Today in the Shed

CothermanDistilling

I ran the 'black night' helmet yesterday with 60g of ~40% low wines to see what the whiskey would be like, I got 6 - 5gal soda kegs off after tossing a liter of fores...

Interesting... at one element, the helmet seemed to really help with fores compression, it was 10ml/min for nearly half an hour, then shot up to 220ml/min... I tossed a liter, then I took the first 5gal, which tastes way better than it should, then upped to 2 elements and got 490ml/min, which is crazy high for me for that power level... kegs were 79%,77%,74%, 70%, and did notmeasure the last two, they were hideously tails.. shut off at 201degrees F on the vapor, leaving a bit, but I got what I wanted... will dilute samples today to 40% and compare containers to previous 3-plate whiskey, may put 1-3 in new 5G barrels I have just to learn.... could be an expensive test, so treading carefully... I have 130gal more of that low wines to test, may do one plate under the helmet, may just do 1 and 2 plates in CD housing...

anyone every see plate(s) under the helmet?

grim

You take a big heads cut on the low wines strip? Surprised you went right into the kegs.

I would imagine your heads cut would fall anywhere from nearing the end of keg 1, into the start of keg 2. Based on my numbers anyway.

CothermanDistilling

soda kegs, not barrels... aired out over night, will taste today/tomorrow... I have them airing out under a cloth..

grim

Yeah corny keg - we do exactly the same.

CothermanDistilling

I seem to be more sensative to tails than heads, the first liter was awful, just like compressed fores, but the first 5-gal is only slightly headsy, really pleasant, the 2nd one is good, but less complex, by the time I get to the 3rd of 6, I am kinda turned off by the tails... granted, no plates, maybe a half a plate worth of reflux in the helmet

grim

We cut pretty tight into small barrels. With compression we are about 12% heads cut (of total yield).

We are tight on tails as well, but we find the best flavor/character right before transition, cut too early and it's very thin/light.

CothermanDistilling

of 60gal/~50Proof-Gal, debating the following, dumping feints in with next 60g run..

6Proof-Gal as hearts in a 5gal barrel (120proof), or 12PG in 2 5g barrels, or 18PG (15gal in a 15gal barrel)

maybe you need to visit or I need to send samples ;-) the only thing I wish i had, access to is another person with a bit of experience nosing good vs bad raw whiskey

DonMateo

Hey @cothermandistilling, how big is that boiler your running ??

CothermanDistilling

380L

DonMateo

Thanks mate !

GD50

So today in the shed i put together the 6 crystal plate extension on my 4 plate 5 inch ss beast. So punkin supplies me ss rod to tie it all together and its too long and looks like it is designed for 8 plates.

Two options cut rod and go with 10 plate ( 6 crystal 4 ss with 3" pc and only 50l boiler with 7200w elements).

Such a waste of that ss rod.

Buy two more lenses and plates to utilize the rod and end up with 12 pro plates.

I hate waste so i think my mind is made up. Its only money and we work to live AND buy toys and take my sweet pea out to dinner once in a while. I can foresee that 50 l boiler ending up being a weak link in my dream but the boilers are a quantum jump that requires a bit more than pocket money. Damn.

Can someone PLEASE comment that i will get a better result with 12 on 10 and that i am not just in love with shiny things.

jacksonbrown

Of Cause your will :-bd

Curators_Reserve

Who else out there is utilizing this volume or similar botanical basket/ carter head..?

After being up close & personal with Bombay's Carter Head Vapour infusion & botanicals demand per run I certainly respect the merits & commercial reality of this size kit.

Dare i ask for more info on the internal design/ basket/ chamber layout.. multiple layers or individual chambers per botanical or blended botanicals per chamber?

"I have no quarrel with you, good Sir Knight, but I must cross this bridge.."

FloridaCracker

@GD50 said: So today in the shed i put together the 6 crystal plate extension on my 4 plate 5 inch ss beast. So punkin supplies me ss rod to tie it all together and its too long and looks like it is designed for 8 plates.

Two options cut rod and go with 10 plate ( 6 crystal 4 ss with 3" pc and only 50l boiler with 7200w elements).

Such a waste of that ss rod.

Buy two more lenses and plates to utilize the rod and end up with 12 pro plates.

I hate waste so i think my mind is made up. Its only money and we work to live AND buy toys and take my sweet pea out to dinner once in a while. I can foresee that 50 l boiler ending up being a weak link in my dream but the boilers are a quantum jump that requires a bit more than pocket money. Damn.

Can someone PLEASE comment that i will get a better result with 12 on 10 and that i am not just in love with shiny things.

Bad news; The love for shiny things will only get worse.

