "what comes first, the chicken or the egg" questions. Do you have a real marketing budget? Do you plan to keep your day job? Do you have any production back ground at all? If not experienced, will you hire an outfit to execute your vision? How much time have you spent trying to identify potential market? The reality for many taking this path is that the equipment is not at all so expensive compared to all of the remaining needs. Best.
  9. If you are in Kentucky this week please come and see us. Long time supporter Rusty Figgins will be visiting, so stop by and talk shop with Rusty.
  10. Hi Chizek, One of the operational advantages of the glass column system that we produce is that each plate section on our 8" diameter is only about 4" tall. So if you have a ceiling height limitation this can help you get a higher plate count if needed. Also the cool factor is pretty much off the chain if you are planing to do tours or teach a distilling class out of your distillery. Heat transfer is also quite good with the glass. The down side is that the glass chimneys are,,,,,glass. And as such they do need to be handled accordingly. The glass chimney thickness is quite substantial with a wall thickness of nearly 3/8" thick. Its just that you can't drop them on a concrete floor and expect a good outcome if you see my meaning. Also, if we assume that a distiller can get a months worth of service life out of the plates within, the column will still have to be disassembled for cleaning. This can certainly be more labor intensive than our SS Modular Tee System since threaded rods are used to hold the entire system together. Cleaning can be particularly daunting on rum beer batches that are well known for foam up. In this case we would recommend one or two of our standard tee assemblies mounted closest to the kettle with the CrystalDragon mounted on top of the tee. This way the first (and /or second) plate can easily be removed for cleaning while the remainder of the plates within the CrystalDragon remain assembled. Hope I said that clearly? I can not really speak to Scott's concerns with the glass system that he had in service. I would need to see the system up close to have any kind of qualified opinion.Our glass columns can produce as much as the stainless systems we sell. Our gasket system does not leak. We are not in jepardy of going out of business. We have customers with award winning products on the shelf. Good luck.
  11. Happy to answer any questions that you may have Larry
  12. Ah, I didn't realize your output dropped. I assumed when you mentioned "yield" that you were referring to what you viewed as drinkable or the like. So your head temps are a bit higher compared to previous runs? As an aside, have the summer time temps affected your processing this year more so than usual compared to previous years?
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