Follow along: IG @birectifier
I am in phase 3 of 4 for my Portugal project and my wife has given me 5 months notice for moving. This means it is last call to purchase a birectifier or clevenger apparatus [e-commerce link]. It may take significant time to restart production and the price will certainly increase for the American market.
A wild document has arrived via the help of an incredible friend of the blog. More people than just me are volunteering their time to make available incredible resources for the advancement of beverage distillation. This document was revealed in the Edwin Foote archives which I learned about due to the scholarship of a retired distiller. It then was featured in my 2025 book bounties.
We are talking about the Training Program for Production Shift Supervisor from Calvert’s Louisville Kentucky plant in 1967. It’s 100 pages of hardcore plant operation! And not for the faint of heart. Can you hang? No exogenous enzymes here!
The material in this book has been prepared to furnish training aids during a period of observation and study of distillery operations. Successful completion of this program will result in a general understanding of the operational procedures and problems in this area. It will also serve as a basic training course for the position of Production Shift Supervisor.
There are tons of names (and phone numbers) in the book. Robin P. Goble was the trainee and he may still be alive (thank you Robin!). At some point, this document made its way to master distiller Edwin Foote and you kind of wonder how? You see Foote’s name on page 3 among a long list and you wonder if these documents were prized. If you had to create this for your own plant, Seagram gave you a hell of a head start!
Training had two phases. First was an orientation period of 5 days consisting of the Plant Operations Manual for Laboratory Operators. With experience, you were allowed to review that and move on.
Phase II:
This phase consists of 55 to 75 days (depending upon prior work experience in Quality, Control, and Utilities) observation and study of Production operations.
The schedule for this period is:
Phase II-A Grain Unloading, Milling, and Cooking
Phase II-B Yeasting and Fermentation
Phase II-C Distillation and Wine Room
Phase II-D Utilities
Phase II-E Foods and Feeds
Phase II-F Bacteriology
Phase II-G Power House
Phase II-H Chemical Control
Phase II-I Quality Control
This was a career! This kind of institutional knowledge was mostly held within all the names presented here and not in any easy to find text book.
Goble had very good hand writing and was probably top of his class. The format here is interesting. The trainee pens questions and then we see follow up answers in the margins.
- Is malt cleaned-as corn & rye? Yes—but no cyclone.
- Is the dusty from both receivers discarded and only the mill dust utilized? Yes, but only flour of corn & rye.
Did Goble get those answers from Archie Barnes?! (I read his name in my thick South Boston accent).
In the cooking section:
- Why not use acid for conversion? —outlawed
- What can be done if you (1.) get poor convergence (2.) an incorrect set (i.e. balling, pH, etc.)? (3.) where does production H2O originate? (4.) Why not vacuum cool from 145° to 70°F?
(2.) So, generally speaking, nothing can be done (3.) well (4.) because you lose your effective vacuum pressure with low temperatures.
The yeast tender is apparently a guy nicknamed “Banjo”. Notice they are practicing an old school “yeast mash” as opposed to using “line mash” for yeast growth. True yeast mash needs a revival and we need to celebrate those that are already practicing it. Rum has the potential equivalent of a yeast mash that needs industry attention (fresh cane & synthetic skimmings).
Interesting notes start to pile up in the margins. This is a very long detailed document so I will just try and pick a few more high lights.
A lot of the document deals with plant operational abnormalities such as equipment failures.
There is lots of institutional knowledge revolving around plant equipment and metrology idiosyncrasies. Take those South Cooker chart readings with a grain of salt! Remember, AI is largely bullshit because it has no institutional knowledge. You can digest the libraries of the world and that won’t give you the explicit knowledge to operate this plant.
More abnormalities.
The notes here stretch on and I’m filled with admiration for how detailed Goble made this document.
I could keep going and we would get into the difference of setting wooden fermenters and steel. This document, enhanced by Robin P. Goble’s attention to detail is a treasure chest! Thank you Mike Anderson!
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