jasonk

I just got my barrel from barrel mill out of MN after my debacle with oak wood barrels. The bank gave me money back but dumbass me didn’t request a new card and a week later I had the exact same amount of money ($140) worth of transactions put through on my card. Luckily fraud alert picked up on it. By by the way, the barrel from barrel mill looks fantastic and they were great to deal with as well.

These bastards. First time I’ve been scammed like this but it looks like the bank is going to give me my $ back. Same story as previously reported by others. All seemed to be well and then they kept kicking the can down the road and then it occurred to me what was happening. I’d still gladly trade my $133 for a new 10 gallon barrel though!

Kristoff, first of all the work that you are doing with the child soldiers is hard for me to imagine. I can try but.....wow! As for the rest of your email, I could have written it. I'm 32 and I have the exact same attitude. It's a hunger for learning and reading the books falls short. Ask around, use the distillery map at the sister site to see who is in your neck of the woods. Where are you located? If nothing else, look for local brewers that will show you the ropes. If you can get a handle on making beer I figure you are 1/3 the way there. Then you just need to figure out how to reduce it down and then to sell it. The best of luck and I hope we cross paths, Jason

If you find transport that will offload the supersack pallet, my guess is that you'll pay for it. Here's how we use our supersacks (for mfg of silicone but method applies here): On a floor scale sits a "hopper" with a 4-6" auger screw feeder coming up out of the bottom to our reactor vessel. The supersack is strung up on rack above the "hopper". The opening on the bottom of the supersack is actually the first of two "valves". You open it, secure it to the hopper. Then you open a door in the hopper and open the second valve, thereby filling the hopper. As the auger turns, weight is offloaded from the scale so accurate transfers can take place. This might not be applicable for a small startup but there comes a time when I could see it make sense. The scales and equipment aren't all that expensive. Ours looks nothing like this but I hope this helps. http://www.fedequip.com/Products/MATERIAL_HANDLING/SUPER_SACK_~_BULK_BAG_UNLOADER/Nbe_Super_Sack_Unloader_/27551.aspx?searchredirect=1&status=A This is the best pic I can find, hope this helps.

nice, that's some good pub!

Sure, you should be able to wheel them around with a pallet jack. I'm assuming you'll be using an overhead crane/winch to hoist them up for unloading? We use something very similar to these bags, we call them supersacks and ours are filled with calcium carbonate for use in silicones. I guess my question would be how do you plan on getting them off of the truck?

I love your attitude Ralph. Knockem' dead!

hi, i'm jason from Ohio. I've been a homebrewer for years and am likely going to be brewing beer full time in late spring as I'm preparing for an exit from the corporate world. I have ambitions of eventually starting up my own small distillery but that plan is only in its' infancy. I'm particularly interested and excited to use my in-laws organic farm to produce wheat and other raws I can use to distill. I'm really digging the forum and the attitude many of the members have of free exchange of ideas. I hope I can contribute some day but for now I got me some learnin' to do! One of the things I need to start focusing on is exactly how I can enter the business slowly and mess around some (legally) on a small scale prior to a full commitment. I'd like to spend thousands to see if I should move forward with an investment of 10's if not 100's. The ultimate goal at this point would be a high quality vodka/whiskey distillery using as many high quality ingredients as I can manage to grow and process myself. I'm also interested in utilizing ancient grains. The more research I do the more ideas I get. I was just in the Great Lakes Distillery and took a tour last week. Cool people, nice facility and I really enjoyed their product. The citrus honey vodka was particularly impressive. The tour and tasting are certainly worth the time if you find yourself in Milwaukee with some time on your hands.