I too have a 5" column with 4 plates and found my 50l boiler to be too small. I'm working on a new boiler now. Since I'm not a pro, I couldn't justify the coin for a nice, new SD boiler so I am making one out of a SS tank. Send a picture of your hybrid Dash/Crystal Dragon. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to see it.

punkin

The rods come in one metre length, for a 4 plate i cut them in half, but for a six there is more than half a metre. I sometimes cut them in aroundabout length so the customer can do the final trim, but get lazy at other times.

The excess usually goes in my stainless welders scrap bin for recycling (and his beer money) and i too chaff at the waste but have never been able to decide a better use for the offcuts.

Not sure if there is enough room for 8 plates, but give it a measure and if so i'm happy to send them down to you.

CothermanDistilling

@Curators_Reserve said: Who else out there is utilizing this volume or similar botanical basket/ carter head..? "I have no quarrel with you, good Sir Knight, but I must cross this bridge.."

search this forum for the word 'cartman'... Corsair uses one, also someone else out in the western US

punkin

@Curators_Reserve you could also give Simon at @HurdleCreek stills a call. He has a 50l conical setup as a gin basket. If you search his posts you'll find some pics and explanations here of it.

HurdleCreek

@punkin said: Curators_Reserve you could also give Simon at HurdleCreek stills a call. He has a 50l conical setup as a gin basket. If you search his posts you'll find some pics and explanations here of it.

@Curators_Reserve The current hard piped configuration with the crystal dragon, a bypass and the concical connected with 2 3-way valves. We can direct vapour directly from the pot through the empty conical to work like like a helmet or after the column, either as a gin basket or fill it with scrubbers as a second packed column.

punkin

Thanks Simon.

Curators_Reserve

HurdleCreek/ Simon.

Yes i have followed your previous forum posts - did fail to realise your in VIC.

Great set-up - any chance you would advise where to or not to source botanicals in AUS?

HurdleCreek

@Curators_Reserve said: HurdleCreek/ Simon.

Yes i have followed your previous forum posts - did fail to realise your in VIC.

Great set-up - any chance you would advise where to or not to source botanicals in AUS?

I depends, some stuff such as corriander, fennel, citrus we try to grow ourselves or "borrow" from neighbours. We forage our pink peppercorns - there are trees all over the district. Some natives, such as lemon myrtle and aniseed myrtle to ty to buy direct from the growers. Juniper I tend to buy in bulk & shop around a bit - it all seems to oriinate from countries in the former Yugoslavia. Most of the other minor botanicals I've been buying from Austral Herbs in kg or so quanitites.

Hope that helps.

jez

400mm x 5" packed section now full of copper

Unsensibel

Mashing yesterday was an absolute struggle.
Started late due to Comcast chasing issues with my cable.
30# of grain in 12 gal cooler. Too fine of a grind and couldn't use my RIMS as it was clogging the whole time.
Ended up decoction mashing 1 gallon at a time to get the temp up, only getting up to 60C before I gave up at night.
Left the whole mess in cooler overnight in the hopes that the amylase is going to do the job as well at lower temp if left for long enough. Will check tonight...

CothermanDistilling

ordered Metal to make my own barrel racks out of stainless, ordered a couple different good saw blades for my Makita LC1230 cold cut chop saw(1300rpm)... 10 cuts of 1.5" 304SS 0.065 wall square tubing with supposed 'stainless cutting' blades and they were melting, not cutting the tube... contemplated buying used cold saw for $2000, kept my eye one one, but it sold before I could look at it, a friend mentioned he had one that he was getting rid of, had been sitting outside in his metal recycling yard for years (uh-oh, tight?)... traded a few bottles of stuff to him for delivering it... weighs about 800lbs I am guessing.. soaked in de-greaser, power washed, lubed with a whole tube of grease, siphoned out and flushed the coolant tank, ran three phase in conduit 100ft over and behind everything that could possibly be in the way, added new coolant and water, fired it up, some bearing noise, but that subsided.. (need to change worm gear oil, I am guessing a bit of moisture got in there)

And a video of it getting fired up for the first time, even an old, completely rusted blade cut through the steel... 10 cuts and the last was just like the first...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h70fsOr7F8U

FloridaCracker

That's a hell of a score on that saw. Went through that stainless with ease.

grim

I really want a benchtop orbital tube welder machine.

CothermanDistilling

I got a friend that built a rotary thingamabob... he is an awesome welder

Jay Lesher @ Facebook

grim

4000 pounds of glorious rye to mill...

Kapea

Mointoring water quality in a waterfall where a movie is being filmed.

jez

cut, rolled and fabricated in a day, time for a beer :)