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In this Discussion
- Cambo March 2014
- captainshooch January 2014
- Chalmer May 2014
- cleadus1 May 2014
- CothermanDistilling February 2014
- dad February 2014
- fadge January 2014
- FullySilenced February 2014
- irishman April 2014
- jonno January 2014
- Lloyd May 2014
- Myles April 2014
- Nake February 2014
- olddog April 2014
- Philter April 2014
- punkin April 2014
- rossco January 2014
- SDeurope May 2014
- Smaug April 2014
- what March 2014
Comments
@what you have no idea what the Great Punkin has asked for!!
How's about a 4" x 900mm product shotgun condenser?!
I plan to stock a few extra of those and to begin stocking 4" x 510mm product shotguns as well. I can only express ship 510mm or less so the 900mm will have to always go by sea freight. The distributors will need to work out the shipping from their end to the customer but I fear it won't be easy but at 35.44 inches it's just under the UPS max size of 36" (maybe).
All of the dephlems are being upgraded to a bit taller and with more tubes but they will not appear at your distributor for a few months.
My prototype 5" Crystal Dragon really is spectacular. It is still missing it's 5" dephlem but hoping to get that soon. The SS bubble tees, 5" glass and all the seals are done though so it is getting close. 5" is an odd size and all the reducers to accommodate it need to be made. My boiler has a 6" column port so I'm using a 6x5 end cap reducer. Until the 5" dephlem arrives I'm using a 4" dephlem with a 5x4 bowl shaped reducer but will later change to a 5x2 bowl shaped to connect the 5" dephlem to the 2" 180 bend. There is a very real chance I'm forgetting to make a reducer or two.
LLoyd I think you might have more stuff available than is currently listed on the websites. Is there any chance that you could publish a list? Folks might then be able to contact their distributors to get odd items added to the next bulk order. :)
Interesting idea @Myles as no one distributor stocks everything that I produce.
I'll need to give it some thought as to how to present it and where.
I don't sell anything directly, well not very often anyway, as it is more effective for me to ship full container loads to the SD distributors than to answer dozens of emails for a single order.
Each country has their own needs and each distributor is free to stock what they think that their customers will buy in a reasonable time. We all (the distributors and me) have very slow moving items while other products seem to fly off the self. Other items seem to be "seasonal" in that they sleep for awhile and suddenly we get a rush on them that outstrips the supply. It is always so hard to figure where exactly to spend the inventory dollar to get the best balance.
Each distributor has the pulse of his customer's demands that I am not privy to because they insulate me from the many thousands of individual emails and sales. That's both good and bad as it frees me to be more productive but I don't have the intimate access to everyone's particular wants. I rely on this forum and the distributor's feedback to create new items and also to cull the products that under-perform.
The total lineup of items that StillDragon produces is getting bloated with many under-performing products that need to be savagely culled to streamline the operation and help focus asset allocation toward the faster selling items. It helps no-one for us to have $$ tied up in inventory that is not selling while making customers wait up to 2 months to get the hot selling item that they want.
Just because I believe in something and think it is a great idea does not make it so. For example, I produced a few hundred SS triclamp x copper pipe adapters and they took forever to sell. Finally they have sold out but the effort to reproduce them, the minimum order required to produce them again, the money needed that could be better spent elsewhere... well, you get the point, it's simply not worthwhile. I was proud at the time to have originated this unique item but it's not worth the effort to produce them again.
StillDragon is, and probably always will be, evolving and changing within the modular concept that we created and embrace.
How exactly can I share my complete database of so many hundreds of always changing products? I don't know. Let me work on it awhile and maybe an answer will present itself.
Glad this few replies have been added, made me realise i haven't orderd 6" x5" reducers to go from the boilers to the new 5" Dashes. I've got a feeling i'm going to need some :))
Email coming your way Boss.
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
+1 @Myles :D
Something like this?
