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Grip's 8" Crystal Dragon

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  • edited March 2014

    Haha, I can kinda understand. I owned a welding shop for many years and as it grew I did less work in the shop and more in the office until finally my foreman asked me not to go into the shop too often - that it took him quite awhile to calm some workers because they thought I was "focusing on them".
    My task then, a bit like now, was to develop products and set standards for the employees to follow. I usually spent a lot of time and resources to make the very first one of something, usually costing many, many times more than it could possibly be sold for. If it was a hit (and many were not) then production had to be developed, streamlined and refined. Tools and machines were bought or made, materials sourced, outsourcing of powder coating or plating arranged, etc... When it was all flowing fine, and I just wanted to see it operating, my presence could make the workers nervous - I tend to fixate on a problem until a solution is found. That fixation was mistakenly interpreted as the evil eye.
    I know of at least one new employee that simply walked out and never came back because I "looked" at him.

    It just feels so natural to always strive for making something better. To slowly bend a product to my will. To see something in need of refinement is only a tiny first step. It takes commitment to not give up when people you respect poo poo the idea - I fell for that more than once!
    Then to actually develop and market it and listen to the copycats boast about their great insight - it can make a fellow sad. Go ahead @Fiji_Spirits, spread them hugs around >:D<

  • edited March 2014

    It's OK @Fiji_Spirits, Sometimes the fumes make me a bit emotional!! Mash all done and dusted. Fermenting very strongly, so much so that the chiller is running full tilt to keep the temperature in the low 30s. Figuring on doing the stripping runs later this week. My aim is going to be to go a little slower this time and see if I can get a purer product (possibly 70% all in) I believe that it's well possible. We are still running the still in the storage area of the brewery whilst the builders are preparing a room that will be 'The Distillery'. That's going well but it won't be ready for probably a couple of weeks. I'll post photos when it's done.

  • Thanks @Lloyd, I certainly feel hugged >:D<

  • lol... ok bring it on in... group hug I guess... :D

  • Thanks for sharing!

  • edited April 2014

    Right.. The still is filled with about 300/325 litres of 45% stripped spirit. The column has been cleaned of all of the 'new kit' staining (easily done). I've made a few mods to the cooling pipework. Now I'm ready to go. Tomorrow is our first 'Vodka' run. Scarey stuff! In fact the present contents of the boiler are actually drinkable; not good - about 'very cheap supermarket vodka' standard. Quite harsh but no off tastes, so I'm hoping for a good result, it is after all only the strip I'm tasting. I will of course let you know how we get on.

    I have to say that, 4 runs into the new kit, I am still delighted with the quality of what we've been supplied. The engineering is superb, it looks great, the DIY heater controller is unbelievably responsive. Any niggling worries I had about using someone I had never met, to build me a complex piece of equipment in a country I have never been to (with a sometimes dubious reputation), and then ship it halfway round the globe, have long since dissipated. Thanks again @Lloyd.

  • @Grip You will be very pleased I think once you taste the final spirits. I know I am with mine. And I have had nothing but rave reviews of my Vodka. Even from fellow Commercial Distillers. I had 2 other local distillers try my Vodka out the other day. And after both of them raved about how good it was they both asked if I wanted to Trade bottles of product. :-) I think that is a good sign.

    Ohh... And we want Pictures and Video of the your 1st Spirits Run....

  • Tried a single run ujsm yesterday in my CD and failed. Just couldn't get a flavour i liked, so will go back to stripping.

    One thing i noticed is that all four glasses got some staining from the strip around the line where the bubbling was once i cranked up the heat.

    I'll be making a copper 4"insert to replace the CD cartridge for stripping in the future.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Can't pretend I'm not a little excited/aprehensive about tomorrow @RedDoorDistillery . Thanks for your comments. I'm at present running the still in a fairly shitty area of the brewery while the builders sort the eventual home for it, so photos/videos would be a bit of an embarrassment (!) however I'll do what I can.

  • Hi @punkin. After 4 x stripping runs I dismantled the column and cleaned the glasses (wipe round with a damp cloth) and bubble plates (half hour soak in mild citric acid) and now it all looks squeaky clean. How it looks this time tomorrow after the 'vodka run' well you'll just have to wait and see!

  • I'll be drilling some tiny holes in the DC's and maybe one at the top of the DC like myles said while i have it apart to help in draining after the fresh water flush.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • Hang up a blue tarp or something if you need to... get the photo op as you will only get one first spirit run... :D

  • @Grip said: I have to say that, 4 runs into the new kit, I am still delighted with the quality of what we've been supplied. The engineering is superb, it looks great, the DIY heater controller is unbelievably responsive. Any niggling worries I had about using someone I had never met, to build me a complex piece of equipment in a country I have never been to (with a sometimes dubious reputation), and then ship it halfway round the globe, have long since dissipated. Thanks again Lloyd.

    You were a pleasure to deal with @Grip.
    I also had some trepidation about sending a boiler and a big glass still to your country because I'd never sent anything by sea freight to there before. So many things can go wrong, witness my experience of getting a controller from Australia, but it all worked out fine. Each country that we send a sea freight to we learn more about what that country's customs expect. You did more than most to get the shipment through by providing commodity reference numbers and that probably is why it stepped through customs so flawlessly.

