Tom Lenerz

It depends on your product and state, but most likely unless you are really affordable in distribution you probably want a 6 pack. Shelves usually hold 6 bottles in a single facing and many distributors charge an up charge for split bottle cases. This is something you should really have a discussion with your distributor with. If you are going to be mostly or exclusively tasting room sales it won’t matter other than your preference.

In the spirits industry it is pretty standard to report things like sales or production  in terms of 9 liter cases, but this is just done mathematically because of the different sizes, (1L, 1.75L, etc…) it helps correct for volume. We are a winery as well so internally we refer to 6 packs as boxes and 12 packs as cases to help keep it clear what number of bottles and volume of liquid we are talking about.

For small run infusion/storage I would recommend looking at either corny kegs or "topping" keg, "yeast brink" keg that has triclamp ports and no stem (https://www.tcwequipment.com/products/stainless-steel-tri-clamp-kegs?taxon_id=11)

Fustis seem appropriate for amaro production in there own way as well. https://www.gourmetitalian.com/fusti-container-s/181.htm

Morning -- Not sure about your spreadsheet, but if you really used 850 pounds for 250 gallons of water you were too thick and your yield most likely has something to do with that. 

What size batch are you targeting? Do you have live steam or is this jacketed? Are you using a roller mill or is this hammer milled?

Just use RO/DI water, while your well water may have been stable and providing low TDS water in the past it isn’t anymore. It seems like you are looking for a solution for a problem you already solved.

Not sure if this answers your question, but what is your goal with this number? Are you trying to calculate mash efficiency or overall process efficiency? Is this a theoretical exercise or are you using it to make decisions? How many PGs are you getting from distillation, what about PGs of hearts?

To be honest, the only number that really matters from a business perspective is PGs/LAA per bushel/pound/whatever unit. I do everything in PGs per bushel, it is quick, easy, and relevant -- I buy bushels and I sell PGs. This month I am averaging 4.8 PGs per bushel for my high-rye bourbon. I once heard ethanol plants average the equivalent of 5.3, so that is my target ceiling, and I know from history I can get as low as 4.5 with my rye whiskies. If something is outside that scope I know something is wrong. 

Seconded on explore mobile canning.

When we do a single barrel bottling I test a bottle at the beginning and then at the end again. For our larger batches I test a bottle about once per hour, which is usually just one 2 or 3 total off the automated line. 

Yes, it is strictly by volume, ABV doesn't change it, just product type.

You should check in with your state DNR (or equivalent) to find out what is the requirements for land application, we work a 3rd party that land applies and they do quarterly sampling and the DNR gives them an application rate (x gallons per growing season per acre) depending on the makeup. 

Don't rush into it with something too small thinking you will add a second location to expand unless you are super well financed. Just do it right once, nothing about this industry is fast, and buildouts always take longer and cost more than you think. 

Are you talking about R&D of a new product to see how it works in the market or are you talking about production level quality controls for an existing product? There is lots of different sensory testing you can do but what you do will depend on your goals.

As far as something like gin in a cocktail, I would try it in a wide range of the most popular cocktails and see which drinks make it shine and which ones it doesn’t work well in, then you can make your suggestions appropriately. I’ve never heard of using tap water at a 50/50 for testing, and personally wouldn’t find the information too useful. Yes it would dilute the strength like you would do in a cocktail, but the things you are diluting a cocktail with contribute flavors so it would be more useful to test it in various cocktails in my opinion. 

For QC in production we use True to Target daily on new make and blends, flavor camp grouping of barrels for building blends, and a side-by-side tier ranking against previous releases for single barrels. We occasionally do triangle tests and other blind testing.

Bump - these are still available, I have some corks and capsules I can throw in with this order. 

SlickFloss is right, it is specifically prohibited, if you read the regs. Reading the rules, explains the rules.

See definition of distillation: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-27/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-19/subpart-L/subject-group-ECFR3229fff77eb967f/section-19.301

"However, the quantity and proof of any unfinished spirits must be determined and recorded before any mingling with other materials or before any further operations involving the unfinished spirits outside the continuous system". Since you are breaking the continuous system, i.e. changing mash bills and starting another production run you need to identify the unfinished spirit and place it into storage. 