Doesn't contain everything. Boilers and stuff are not shown. Some items shown are obsolete.
That would do it. Put it somewhere in the introduction section as a reference document, so your customers can check if there is something available (but not normally stocked) that they could ask their distributor to get as a 1 off.
Uuu, ahhh 5" super duper dephlem prototype arrived just now...
Be the first to see it. Hoping to run it in a day or two but need to connect @olddog's controller first. If alright, I'll give the nod for production to begin. Shown with a 2" end cap for scale.
It's the one on the left. In the middle is the newly updated 6" dephlem prototype and on the right is the first 4" x 510mm product shotgun condenser, you can't see it but it got dinged on the side during shipping :(
All are tallish with more cooling pipes. Folks have been asking for a more powerful 6" dephlegmator and I think this will fit the bill. The 4" x 510mm product shotgun is simply overkill which is exactly what some people want.
My personal 5" Crystal Dragon.
Yep, that's a 4"x20" (510mm) product shotgun condenser.
6 plates will crank out 7L of clean hearts per hour easily. Probably more with more experience driving it.
3x 2400 watt elements does a fine job but hoping to swap out one element for a bit more power just to see how much the still can handle.
Very, very nice @Lloyd. That certainly is a serious rig you have.
Could you stack another 6 plates on top, or even a customized 4 plater to bring it up to ceiling height? Also what is the gauge for?
Yep I'm jealous ^:)^
You bet @Philter, it could easily have more plate sections added.
The new bubble plate details have been obscured in the picture until they are stocked by the distributors and I only have 6 complete prototype plates at the moment to enjoy. I'd like to add about 4 more plates to see if the hearts cuts can be drawn off at a much faster speed while maintaining the same high quality spirit. But I'm very happy with 7+ liters per hour until more plates and more power are available.
The gauge on the boiler is actually a little silly... it measures 0 to 6 bars of pressure and temperature. The pressure needle has never moved as it really should be something like 0 to 0.6 bar. The thermometer is VERY slow to change and @olddog's boiler sensor has that beat mercilessly with near instantaneous and accurate digital readings.
The 5" SS Bubble Tees have arrived and they look very nice. Will post up a picture of them soon.
Staged several shots trying to get scale. The 2" end caps help to demonstrate size.
Pics show 4", 5" and 6" Bubble Tees, Sight Towers and CD glass and gaskets.
Contact your distributor if you are interested as they are now placing their first orders for the new 5" stuff. No obligation to buy but at least you'll be at the top of the list when they get stocks.
I can run a 4" Dash but sadly I find that a 6" column is beyond my ability to power, as I think many home distillers can attest to.
So a 5", at least for me, made the best sense. Cheaper than a 6" but more expensive than a 4" yet the production speed is about double that of a 4" with the new plate system.
More pics to follow tomorrow after installing on the still.
@Lloyd is there going to be perforated plates in the 5" too or just the caps?
Better than both. Wait and see. ^:)^
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
okay @punkin your making my decision harder by the minute now.
might be a stupid question, but for those of us with 4" setups...is there a way to balance the plates if you mixed in some 5" plates? Or am I to assume there's no way you could balance the different sizes well?
I don't believe that experiment has been done yet. Now you've alerted him to the question the chances are that it'll be answered pretty quick though... :))
StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand
@irishman, there were tests, or experiments, where a 6" plate was under a 4" column but I don't recall if it had any value - probably not, probably the 6" simply acted as a 4" because of the natural restriction of the 4" atop it.
4" bubble stills are always going to be great. They easily produce more than the average family needs. The biggest reason that we embarked on developing the 5" is because it was missing from the SD lineup. 6" is too big for most folks including me to power it but 5", well, if you can muster about 7+Kw of boiler power then it's a viable option to being able to double the production speed of a 4". Just about the perfect size for a small, startup distillery.
I don't believe that many will eBay their 4" to buy a 5" but I suspect a few will.