    I don't usually throw in a couple of free alcoholmeters but sending replacements for broken ones is FAR more expensive than they cost :)

    And you were kind enough not to mention publicly that I screwed up on the count of 2" clamps and gaskets and needed to express a few more to you :D

    Hoping your vodka spirit run is fantastic and that it becomes the base spirit for some equally fantastic gin.

    I understand more than most about posting pictures when you don't have everything setup the way that you dream. You are having your new still area being constructed while I am simply embarrassed by the junk and clutter that now graces my stillin area after the move into a larger facility. (So if it's larger then why do I have more clutter?)
    Cleaning that up is at the bottom of a very long to-do list.

  • Remember when we almost lost @cooperville 's Dash to Japanese Customs, Lloyd? :))

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • edited April 2014

    @grip have you got a link to the heater elements you are using ? Looks great so far When I cut holes for my elements etc I bought some cheap stainless hole cutters from ebay real cheap but very effective and if properly lubricated would last a very long time @punkin those were daunting times I'm glad my industrial car cleaner for person use made its way to its right full owner without too much trouble :P

  • Okaaay! I've not ben in touch because I've been so busy and totally knackered at the end of the day but this is where we are now.

    Thursday - Spirit (Vodka) run.

    Minor problems with coolant supply - had to resort to mains water for the last third of the run (chiller unable to cope as well as I had hoped) but apart from that we managed to produce 135 litres of quite presentable 93%ish vodka - no dramas other than, because I was nervous and taking things very easy, it took forever so by the time I had finished it was virtually midnight. Boring as it may sound there is little else to report. I'm finding that a power rating of about 9Kw seems about right to keep a steady 20 litres per hour flow. More than that and the output increases and the quality decreases. Patience is all here.

    Saturday - Gin run.

    Now this was hectic and fun. Fairly full boiler (maybe 320 litres when diluted). As expected virtually no foreshots or heads so we just went for it. 400 gms of botanicals in the gin basket, utilising the full 11 plate 8" glass column, we stared producing gin at 20 litres per hour. I worked on the premise that 400 gm would flavour 15 litres of 90ish % spirit and with hindsight I don't think I was far off the mark. The first basket load produced product that had a definite yellow tinge which disturbed me somewhat, but subsequent basket loads produced totally colourless gin. I had scrubbed the GB4 and blasted steam through it for 15 minutes thinking that would clean it well enough. Guess I was wrong, manufacturing residues (oils etc. perhaps??).

    You may think that 45 minutes between basket loads is plenty of time but it seemed to me as if I was on the go all of the time. I was varying the recipe of botanicals for each basket, weighing them out, and keeping the batches separate, making sure I labelled each barrel with the batch number.

    By the end of the day I was hugely proficient at shifting the still into full reflux, swapping the baskets of botanicals, draining the residue from the base of the GB4, firing up the still again and getting the product to flow again. Lloyd at 2 minutes you are slooow!! I was doing the whole process by myself in less than a minute. If I had had help I think 30 seconds is achievable. It's all down to timing. - Turn up the dephleg just a bit before you think you need to - swap the basket - then shut down the dephleg immediately and if you get it right the interruption in flow is less than three minutes (but you do burn your fingers if you don't wear gloves - I didn't wear gloves - I'll never play the violin again, not that I ever did anyway so it's no real loss to mankind).

    One question to you all is this. What do you do with the residue from the GB4 that you drain from the base? It looks awful, cloudy and yellow, a bit like when I had.... no you really don't want me to carry on with that line. Is it useable? I'll admit I haven't had the time, or inclination to taste it yet but I guess it's very flavoured. I have 5 litres of it (at about 60%abv). My thoughts are that I will chuck it into the boiler on the next gin run (perhaps I should taste it first.

    Anyway, there you go, first gin run done and dusted. Seven different flavours to play with. We have several focus groups to try them out on to see which direction we go. So far very pleased with the results. Not much I would change next time.

    Today I took the still apart again and moved it into it's final destination, so photos will be following shortly. Incidentally the staining which occurred in the column on the first couple of runs has, since it was dismantled and cleaned, not reoccurred, so it seems it was as suggested a result of none-to-thorough initial cleaning.

  • @cooperville I have three 3Kw heaters (single phase) just ordinary domestic ones. The other one is a 12 Kw three phase unit that I got through the guy that built our brewery. I could try and find out where he gets them from if you want. As for mounting them - I used 'Essex Flanges' expensive but good. Essex is a UK based company.

  • Sorry @Fullysilenced. just too hectic to take photos - they really will follow soon.

  • Did you find the 3" shotgun enough to cool?

  • Yes, but only just! It does sometimes steam a bit but never catastrophically.

  • It is no problem to add another to the line up. 3 and a 2 can collect at 26 liters per hour.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • @Grip said: As for mounting them - I used 'Essex Flanges' expensive but good. Essex is a UK based company.

    I use these also and can't fault them. Are you using the manufactured cork ZX washers or one of the other 2 grades of rubber washers. Or did you substitute something else?

  • They recommended the cork washers. I fitted them as tight as I could and they leaked a bit, so I tightened them again (when warm) and they still leaked a small amount, so I got a serious mother of a wrench and since then they have been perfect - just gotta let em know who the boss!!. B-)

  • I know what you mean. I used a 4 foot sash clamp as a spanner to do mine. I did use fernox lsx silicon sealent on the threads for the compression nut, but that is outside the boiler. I use these fittings in a range of sizes and have never had a problem with them.

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