wcraffer Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 We are planning on building a new brewery/distillery in a commercial industrial zoned area so the zoning is not really an issue. I've also been doing research and found that storage of distilled spirits in oak is an exception to being classified as a hazardous material and also frees us from storage limits. NFPA 1 Chapter 60 Hazardous Materials, 60.1.2.1 “Buildings and portions thereof containing high hazard contents that are limited to the following need not comply with chapter 60: …(5) Beverages, ...and distilled spirits and wines in wooden barrels or casks.” Therefore barrels of distilled spirit cannot be classified as hazardous. Also, if we are not storing our spirit in any containers other than said barrels NFPA 30 Chapter 4 pertaining to containers and portable tanks cannot be applied. NFPA 30: “4.1.1.2 This chapter shall not apply to the following: …(7) Distilled spirits and wines in wooden barrels or casks.” I feel like we should be okay defending this to the fire marshal and be able to legally store whatever we need for volume in our facility. What I am hoping is that we can get away without sprinklering the building and have the public in for retail and tours at the same time. Who out there has already gone through this and has advice on public in the production space? I don’t want to have the public peering through a 3hr rated fireproof portal to see our still... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grehorst Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 We've recently gone through this with our relocation and expansion... While everything else we did received unbelievable amounts of scrutiny, the public walking through our hazardous space seemed to not be a problem at all for our local officials. Frankly I don't think there's anything in the IBC and related that bans them. Adequate paths of egress need to be in place for workers, so you would have them in place for the public as well, the only concern expressed re the public was ADA restroom accommodations! As for getting around hazardous requirements by using barrels, I'd have loved to gone this way, but we needed a tank for collection and blending that put us over these limitations- of course we produce unaged spirits as well and also buy NGS so for us hazardous storage was necessary. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcraffer Posted November 25, 2008 Author Share Posted November 25, 2008 Guy, Thanks for your reply, Do you have a dedicated retail space? Is it separated from your production floor by a fire rated wall? Is your building sprinklered? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grehorst Posted November 25, 2008 Share Posted November 25, 2008 Guy, Thanks for your reply, Do you have a dedicated retail space? Is it separated from your production floor by a fire rated wall? Is your building sprinklered? Cheers. Our retail space is a corner (no walls) in our hazardous space. We can't sell our own product in WI so we have some branded merchandise and thats about it. Our building is sprinklered, we had to foot the bill for that and with this exception our space was pretty much perfect for what we wanted to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean@wolfbros Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Our retail space is a corner (no walls) in our hazardous space. We can't sell our own product in WI so we have some branded merchandise and thats about it. Our building is sprinklered, we had to foot the bill for that and with this exception our space was pretty much perfect for what we wanted to do. Hey Guy, Was wondering how many sq ft the area you had sprinklers installed in was and approximately how much it cost Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rum Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Hey Guy,Was wondering how many sq ft the area you had sprinklers installed in was and approximately how much it cost Sean I have about 4000 square feet that had to have hazardous sprinklers. It cost about $10k, much of which was picked up by the landlord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grehorst Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Hey Guy,Was wondering how many sq ft the area you had sprinklers installed in was and approximately how much it cost Sean We had to sprinkler the whole building (required by the city)- we occupy 9500 sq ft of a total of about 14,000sq ft. Total cost to sprinkle about $60,000. A good chunk of that was to run a 6" main from the street about 130ft away plus the cost to repair street, walks, lawn, etc... Troy got a bargain at $10,000! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rum Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 We had to sprinkler the whole building (required by the city)- we occupy 9500 sq ft of a total of about 14,000sq ft. Total cost to sprinkle about $60,000. A good chunk of that was to run a 6" main from the street about 130ft away plus the cost to repair street, walks, lawn, etc... Troy got a bargain at $10,000! Ouch! I was lucky to find space that worked for me in a large industrial building that had housed boat builders at some point. The main line coming in is either 8" or 10", I've forgotten which. The feed line coming into my space was large enough as well. Everything else needed to be replaced. Several buildings were ruled out due to no backflow or too small of a main. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coop Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 You guys are making me cry, all that added expense and trouble. We were so lucky here. All I did was to invite all the fire department personal, 25 of which my wife taught in school, down for a work night training session at the distillery. First I gave them all samples to get off on the right foot, then we toured the building so that they could see what was going on and where. They then devised a plan that if their was a fire it would be started in the building next door, a counter top manufacture, They would enter the rear of the building where the bourbon was stored for aging by cutting a hole in the roll up door and save only that corner of the building. Every thing else could burn down but for gods sake," save the bourbon at all cost". Coop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jester Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 You guys are making me cry, all that added expense and trouble. We were so lucky here. All I did was to invite all the fire department personal, 25 of which my wife taught in school, down for a work night training session at the distillery. First I gave them all samples to get off on the right foot, then we toured the building so that they could see what was going on and where. They then devised a plan that if their was a fire it would be started in the building next door, a counter top manufacture, They would enter the rear of the building where the bourbon was stored for aging by cutting a hole in the roll up door and save only that corner of the building. Every thing else could burn down but for gods sake," save the bourbon at all cost". Coop Awesome Coop, that is a great plan!...and an even better last line. Do you think the "saved" will make the final count. I used to volunteer firefight and know the loss rate would be marginal but the department would be in great spirits... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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