Basic Equipment Layout Suggestions

[Southernhighlander]

In the past, I've helped customers, who asked, to lay out their distilleries.  Unfortunately, because of my current work load, it is not possible for me to do the drawings anymore because they can be very time consuming. So I thought that I could put some basic info on here, that may help people do their layouts.

 The layout suggestions below certainly do not fit all spaces and scenarios, but they can be used as a rough reference to lay out a distillery so as to have good production flow through.  These basic layouts work best in completely open spaces and so they do not account for storage and stock rooms.   

Also, I am just an equipment designer, builder and vendor.  People on this forum who distill everyday have a great deal more insight about some of this than I do because they have more experience dealing with the actual production situation than I do, so I'm sure that a great deal more information will be given here on this subject as time moves forward..

 

If you have a single garage door entrance then you should set things up in sort of a horse shoe.  Inputs, such as grain etc., can go on the right side of the door, then your mash tun, then the fermenters then the still, then the proofing area and then the bottling area and then cases ready to go out on the left side of the door.  It would be a good idea to have a trench drain in front of the mash tun fermenters and still.  So depending on your space, with one door you may have the inputs near the right side of the door along the right wall then the mash tun next along the right will then a couple of fermenters along the right wall and then some more fermenters at the back of the horse shoe or along the back wall, then the still at the back on the left wall to form the left side of the horseshoe, then the proofing and bottling area, then the cases ready to ship out on the left side of the door.  If barreling is to be done, then that should be done on the output side.  Of course you can reverse the left and right sides as far as input and output.

 

If you have an indoor and an outdoor that are in line with one another that is a much better scenario.  You would have the inputs such as grain etc. on the input side near to the input door and then the mash tun, then fermenters then still and then proofing and possibly barreling and then bottling and then outputs stored near the door.  You would have a trench drain running from the mash tun to the bottling area, 3 or 4 ft in front of the equipment.