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ADI Conference 2017 in Baltimore? Seriously?

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  • edited March 2017

    Spotted a couple of interesting things going on around the conference: A tour out to Mt. Vernon to see George Washington's home distillery, and discounted hotel rates out at Dogfish Head brewery. Started me thinking about springtime in that area.

    The coutryside around Baltimore/DC is filled with cool things to do. I lived there for several years during Project Apollo. Did much of my scouting in MD, VA and WVA. Beautiful country! Annapolis is a wonderful town. It's just that Baltimore is such an armpit...

    @MokumMoonshine Those Paladins ROCK! BIGGGG BADABOOM!

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • We toured the GW Distillery & Grist Mill while at the BevEx show in DC.

    Steve Bayshore took us around and gave us a great history lesson.

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  • edited March 2017

    By the way,,,We will be parked at booth # 117. Please stop and visit.

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  • No photos? It never happened... ;)

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • edited April 2017

    Well,,,this here is George.

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  • I meant booth 117, but George's place is very cool! Thanks for putting those up.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Stills were replicated by Vendome.

    Pickeral and a few others consulted during the planning.

    They are doing their best to remain as historically accurate as possible. Evidently they are profitable.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • At $100 a 375, I'm not surprised. I visited last year but missed out on the industry elbow rubbing, really cool place.

  • @RobertS said: At $100 a 375, I'm not surprised.

    Outrageous price in the US, but cheap in Canada or Oz...

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • OK ADI 2017 folks - What is the low-down for those that cannot make it to Eastern US..?

    Highlights/ Lowlights/ Workshop & Tour wisdom..?

    Fingers crossed for all the SD enrties in the ADI Awards Judging overnight also.

    Cheers

  • edited April 2017

    @Kapea said: Outrageous price in the US, but cheap in Canada or Oz...

    The pricing is set up to fund the foundation that maintains and preserves the grounds and equipment for this historic facility.

    Definitely spendy but they are preserving a piece of history.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited April 2017

    @Curators_Reserve said: What is the low-down for those that cannot make it to Eastern US..?

    Lots of drinking tonight.

  • edited April 2017

    @Smaug said: Definitely spendy but they are preserving a piece of history.

    Oh for sure.

  • Kris Berglund did a nice piece of mixed fermentation and using a catalyst for esterification in the column.

    I've got his details for the catalyst and am planning to try it out.

  • @grim said: Kris Berglund did a nice piece of mixed fermentation and using a catalyst for esterification in the column.

    I've got his details for the catalyst and am planning to try it out.

    Wait... what's esterification as it pertains to drinking? We do it in biodiesel but I've not heard of this process for booze. Any if his material?

    I wish I'd have taken machining and chemistry.

    And blacksmithing.

    And more engineering.

    And pole dancing.

  • Have to admit,,,,,pole dancing is kinda hot.....

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  • edited April 2017

    @Fiji_Spirits said: Wait... what's esterification as it pertains to drinking? We do it in biodiesel but I've not heard of this process for booze. Any if his material?

    Right - he mentioned the use in biodiesel in conversation.

    He is using Dow Amberlyst - I'm not going to post which one, but you can figure it out yourself if you know the chemistry. I'm not going to share the specific because my concern is about what other reactions are potentially being catalyzed in the column. Reactions that might not ever take place under normal conditions.

    I mentioned to him that I didn't think this was necessary at all, since these esterification reactions take place in spades in a column without any kind of acid catalyst present at all (even mineral acids like sulfuric, etc). He seemed to believe that the benefit was being able to create a specific level of esters with a significantly smaller amount of acids created during fermentation, which could very well be the case.

    Ideal scenario is to ferment a wash, distill it with and without catalyst, and run a gc/ms looking at the ester profiles. Assumption would be that the catalyzed run would have a significantly higher amount of esters, or even broader profile of esters.

    Realistically though, in actual application the use is questionable - this might play out like my juicy-fruit rum trials. Mix a large volume of neutral with a few mL of propionic acid, with a smaller amount of butyric acid, lactic acid, and an even smaller amount of acetic acid with neutral in a glass lab still and distill. It's fun, but you either need to take a massive heads cut, or you are drinking something that seems like no heads cut was made at all. Add in some isoamyl alcohol and you can make tropical coconut pineapple rum without flavorings or even touching cane.

    The other factor to consider is whether the initial ester production is ephemeral - since this is an equilibrium reaction, what happens when you proof down your spirit? If you just end up shifting the ester back to acid - the use of the catalyst was irrelevant.

    pdf
    pdf
    Amberlyst.pdf
    3M
  • @Smaug said: Have to admit,,,,,pole dancing is kinda hot.....

    Not when Steve does it.

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  • @punkin said: Not when Steve does it.

    Hence lessons...

  • @grim

    IIRC in biodiesel amberlyst was used as a pretreatment for the oil feedstock to break down the longer chain fatty acid and increase conversion rates and decrease glycerin production.

    So go slowly with me here, my chemistry is weak. What he's proposing is that by using amberlyst that he can shift from tailsey to headsey? And he wants to add this during fermentation? And/or in column? He thinks he can get fine enough adjustment or is this a bigger move in flavor? Has he had success?

  • That gets me to thinking actually. I'll start a new thread on a flavor profile I'm getting that I can't seem to control, that follows this conversation.

  • edited April 2017

    He can shift organic acid to ester production with higher efficiency.

  • He sounds like a X-Men mutant. B-)

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

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