Visiting MGP...any questions?

[mrviognier]

Just about to enter the grounds of MGP (formerly LDI) in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. I'll send photos if I can...y'all have any questions? :grin:

[Brisko]

Are they still laying down the 95% rye, how much, and how much do they have aging? Anything in the 7 year or older range?

[BFerguson]

I'll forgo any questions as long as you bring something back to share with your fellow statesman!!

Please encourage them to keep up what they have been doing, their ryes really have been well received in to the market.

B

[mrviognier]

GREAT visit. Amazing operation, really nice folks. They were busy producing NGS and Gin when I was there. Bourbon & Rye starts back up in October.

[Bourbon Boiler]

Nice pics. Are they still making a corn whiskey as well?

[mrviognier]

Yes, they sure are.

[Josh]

Saw the brick warehouses, are they heated?

[tmckenzie]

do they have sepreate fermenters for the gns ? The pics showed empty ones and water filled cypress.

[cowdery]

Mat can confirm this, but my understanding is it's essentially two distilleries, one for whiskey and one for GNS.

[p_elliott]

Mat can confirm this, but my understanding is it's essentially two distilleries, one for whiskey and one for GNS.

Is there a reason for this or is this just the way they did it? I haven't asked a dumb question in a while I'm due. I know BT uses a separate still for vodka and whiskey don't know why. Should have asked them.

[cowdery]

Whiskey stills and GNS stills are set up differently and although they're very similar, to make whiskey in a GNS still requires physicial modifications and vice versa. Also, LDI was set up essentially to make blended whiskey, so the whiskey distillery would be making whiskey, the GNS distillery would be making GNS, and they would then be married to make the blend.

[p_elliott]

Whiskey stills and GNS stills are set up differently and although they're very similar, to make whiskey in a GNS still requires physicial modifications and vice versa. Also, LDI was set up essentially to make blended whiskey, so the whiskey distillery would be making whiskey, the GNS distillery would be making GNS, and they would then be married to make the blend.

That's kinda what I thought was going on but I thought I would stop while I was behind. It's a matter that that the stills are are tweeked differrently? Maybe also that the stills are plumbed to off load to differnet destinastion might have something to do with it ? But that could be done by plumbing You could crank a valve here or there .

[cowdery]

I think it mainly has to do with the rectification plates inside the column, how many there are and where they are. There may be other differences as well. I know a whiskey still has to be modified to make GNS and then modified again to make whiskey. It's not a matter of throwing a switch or twisting a valve.

The still Buffalo Trace uses for Rain Vodka was originally built and installed to make Light Whiskey, which wasn't neutral but was distilled out just below 95% ABV. Mark Brown tells the story of seeing it in mothballs, asking Elmer T. Lee what it was, and asking what it could be used for other than Light Whiskey. "Well, you could make vodka with it" was Elmer's response. Harlen tells the story of nearly blowing the place up the first time they tried to use it.

The second, un-used column still at Barton is also an old Light Whiskey still. Barton was one of the last distilleries to make and sell Light Whiskey.

[Josh]

Grand Traverse Distillery in Traverse City has a still that is convertible. They use the columns when distilling vodka, but they claimed that they are able to basically run it as a pot still when using it for their whiskey. If I was more of an engineer I could explain it more clearly, I'm sure. The still is of German manufacture, IIRC.

[p_elliott]

I think it mainly has to do with the rectification plates inside the column, how many there are and where they are. There may be other differences as well. I know a whiskey still has to be modified to make GNS and then modified again to make whiskey. It's not a matter of throwing a switch or twisting a valve.

The still Buffalo Trace uses for Rain Vodka was originally built and installed to make Light Whiskey, which wasn't neutral but was distilled out just below 95% ABV. Mark Brown tells the story of seeing it in mothballs, asking Elmer T. Lee what it was, and asking what it could be used for other than Light Whiskey. "Well, you could make vodka with it" was Elmer's response. Harlen tells the story of nearly blowing the place up the first time they tried to use it.

The second, un-used column still at Barton is also an old Light Whiskey still. Barton was one of the last distilleries to make and sell Light Whiskey.

This is the stuff I love to hear about but I don't remember a second still at Barton it could be they just didn't show it to us. Thanks for the responce I guess I have used up my dumb question of the month card. :slappin:

[Bourbon Boiler]

Grand Traverse Distillery in Traverse City has a still that is convertible. They use the columns when distilling vodka, but they claimed that they are able to basically run it as a pot still when using it for their whiskey. If I was more of an engineer I could explain it more clearly, I'm sure. The still is of German manufacture, IIRC.

I have seen stills at micros where most of the column is removed pretty easily. There would be 6-8 plates in a column, that would extend an otherwise functional still when higher proofs were desired. I remember hearing it was about a 30 minute changeover. Of course, these are on ~100 gallon boilers. I imagine chaneover time is somewhat linear with the size of the aparatus itself.

[tmckenzie]

I have seen stills at micros where most of the column is removed pretty easily. There would be 6-8 plates in a column, that would extend an otherwise functional still when higher proofs were desired. I remember hearing it was about a 30 minute changeover. Of course, these are on ~100 gallon boilers. I imagine chaneover time is somewhat linear with the size of the aparatus itself.

When I drew out and we had our still built, you can run the pot by itself, run vapor through the column from the pot, use the bottom of the column as a thumper or use an external thumper use any number of plates. You can make anything from double pot distilled whiskey, to thumped sigle distilled, and any number of weaghts of whiskey brandy gin and vodka. I am attempting to do the same thing designing the continuos column we are working on. Being able to do a lot of things with it. from what I know, most bourbon column still will run about a max of 160. But by doing something as simple as adding copper pieces of pipe to the rectification section, you can make one run 190. Or if you are building a new one, one way to have a way to run different strengts of product is have pipes that feed beer into different sections of the column. Say you want to run a bourbon that will come off at a lower proof, you feed the mash in higher in the column. If you want to run it higher, you drop down in the column and feed it onto a lower plate. That way it has to go though more rectification and will have more booze and less flavor. I wonder why BT and Barton actually built a seperate still in order to make light whiskey with? The could have modified the one they had. There must have been one hell of an expected demand for it. But that demand never came.