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Too Late To Stop

edited August 2016 in General

Well guys and girls,

I just ordered my first boiler go to with my SD columns. The town planning approval is in and working on other things like trademarks and labels etc.

Do or do not, there is no try. As master Yoda says. Thanks to all the folks on this board for posting their knowledge and experience. I will be posting photos when I start running my test recipes. I have 27 whiskey recipes and 14 gin recipes to test.

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Comments

  • Go man go

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • God speed, it's going to be a hell of a ride.

  • Good for you mate. Looking forward to the pics. Those columns have certainly seen a lot of the world.

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

  • Still waiting for my trademark license license for one of my products here in SA and has has just been published for objections. Now almost 2 years.

    I understand that this internationally normal ??

  • Good for you! With that collection of recipes you will be busy for a very long time to come :) Looking forward to your pics!

  • Thanks MOD. If your starting up I highly recommend the book Alt Whiskeys by Derek Bell. Lots of great alternative ideas for whiskeys.

  • @DonMateo said: Thanks MOD. If your starting up I highly recommend the book Alt Whiskeys by Derek Bell. Lots of great alternative ideas for whiskeys.

    He's the guy from Corsair,right? They have really pushed the envelope there. I have 2 of their barrels now.

  • Yes he is the guy from Corsair. Its a great book. Well worth the 20 bucks. You can get it from Amazon. When I start making whiskey which will be in about 6 weeks. I am in Armenia on a job, I am going to learn the basis and then start with some alternative grains, I can get triticale here really cheaply.

  • Tritcale is a favourite of mine. I did some trit years ago and found it spicy and complex.

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

  • Yes mate. I have quite a few combinations to try. I cant wait to do some tritcale blends of bourbon and some triticale and 15% smoked barley. I have to buy my grain grinder first.

  • Tried the Dry Fly trit the other day, the barrel proof wheat one too. That's to sort if thing I want to explore more.

  • That book by Derek Bell is great. I have read it about 10 times. Hey jackson was the dry fly trit aged or white dog?

  • edited September 2016

    This guy

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  • edited September 2016

    Be careful if you use quadrotriticale. It is a powerful tribble attractant!

    (Today is the 50th anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Star Trek)

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    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • I love Star Trek. Live long and Prosper.

  • edited December 2016

    Well guys and gals,
    Here are photos of my first boiler. The next one will be a bit shorter and fatter. It just needs some legs and we are good to go. I this is not a SD product but I had to get it made locally. Argentina is tough for importing things.

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  • Looks tops mate.

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

  • Thanks mate. It took me kicking the fabricator for 5 months. Small tanks in the wone industry here are 10000 litres.

  • Wow. That looks really nice.

  • Thanks mate. I just need two more.

  • edited October 2017

    I just finished my first two gin Runs with my StillDragon Gin Basket on my 150l boiler, Only doing 50 litre runs with 20% pure alcohol. They turned out very nicely actually. The first was a classic london dry gin copy, like a Bombay sapphire, and the second one was spicy with, clove, cinamon ginger and cassia with some lavender. The second one came out a very close copy to an Ophir Gin.

    Thanks to everyone on the board and the Gin masters out there. Now comes the hard part, trying to sell it.

  • Love a good news story lately

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

  • @DonMateo top stuff mate. glad to hear you're making some nice product

  • You need to consider increasing the percentage to 30% for better / improved botanical oils carry over.

  • edited October 2017

    @richard The question is then do you have to water down in the end to proof. By starting at 20 % it turns out smack on for me at 46% . My botanicals seen really dead and extracted at the end so it appears as the job has been done well. Do you think we are missing out by starting that low as even at 20 % it initially comes off pretty high % to get the oils out. Interesting thoughts.

    Good stuff @DonMateo nice to see some product i bet. Give it a few days then into a nice G & T to test it out - At least you are in the southern hemisphere so the time is right for that one.

  • @GD50 : not only you do you get better extraction by using 30% you also get more product after dilution so you can use a smaller boiler. Mixing tanks are a lot cheaper than boilers, got a new 800L stainless steel one for 416 euro. Try getting a big boiler with all the electric equipment for that price... And if needed I can use the mixing tank as a fermentor as well.

  • edited October 2017

    I in honesty have as of recent become an avid fan of Odin and his distillation ideoligy. Simply put it's quite different. Have a read to his GIN post on ADI forum....

  • @squeakyclean - not disagreeing or agreeing . More product requires more herbs and the GB4 cant handle that. I already put more juniper in the riser. Being hobby all i am after is a great "rosie " product so to be able to say "Straight from still " with no added extras is great. So 45l at 20 % and a full GB4 plus a bit extra in column just about peaks it out and right final % . To start at 30% is going to give me more product but where am i going to put the botanicals - then i most likely am going to have to dilute. The bit that does tickle my interest is the "better extraction" and does better extraction mean better final product or just more cost effective. If cost effective was the criteria then i would buy great gins from around the world and not have bought all my still gear.

    In an ideal world we all could afford a big boiler and punkins new ground mounted gin basket - but I have not got that many friends to give it too. If you knew where i lived you could say there is plenty of alcohol restrictions on a certain group of people and i would have a "ready" black market . That aint going to happen.

    @richard will definitely read that. My processes are not fixed in concrete and always open.

    Final thought - A family member sent me a Christmas present suggestion . Someone is doing a Gin Taster Calendar of Gins from around the world $177 A . 24 gins . Just search "The Gin Calendar " - all reviews are 5 star.

  • edited October 2017

    Post infusion dilution of gin to drinking strength mutes the botanical flavors. I believe the effervescence caused by dilution carries away some of the more volatile flavor/aroma compounds.
    If you want better flavor run 20% and collect at bottling strength.
    If you want economy run 30% and dilute.

    Do a juniper only run, dilute to that to 20% and use it as the base spirit for your all-in-one gin infusion run. That tastes even better still (pun intended). Kind of a hybrid maceration/infusion thing.

    Of course to us small batch hobby guys economy is of little importance. Flavor is the driver.
    Repeatability is way important too.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

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