See identification of spirits: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-27/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-19/subpart-L/subject-group-ECFR3229fff77eb967f/section-19.305

"When the proprietor intends to enter spirits into storage on bonded premises for later packaging in wooden packages, the proprietor may identify the spirits with the designation to which they would be entitled if drawn into wooden packages, followed by the word “Designate,” for example, “Bourbon Whisky Designate.”"

See definitions of whiskeys: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-27/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-5/subpart-I/section-5.143

"Fermented mash of not less than 51%, respectively: Corn" means just that, not a blend of distillates that result in that. 

We've sold part of the original lot, original post updated to show new quantity.

Yeah, or if you're just logging data on the warehouse, fill a barrel with water and put the sensor in that instead of potentially risking your spirit.

We went cashless during the peak of Covid for a bit, and it was really nice from a management standpoint, but had too many complaints to ditch it permanently. 

Seeing this got resurrected thought I'd follow up. We had one not thoroughly cooked, ultra thick mash get stuck years ago, but we were able to get the tubes clean on our 1/2 inch tubes without any cutting/welding needed, just using a garden hose and compressed air to blow it out. 

Other than that one bad cook, we've successfully cooled at around 500,000 gallons of bourbon and rye mashes with it. 

We have approximately 270x 6 bottle boxes of Saver Virgin (750ml) bottles we will no longer need for sale.

These will ships as 2 pallets.

 https://www.saverglass.com/en/our-products/catalog-spirits/virgin-2536-oz-plate

$7/box. Buyer arranges shipping, we're in Prairie du Sac WI. 

You said mop, but you have floor drains right? Sloped floors to trench is best obviously, if you have flat floors with no slope look at an epoxy finish, they can add some slope to help bring things to the drain. 

Valves on hoses helps, if you are far from a floor drain or in a tight space, then you can move the hose to where you have a drain. Depending on the pump, you could flush with water, and draw back air to the water bucket, or push co2, nitrogen or compressed air to move the water or product out. 

Ultimately though this job is like 50% to 80% cleaning, my guy Nick always says "I spend the morning making a mess and the afternoon cleaning it up". If your space isn't setup for being hosed down and wet all the time you really need to start there. 

Our mechanical contractor hooked us up with a control system that allows us to get remote monitoring of most of our systems. The controller itself is a Jace from Honeywell (https://buildings.honeywell.com/us/en/products/by-category/control-panels/building-controls/plant-and-integration-controllers/jace-8000-controller) 

For what I need/use it for I wouldn't have necessarily sprung for it but it is really nice to have. On the wine side we have north of 60 tanks and management, monitoring, logging, and warning alarms are crucial to them for that many tanks. It's a web-based java app so we're able to access from any computer, tablet or phone with an internet connection. There probably is something a bit more modern, but this works for us. 

Depending on how tech savvy you are, you might be able to do a DIY solution with something like this, but our contractor handles it whenever we install new equipment.

You can't have a DSP and brewery licensed in the same space at the same time federally, that's what the alternating premise is, even if it is the same owners. You can only do one activity or the other, not both, so if beer is fermenting in one tank you can't be fermenting wash for single malt next to it, unless its separated. 

We've been doing some small batch cocktail testing and bubbling CO2 into the liquid out of the keg, and venting out the gas in side briefly a few times. We've been getting good results in a few days. 25 PSI.

27 CFR Chapter 1 Subchapter A Part 19 Subpart S: 19.489

Could be/would be interested depending on pricing and size.

We started with a few different bottles to differentiate categories, but have been transitioning more to a "branded house" look with fewer bottles, separating categories by color, and product tiers by label design and language. Logistically through the whole process (sourcing, packaging, warehousing, stocking shelves, merchandising) sticking with one or two bottles makes things much easier, and the branding is more cohesive. If you were going to do drastically different branding between product types you might have to use different bottles to best achieve that look.