The original Baby Dragon, Ace of Hearts gets a little bling

captainshooch

It's a work in progress but slowly getting there. I assembled a copper "u" bend from @Smaug, added a thermoport and some copper sleeves over the threaded rods plus 2 more sections of glass and 2 more caps. :-) I am working on the condenser. Will try and finish it soon and update. The baby can is 5 gallons.

punkin

Looks fantastic. The angle of the photograph makes it look like the condensor wants yanking outwards a bit to straighten out that copper bend a little and have it hanging true.

Definitely the first six plate Ace of Hearts.

captainshooch

You are correct @punkin maybe tomorrow I'll do a bit of tweaking but done for the day. She sure is a purdy lil rig :P

punkin

Absolutely.

Lloyd

Just beautiful. Going to print that one for my wall.

captainshooch

Details of the thermoport

Lloyd

Oh my, they grow so quickly :D
Looking more like a teenager than a baby.

captainshooch

Keeping in with the tradition of the DASH series, 6 plates, I am just tickled to add it to the collection :D and she is getting all the attention lately :-\"

Smaug

Please post some numbers when you can.

Lloyd

I really think the Baby can crank out one gallon of finished 40% ABV booze per hour.
At least that's the hope.

Does not count the endless hours of waiting on the ferment, setup or tear down, cleaning, polishing, stripping runs, or stuff like that. Taking wash to collection with good cuts probably won't get you there but I'm certain that a little boiler full of low wines will.

Like @Smaug said, please post run data. The little dragon is so very cool it might surprise all of us with 6 plates. I honestly and truly never thought to run mine with other than four plates!!! ^:)^

FullySilenced

Thank You... Thank You... :D

MikeAggie

Very nice, might have to by a few more plates now that I see it.

Sadi

Very nice indeed. :-bd

Lloyd

I printed the picture and it will adorn my Wall of Fame.
Which is the opposite of the pile of rejected prototypes on my Shelf of Shame.

Myles

It is a nice rig. I will be very interested to hear if the 6 plate column will be a compatible option on that nice boiler.

I don't think I have ever seen a conclusive result regarding max column volume relative to boiler charge volume.

I assume with the 6 plate setup that you would be looking for neutral and charging at 40% or so? (As opposed to 4 plates for flavour and charging at 28% or less.)

Is that the plan?

captainshooch

Yes @Myles that is my plan. Lloyd sent me the rods for a 4 plate set up and can be easily changed from 4 to 6 but most likely keep it at 6 and 40% charge for small batches. I also have an 8 gal boiler that might be better suited but is nothing special and the lil milk can looks a lot better for the pics :\">

googe

Sexy beast capt :-). Well done mate!. Are they single caps?, what size etc?.

Myles

Add in a basic botanical basket between the copper 180 and the product condenser, and it is very close to my idealised view of a vapour infusion rig for producing single botanical essences for future blending and flavouring.

Clean neutral hearts re-diluted to 40% as your boiler charge, with no botanicals present to contaminate the boiler or plates. :D

captainshooch

@googe , Yes single ProCap per plate, 2.5" glass and plates with 2" TC connections.

@Myles , Yes sir that is on the to-do list.

captainshooch

Vinegar and sac runs scheduled for tomorrow and next day or so a true run with a 40% wash. been busy last 2 days in the shed so look forward to Monday

Lloyd

More pictures!!

sarge

This Baby Dragon, Ace of Hearts has really caught my attention. The other columns are too large for what I want. Do you think it would work well with a 15 gallon boiler and gas? This particular setup is very pleasing to the eye as well. What size is the copper on the 180. I have a lot of 2" left over from a Boka build.

Lloyd

Hi @sarge, for many years 2" packed columns and 2" pot stills on a 15.5 gallon beer keg were the norm until @olddog's 4" bubble column caught on like wildfire. So yes, a 15 gallon boiler on a gas burner would work just fine and if you don't have the hours available to run a full keg then there's nothing wrong with running half a keg-full. I'd think about 5 to 10 gallons (~20 to 40 liters) would be optimum for me.

The copper 180 bend in the picture is 2".