Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by LWTCS »

squigglefunk wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 12:12 pm
LWTCS wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 11:33 am Even from one sip to the next it feels like things can change.
the more I sip the better it tastes for sure
Well,,that for sure hahaha.
But also, the Baller ( for me) can literally have flavors that are not evident in the sip before or the sip after.

Sorry for the drift. Just trying to gauge the complexity of the Leopold rye compared to the Baller for example.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by squigglefunk »

oh I was talking about old crow
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by squigglefunk »

its the original sour mash you know
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bolverk »

I've read this whole thread as well ad the one on stilldragon....

I know it wouldn't be easy to run something like this as a hobbyist but im curious how much it could be down sized for us? I know the dwell time is important so the chambers are still going to need to be about 24" tall but could the diameter be reduced to like 4, 6, or 8"? At 6" filled to about 18"of of the 24" would make each chamber 2.1g...
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by StillerBoy »

Bolverk wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 3:15 pm I know it wouldn't be easy to run something like this as a hobbyist but im curious how much it could be down sized for us?
Have you done a time study on the length of time required to cycle each chamber.. plus the total amount of mash to do so.. that's the down side for hobbyist, plus waste while processing the first two cycle as I see it..

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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by LWTCS »

Mars has it.

I think a hobbyist could do a chamber still with some kegs with not too much trouble.

But as Mars points out it jumps into a much different level of production even when executing only a single full process. And that's after the set of runs needed to initiate the process.

Here is the recipe development system completed and ready to be packed up for ACSA in Portland this coming week

Shoot I don't know how to rotate the pic from my phone?
7B001265-D0D1-4A1F-857A-4632307F53E0.jpeg
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bushman »

LWTCS wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:23 pm Mars has it.

I think a hobbyist could do a chamber still with some kegs with not too much trouble.

But as Mars points out it jumps into a much different level of production even when executing only a single full process. And that's after the set of runs needed to initiate the process.

Here is the recipe development system completed and ready to be packed up for ACSA in Portland this coming week

Shoot I don't know how to rotate the pic from my phone?

7B001265-D0D1-4A1F-857A-4632307F53E0.jpeg
Rotated it for you Larry!
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by LWTCS »

Thanks Bushy
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bolverk »

LWTCS wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 4:23 pm Mars has it.

I think a hobbyist could do a chamber still with some kegs with not too much trouble.

But as Mars points out it jumps into a much different level of production even when executing only a single full process. And that's after the set of runs needed to initiate the process.

Here is the recipe development system completed and ready to be packed up for ACSA in Portland this coming week

Shoot I don't know how to rotate the pic from my phone?

7B001265-D0D1-4A1F-857A-4632307F53E0.jpeg

The kegs are a good idea, thanks
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bolverk »

Found this picture online... gives me the idea that it may not be terrible to try this out on a small scale... yes work, but not impossible. I love ryes and rums enough put in the work... just part of the fun for me.

So imagine this infusion/thumper setup pictured, but with 4" (or 6") x 24" spools (or 5g pony kegs) and just extend that copper thumper spout down to the bottom of the spool.

Only thing I'm really struggling with is preheating the next charge... anyone got any ideas?

After watching that Jamaican distillery interview it looks like they start it with water in the lower chamber and once middle chamber has been stripped they drop everything down a level and that's when things really start... I imagine that distillate from that first half batch could be added to your last half batch to complete the run although those two might be a bit off flavor so they should be saved on the side and evaluated individually.

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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by cob »

I reread this thread over the last couple of days, sure looks familiar.

viewtopic.php?t=11436
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bolverk »

Funny I just saw the video on YouTube where he was showing this build this morning.... I don't know the thread it was associated with
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

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cob wrote: Tue Feb 07, 2023 9:16 pm I reread this thread over the last couple of days, sure looks familiar.

viewtopic.php?t=11436

That was long before I ever heard of a chamber still lol.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bolverk »

Ok, I've been obsessing over this for far too long to give up and use kegs. I think I can do this with 10" x 12" spools (yes I know, not quite tall enough to get the 4psi in the Leopold 3 chamber) and 1. 5" tubing (for the plumbing) for about about a grand.

Doing this vertically and charging the "right" way is the only way to make the labor not completely ridiculous. (I know i said above it would be worth it, but shit man... that's a lot of work 🤣)

10" of liquid height x 10" diameter pipe = 785cu in or 3.39gal per chamber. If I make a 40 plus gallons of 10% wash I'd be able to cycle this enough times that this could be worth doing on a small scale.

