StonesRyan

It appears I misunderstood. It's been a dizzying whirlwind trying to keep up with the ever-changing rules.

Yes, as far as I can tell. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but, if you want to sell it, even just to cover your costs, you must denature it.

It's unfathomable to me that TTB and FDA are so concerned with denaturing (so some folks don't ingest the sanitizer?) while people are dying because of the global pandemic and a nationwide shortage of hand sanitizer. But it's ok to skip the denaturing as long as we give it away and absorb the costs to produce? None of it makes any sense to me but that's bureaucracy, I suppose.

Sourcing GNS seems to be a no go unless you were already a customer. It's cost prohibitive for a small operation like us to produce our own base for sanitizer and it's a damned shame we can't use fores/ heads for this purpose. Apparently the FDA is now saying it must denatured.

Purchased both new from Trident Welding in 2014, put into service in 2015, and used a total of 89 times since then. 400 gallon stainless steel steam jacketed mash tun with sparge channels on both long sides (both fed by one 1" triclamp), rectangular manway, temp gauge, 2' triclamp drain with butterfly valve and two false bottoms. 72"L x 48"W x 36"H. Asking $5000. 2" triclamp grain-in wort chiller with temp gauges for wort in/ out and coolant in/out. Asking $4000. Please ask any questions!

@dhdunbarAwesome, thank you!

@daveflintstone, I'm in the same place you were when you originally posted here. I've been leaving messages at TTB for almost two months to no avail. Were you ever able to determine which form is used to apply for a bond exemption?

Turns out my issue was a known issue at Vendome and required me sending the inner basket back to them for modification. The basket was originally made almost entirely from perforated stainless and it was modified so that the bottom of the basket is the only part with perforations and the walls are now solid stainless. This forces the vapor into the botanicals from the bottom of the basket only and doesn't allow the vapor to bypass the bulk of the botanicals and enter higher up through the basket walls. Hopefully that makes sense. Best of luck to you!

We've been having trouble with our tasting room ice maker accumulating "cold mold" to the point that the drain becomes clogged and the ice bin fills with water. We lease the machine and the guy we lease from is now telling us the fast accumulation of "cold mold" is the result of the yeast we use - despite my insistence that yeast needs certain conditions, including somewhat specific temperatures and a food source. He tells me that this is an issue in all the distilleries he leases machines to. Is anyone else having this issue with their ice maker?

Jedd, I considered that but my understanding is that then exposes your Mac to PC malware. I opted for your second suggestion and got a cheap Acer PC for Alcodens. Anyway, as a Mac user for the last decade I can barely navigate Windows anymore. Indy, web-based would be great but I do appreciate that it's such an affordable - and totally indispensable - piece of software and I'm fine having a dedicated PC just for Alcodens!

Thanks, jeffw! How are you using a mesh sock? Are you using a small one that fits inside the bung hole or are you using one inline with the hoses? It seems like the latter would clog and result in a stalled pump.

Longing for the day Harvey adds a Mac version! Meanwhile, I have a PC that only gets used for Alcodens.

What are all you folks doing to prevent charcoal fragments from entering your pump during barrel harvest? I'm using a Flojet G70 for harvesting and I have their inline strainer between the barrel and the pump, as well as a piece of nylon mesh that I hose-clamped to the end of the hose that goes inside the barrel. I have to continually stop the pump and remove the debris from the mesh hose-end to prevent it from stalling the pump. There's got to be an easier way!

Thanks, Bluestar. The space we're considering relocating to is also next to a Methodist church, which may or may not be a local issue, but the church has a preschool in it which enters another gray area as state law doesn't allow alcohol sales within 500' of a school. Is a preschool considered a school? The prefix suggests it's not to this layman. Also, the state law allows for local municipalities to reduce or eliminate the 500' rule at it's discretion. This could be moe of an uphill battle than I'm prepared for.

How about a mixed use commercial space where local municipal code allows for live/ work dwellings and there are two floor-level spaces in a freestanding building that are adjoined but have separate addresses and separate egresses? Anyone have any any insight or experience with TTB in this regard?

Any other suggestions for gauging while barrel filling? I have a proofing tank on a floor scale but no way to lift full barrels onto the rack (no forklift) if I do it that way. I’m thinking I may have to bite the bullet on a suitable flow meter unless anyone has another suggestion. It’s still cheaper, and takes up far less floorspace, than a forklift.

Can you PM me what your solution is? I may be interested. I’m looking for a flow meter to use while barrel filling.

Hi Coop, we're also in CO. I know this is an old post so was just wondering if you're still doing this without hassle? I thought it was a federal law that prohibited the shipment of spirits without proper licensing. It'd sure be nice to know that we can ship bottles here and there!

Mike, does this remove labels or just wash bottles that are already stripped of their label? Cost?

Thanks, guys! Our intern declined the job starting him at $12/hr as he was expecting closer to $30/hr - even after I showed him a job listing for an established brewery offering $14/hr for a head brewer with minimum two years professional experience. Apparently he didn't bother to do much research into the industry pay rates before he decided to pursue a career in brewing/ distilling.

Hoping that I'm posting in the right place... I'm hoping for some feedback and suggestions as to a reasonable wage for a production assistant with no experience beyond a 12 month certificate in applied craft brewing (+ ~100 hours as an intern in our distillery) and some home brewing experience. What are others paying folks for what is basically unskilled labor and will require much supervision and additional training in order to eventually be able to manage the various processes and reporting without supervision?

fstmatt, looking forward to seeing the pics!

fstmatt, that looks like it was/ is painful. Speedy recovery!

Jedd Haas, care to share a pic of what you built? We aren't so lucky as to have closures that are so easily inserted by hand. We've been doing them that way for the last two years but your hands are pretty sore by the end of a bottling run. It's definitely not the quickest part of our process currently.

fstmatt, that looks awesome! I'm hoping to find something pretty quickly! CCR Engineering appears to have some great options for all budgets.