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Leopold Bros - Giants at Rockies this weekend

This discussion was created from comments split from: The Wordless Picture Thread.

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  • edited August 2019

    Giants at Rockies this weekend

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

  • edited August 2019

    Dominoes waiting to happen:

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  • edited August 2019

    One of a kind custom built three chamber rye whiskey still (they say it is way noisy and needs constant attention to drive)

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

  • edited August 2019

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  • edited August 2019

    16 open fermenters made from Oregon pine. There are windows that open from the fermentation floor onto an organic garden specifically planted for inoculating the open fermenters with indigenous wild microflora!

    Who does that outside of Belgium?

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  • edited August 2019

    Oh yeah, they do amazing whiskies and eau de vies on Carl stills as well:

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  • edited August 2019

    And the rickhouse:

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  • If you come to Denver and can only do one distillery tour, this is the one.

    Leopold Bros are the real deal.

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

  • If that 3 chamber was built as per the old drawing I can see why she is such a demanding attention seeker.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Smaug's stacked thumpers.

  • edited August 2019

    @grim said: Smaug's stacked thumpers.

    That's how I ended up solving the bad behavior. But after reading a bunch of literature that describes how they were run,,(and how the finished product had such complexity) I'm not so sure how much good behavior brings to the table? But I am increasingly more convinced that recycling heads and tails is not a bad thing for whiskey production. Stumpy's rig surely changed my mind on that.

    In any case, I'm a fan of the deeper liquid bed.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited August 2019

    Did you get to see the 3 chamber in action @Kapea?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • @kapea and @smaug. I have to come through Denver on occasion so thanks for the tip. Looks great. I love the look of the open top fermenters in oak. Thats really classy.

  • edited August 2019

    Rife with trigger points for bad behavior.

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  • edited August 2019

    The three-chamber was built from old plans from pre-prohibition days. Super secret project while under construction at Vendome, but now you are allowed to look and photo any of it you want.

    I did not see it running. It was Saturday and all activities were tours and tasting room sales, no production or packaging.

    They do their own floor malting there, and have a huge three story malting facility under construction. The plan is to supply malt to local brewers and distillers.

    The wooden fermenters are about six feet tall. The woman is standing on a step/platform in the photo above. She invited me to stick a finger in the active ferment and taste the wort - rye malt, barley malt and corn. Very complex and pleasant tasting.

    All of their spirits I tasted are exceptionally good.

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

  • edited August 2019

    @smaug. I was thinking about the cross section and the deeper liquid bed and I was thinking you could probably get the same effect by making your jumbo sized bubble caps really tall. Rather than been 50mm tall make them 150mm tall inside a 200mm section. and make the drain that high as well ( obviously) as the drain inlet level should be the same height as the cap. That would be a minor modification to an existing design you could sell as an option. Or at least get someone to try it.

  • edited August 2019

    @DonMateo said: smaug. I was thinking about the cross section and the deeper liquid bed and I was thinking you could probably get the same effect by making your jumbo sized bubble caps really tall. Rather than been 50mm tall make them 150mm tall inside a 200mm section. and make the drain that high as well ( obviously) as the drain inlet level should be the same height as the cap. That would be a minor modification to an existing design you could sell as an option. Or at least get someone to try it.

    That is exactly correct. The bubble caps could be designed just like the ProCaps with respect to a fully integrated downcomer. And that would eliminate those ridiculous manually operated drains.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Hey Smaug. You keen on doing a prototype if I order a dozen of them in a two inch diameter cap with say a height of 150mm?? I am not in a hurry for them as I have many things to do and invest my money on between now and the end of the year but I will sign up and buy some if you want.

  • @DonMateo said: Hey Smaug. You keen on doing a prototype if I order a dozen of them in a two inch diameter cap with say a height of 150mm?? I am not in a hurry for them as I have many things to do and invest my money on between now and the end of the year but I will sign up and buy some if you want.

    How many? There may be a mold cost associated with doing that? I would be so excited to do that if the numbers were right.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • I would take 12 if you want to make them.

  • edited August 2019

    @DonMateo said: I would take 12 if you want to make them.

    Kk. Let me see if we can do them without having to make a mold.

    Downcomer ID 2"? Or cap OD 2"?

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  • Cap OD2" I want to have the big enough I can fit in a 4" SD column to test the theory. Ie put three of my SD 4" day 200mm vertical height T sections and put one of these in each one. I am getting 12 for if ever my tank guy finishes my 1000l boiler. Sorry I cant buy it from you guys. I need things I can fit in a suitcase.

  • Yeah, the thread did wander off into the chamber still weeds a bit.

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

  • edited August 2019

    @Kapea said: Dominoes waiting to happen:

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    Ouch! We pay ~ $2/pound for once-used bourbon barrel staves,and I though that was spendy.

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • @DonMateo said: smaug. I was thinking about the cross section and the deeper liquid bed and I was thinking you could probably get the same effect by making your jumbo sized bubble caps really tall. Rather than been 50mm tall make them 150mm tall inside a 200mm section. and make the drain that high as well ( obviously) as the drain inlet level should be the same height as the cap. That would be a minor modification to an existing design you could sell as an option. Or at least get someone to try it.

    Couldn’t you just extend the entrance of the downcomer hole on top and achieve the same result? What would that be... a piece of 1/2” copper pipe?

  • edited August 2019

    @zymurgybob said: Ouch! We pay ~ $2/pound for once-used bourbon barrel staves,and I though that was spendy.

    If those staves weigh 5 lbs - same same as yours.

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

  • edited August 2019

    @Kapea said: If those staves weigh 5 lbs - same same as yours.

    Maybe the bunghole staves, the wide ones (which we use) get that heavy, I'm not sure. I'll have to check that.

    Zymurgy Bob, a simple potstiller

    my book, Making Fine Spirits

  • I am a Leopold Bros fanboy. I haven't even had their spirits yet, I just love all the good stuff process wise they do.

    I so want a 3 chamber still. I was looking at trying to mimic this via a thumper by putting grain in mash in one. One of the things that Todd Leopold said was that it was the steam hitting the grain that made the magic reaction.

    For bubble caps wouldn't you have a lot of hydrostatic pressure to overcome? And wouldn't you have to have pressure present in order to keep the wash from going down the bubble caps in the upper chambers?

  • The caps have to be designed with tolerances for grain is all. I'd use big, external downcomers as well.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

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