I guess I'll try to make cuts the best I can but from what I've read heads and tails are going to be smeared throughout. So this may just turn into a really expensive double retort but eff it, part of the fun is building stuff.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by shadylane »

A no-weld and cheap option would be.
5 gallon Cornelius kegs sitting on stair steps and use bulkhead fittings for the plumbing.
I'd try it myself, but I'm getting too far behind on all the other projects.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Bolverk »

Agreed, it would be cheaper to do the kegs... but juggling the kegs around, dumping and refilling seems like a big waste of time. Also, my brother owns a fab shop the most the welding is gonna cost me getting to hang out with him and buying lunch... I ain't hating on that 😂

The big reason I feel like doing this as designed is important is something I didn't see mentioned here or in the SD thread. By stacking them vertically and using the preheater, the preheater when newly charged is going to be cold (or at least room temp), it seems to me that there will be a good period of full reflux at least until it gets up to temp enough to start allowing distillate to start passing. This full reflux "should" be causing some esterfication time and may have extra benefits we haven't discussed, as we are now going to be thumping though each charge of esterfiied wash twice and boiling the snot out of it. I don't know the science enough to say, but it seems to make sense to me that we would be getting a lot more opportunity to pull those flavors out.

What say you guys with that esterfication knowledge?
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Setsumi »

I just watch the new video from stilldragon on the 3 chamber still. Well done Lary. I am in South Africa and with all the economic melt wil prolly never see your country, but man I would like to witness n run. I can send you my location if you have a spare... but props in bringing back the design.

Edit, not taking anything from Leopold brothers, and welldone to you for you for mentioning them.

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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by LWTCS »

The art of being incapable of jamming 5 minutes worth of info into 5.12 minutes.
It's a one take operation over there at SD.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by tiramisu »

There are some really good thoughts in this video.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by quadra »

damn sexy, I am sure it will be well received too! what sort of capacity/BTU boiler have you designated for this? That condenser looks like it should be fun to watch... I am not going to guess, but that column needs some KBTUs to run and the cooling capacity of the condenser will require some chiller capacity!!
all of the Seagrams ,Chuck Cowdery, Boston Apothacary, stuff I have read include a low wines tank/ re circulation loop ( post condenser )... obviously this is an economy of scale detail but how is that managed in this still?
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

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quadra wrote: Sun Mar 12, 2023 12:27 am damn sexy, I am sure it will be well received too! what sort of capacity/BTU boiler have you designated for this? That condenser looks like it should be fun to watch... I am not going to guess, but that column needs some KBTUs to run and the cooling capacity of the condenser will require some chiller capacity!!
all of the Seagrams ,Chuck Cowdery, Boston Apothacary, stuff I have read include a low wines tank/ re circulation loop ( post condenser )... obviously this is an economy of scale detail but how is that managed in this still?
Boiler wise it just won't take very much considering each chamber has an 18 gallon total volume. So perhaps a 12 to 15 gallon working volume.
Then factor in the preheat functionality.

If the end user doesn't have a proper steam boiler, I have the mini steam generator that is electric fired. We use that one to drive the 4" continuous still. It is set up with 4/ 5500 watt elements. So 22,000 watts or 75,000 btu/h. So plenty of heat there.

I reckon with the thumper the system should render over a barrel strength finished white dog.

Leopold keeps his barrel strength a bit low because he doesn't want the wood to mask over the grain notes. And I have to say that I like his thinking here. Last years ACSA whiskey medal winners were entirely too over oaked for my liking and so I just don't like that trend at all. So many of the medal winners taste just like tooth pic wood to me. So I do like the idea of laying it down at 100 proof for a longer period of time.

I'm not smart enough to calculate the cooling requirements but anecdotally speaking, I'd say a 5 ton chiller and an 800 gallon buffer tank should work pretty well for at least a day / shift worth of processing without over taxing. As far as running this system non stop goes,,,I'll let a proper chiller company make those conclusions.

We did engineer the condenser so that coolant runs through the worm / coil and vapor enters into the glass shell. This will allow the condensing vapor to be viewed dripping off of the coil. We also installed the vapor inlet with a tangential orientation on the top side reducer to ensure vapor can be directed to swirl around the coil upon entry in order to optimize surface area contact. We may need to install a liquid trap just before the parrot to ensure no vapor escapes? I suspect we'll try and achieve this by installing an elbow turned upward so that there is a pool of liquid accumulation in the glass shell. The elbow will have an accommodation ( more like a tee) that a valve can be installed to bleed off heads constituents.

I haven't tested the PC's knock down capability yet but am prepared to replace with a proven condenser design should this one here end up being only just a pretty face.
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by 6 Row Joe »

LWTCS wrote: Sun Mar 12, 2023 7:38 am

Boiler wise it just won't take very much considering each chamber has an 18 gallon total volume. So perhaps a 12 to 15 gallon working volume.
Then factor in the preheat functionality.

This is getting pretty exciting!
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Stags »

https://www.leopoldbros.com/malt?fbclid ... 2onDXLKd5I

Resurrecting and zombie thread to post this. Sounds like this has been available in the past but isn’t now? Don’t see it listed anywhere but I’d love to get my hands on some
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Re: Leopold Brothers 3 chambered still

Post by Saltbush Bill »

That's a really good link Larry , just spent a fair while looking at it and re-looking, some interesting facts there , not just about three chamber stills.
ABV's that rum is drawn off at varies a lot from what I see there , some interesting footage in places for the"sanitizer freaks".....lots to learn about many aspects of Rum makin.
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