Who is ready to see Franken Dragon get built?

CothermanDistilling

ran on junkahol yesterday and made great tasting product, drained, rinsed, filled this morning with good high-wines, and talking heads that are pretty damn tasty now at about 5l/hr, will ramp to 10l/hr when hearts kick in... I ran out of vodka in the gift shop Tuesday when some folks from Alaska stopped by and bought the last bottle... I think batch 4 will be the continuation of each batch getting better and better by a large amount... if I can get 20L that is great, will dilute and package... need to get product in bottle!

Smaug

Awesome Michael. Sounds like you are starting to develop good problems to have.

punkin

I love a success story.

FloridaCracker

The pictures don't really show the roof above the current setup. What will you have to cut when you want to expand again? I'm guessing that rain will be an issue then.

CothermanDistilling

yes... but I will stop at 20 8" plates I am sure... well... maybe.... how many sections to crush a 380L??? I think I could fit 30...

punkin

We do floor mount, so you can put as many plates as you want in successive columns.

Kapea

@CothermanDistilling you could always build one of those captain's walk decks that are so popular in beach communties in Florida and hit 55-60 plates, easy! B-)

grim

10l/hr on a hybrid setup with 4" plates is a pretty respectable number - 20 8" plates will fly.

captainshooch

I am just going to have to come over an visit with ya Mike, looks great and should do, :-bd

CothermanDistilling

@captainshooch - I just made batch 4 of 727 vodka and almost as clean as your 16-plate stuff... I think with 20 plates that i could run harder and get 15-20l/hr of really good....

also, with the 14, I had the hydrometer lower than ever before for a given temp... but taking a sample at a bit less than 10l/hr and using my high-buck 1/10th degree F thermometer and my high-buck 189-200proof hydrometer, a correction showed I barely made 190....... so room to improve, and hopefully improve while keeping some malted barley character..

we got the first case bottled and labeled just in time for our 4pm opening, and had nothing but compliments from gift shop visitors and purchasers, but my wife and I got a very slight off aroma when it was at 80F or above that may not have really been there, it is that we have just smelled thousands of samples int he past 6 months... need some experts to come give an honest opinion... anyway, got 9 total cases of batch 4 bottled while we watched our hockey team won and made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs...

Kapea

You are always your own worst critic. Your customers' opinions and feedback are what make the cash register ring. (who drinks vodka at 80F+ ?)

Note on the word expert:
Ex = a has-been.
Spert = a leak under pressure.

Therefore: Expert = a has-been leak under pressure. :D

captainshooch

Mike is striving to supply the best product he can, hats off to ya man. Keep up the good work :-bd

captainshooch

No offense Kapea, it isprobably the hardest thing anyone has ever done, is put up their product up for judgement. Mike has got it and time will tell, he aint playing. 727 is going places...

Kapea

My point is that taste is subjective. You are always way more critical of your own creations than anyone else would be. I taste my own products and often go, "Meh, it's not quite there." Then have someone whose opinion I trust tell me it's really good. When I taste it again it tastes a whole lot better than it did before. Just as often the opposite happens too.

I spent many years in and around the beer judge certification program and the GABF. Ultimately I learned, more often than not, an "expert" is the one with the biggest ego, over-developed self confidence, and not neccesarily any better at it than I am. The really good ones tend to stay away from the spotlight.

I am certain 727 is very good and getting better. The real blue ribbon/gold medal is what the people who buy it think.