I personally have never been able so far, as my circuit breakers are quite small compared to what is enjoyed in USA, to power a 6" Dash but I can and do run the prototype 5" Dash with the 7200 watts that's currently available.
I was, and still am, a 4" Dash person at heart but the 5" is my way of breaking into a more professional setup with automation. The 5" is also the test bed for some new technology that SD is developing and after some time that tech, and hopefully the automation, will be available to the entire lineup, including the 4". That upgrade path is months away but I doubt there will be any advantage for existing 4" Dash owners to spend the extra money - I don't see the cost/benefit as favorable to replacing your entire 4" plate, but I could be wrong. I want you to have that option, though.
The 5" is a complete system with everything that the 4" has, and perhaps a bit more. It is supported with the full range of reducers, clamps, custom gaskets, it's own 5" dephlegmator, etc... It will be available in stainless with SGKs and in Crystal Dragon.
I've been toying with the idea of a 3" Dash. Targeted mainly for use with a 20 liter (5 gallon) milk can. I strongly suspect that stove top size is more than adequate for booze self-sufficiency as many folks still do 5 to 6 gallon ferments. In all truth, 2" is too small, 3" a bit big and 2.5", although the ideal size, is too oddball because of the investment needed to support it with (copy and paste) the full range of reducers, clamps, custom gaskets, it's own 2.5" dephlegmator, etc...
We already have the complete line of 3" reducers, tees and stuff so it would be quite easy to develop if I received any positive feedback suggesting an interest.
I did a 6 under 4 and the benefits with my power source were not really measurable. The thing ran like a straight 4.
StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America
Lloyd - Yeah, I completely understand....but then you have to go and post new shiny toys to tempt me...
I certainly don't NEED anything more than the 4" tower...but my jump from a pot to the 4" CD setup was to maximize time available to me. As I'm sure many here can attest, when you get time away from kids/family to pursue a hobby, you want to maximize the time you've got.
For me, that means i'm willing to spend more on a 4" or 5" setup, because the production rate becomes the limiting factor on how long a run takes.
Again...no one ever said I NEEDED it...but it's so shiny and new...
Welcome to my world @irishman!
I mentioned a few times before that I could have ANY still that I wanted (that SHE would let me have) and truly that led me to develop the 5".
I didn't need it, I just wanted it. And then olddog said automation and, well, you know how it goes.
Hoping to get a run in tomorrow with the sensors moved to the new locations.
Promised pics but failed to do it, maybe tomorrow.
Question I have my boiler has a 4" opening would it be better to just stay with a 4" column or would it be a benefit to go to a 5" column as far as production speed ?
A 5x4 reducer at your boiler will have no real affect because the restriction is so short.
The 5" trials are producing about twice the output as the 4".
Finally have a run in progress and will update in a couple of hours.
Yes @olddog changing the sensor location made a big difference.
The swing in vapor temperature during the heads was still a bit wide but during the hearts the swing was consistently between 0.2 to 0.3 of a degree C. Nice improvement.
Hearts production was steady at just over 6 liters per hour at ~94% ABV with six 5" plates. I usually get about 3 liters per hour with a 4" bubble column. 7200 watts may be a bit thin for the 5" column. If 1000 more watts or so was available to the boiler it surely would have been used. I don't feel that 7200 watts is maxing out the column.
Will keep the middle 2 or 3 liters as is because it's just that good. The liter or two before and after that will be added to oak aging stock and the rest will be recycled on the next run.
Smooth as silk all the way through this run and though there was some PID button pressing to do I never once touched a valve to fiddle with water flow.
I though you would like the run with the different sensor position, it does make a difference.
@Lloyd how tall do you think a complete 4 and 6 plate column would be? Any idea on price yet?
The dephlem is about 2" taller than the normal 4" dephlem, everything else is the same height.
My personal 6 plater is right at 4 foot tall.
Please ask your distributor for pricing as each has different import costs.