Huffy2k

Look at the pro's, 

You'll be retired so you'll have an income stream from your retirement plan and you won't necessarily need to take money from the business for a few years.  Don't discount the advantage that gives you. The best piece of advice I got before starting my distillery was "don't quit your day job" - after 3 years I'm finally starting to transition away from my full time job. A supplemental income during the startup years is very helpful. 

You own the farm so you won't have to purchase property/buildings. Metal buildings are fairly cheap and you can probably find a great spot on the farm to build (If you don't already have a building available).

You have 5 years to learn.  Attend classes,  visit other distilleries,  put a business plan together and see if it makes sense! 

Cheers! 

MarkDM, keep in mind that everyone has a story to share.  Some share predominantly the negatives,  do not let that completely derail your potential journey before you even start. I remember when my wife was expecting our first child,  all the experienced moms out there shared their painful delivery stories to the point she was scared to death.  In the end,  things weren't as bad as she imagined and we went on to have another child a few years later. She vowed never to share the grisly details of birth to first time moms she met,  rather the positive experiences.  Apple's to orange's comparison I know but that's what I first thought of while reading this thread. 

Yes,  you want to go into any venture like this with eyes wide open so input from those who have done it,  both good and bad,  is very valuable.  There are scary lows but also euphoric highs in this business,  only you can judge if you are willing and able to deal with both extremes.  Best wishes! 

Following

If your still has an angled agitator shaft (most do), you don't want to run that with any of the blades not completely submerged. 

Race makes some great labelers.

https://www.racelabel.com/

1 hour ago, Skaalvenn said:

I've had friends running their USFIP hard, daily, and it seems an impeller each year is about the norm.

We run a USFIP like that and that's been our experience. 

Uh oh...

The basket that came with our still, taller than it is wide, attaches with a twist lock at the top of the pot.  Since the connection between the pot and helmet is 6", that's the limiting dimension for us and, I'd imagine, for most stills.  As this basket covers the entire path to the helmet all the vapor would have to flow through the botanicals. I'd tell you how good our gin is but we've never actually used the basket to make gin! 🤔🤣

Rye is made from distillers tears!

2 hours ago, HedgeBird said:

So basically me, and every other craft distiller I know, have been successfully fooling ourselves for years now.. 

Blanket statements like that always make me chuckle.

15 hours ago, Stumpy's said:

The leadership council at the 2nd largest spirits distributor in the country said last year, that they expect within 10 years, 80% of existing craft distilleries will close their doors. 

Wishful thinking on their part I'm sure...

We have a pretty good deal on a 300 gallon Trident system currently available. 

Hi Devin, I honestly don't see a "con" in adopting a distillery management software solution unless you consider having a small bit of extra free time that these packages will give you over manually recording, calculating and filling out TTB reports a con.  Not to discount the need to familiarize yourself and staff with the CFR but if you have the extra couple hundred dollars a month these systems cost by all means subscribe to one of them from day 1 of your business if possible. 

We're big Hoochware fans.

I've recently submitted a couple amendments to my DSP through PONL for transfer in bond for several distilleries that we are working on a collaboration whiskey with.  Given that I've gone through PONL, I can't seem to figure out how to show the other distillers that I've gotten approvals for all the TIB's.  In other words, is there a way to print an approved TTB F5100.16 report through PONL?  All I can seem to show them is a screen capture of my approved amendment along with the TIB information for each distillery?

Couldn't agree with you any more Foreshot!  Great advice and good luck with your venture!

It's my understanding that any corn that is harvested by a combine must be already dried on the stalk. Moisture content should be around 14% so the combine can effectively harvest. While 14% is adequate for harvesting,  we have our farmer dry our corn further for long term storage. Couldn't imagine using fresh corn for mashing..

Just the time in a barrel. 

Roughly 9 month lead time for our 600 gallon system.  We use a pot still so no column or plates. The whiskey head was custom designed to our specifications. Very responsive and very professional to work with.  They're not cheap but not Vendome level prices either.  They have been in business a long time with a long list of satisfied customers and that was very important to us. 

Jake, we have ordered equipment from Specific Mechanical.  The equipment is in production now so I don't have much to report other than we received excellent references about them and they have been a pleasure to work with during the specification/design phase.

6 hours ago, indyspirits said:

8 hours ago, Winnie the Pooh said:

loadable dock (nice to have)

If you don't have a doc you'll need a forktruck

Not necessarily.  We make do with a pallet stacker. Would be nice to have a forklift but we just don't have the room. 

The Hoochware login page shows options for USA, Canada, Europe and Australia.  I don't know if these international versions are fully operational though as I'm using the USA version.

Great summary,  thanks for sharing! 

Hoochware is another option to consider.  We've been using it since day 1 and couldn't imagine being in this business without it!

With news of the temporary ending of the shutdown, I thought I'd get to work on applying for some Transfer In Bond permits we need for a collaboration project we are working on.  When I tried to do this via PONL, I was told that I already had an amendment submitted and that the existing amendment must be processed before I can submit another one.  The amendment pending has to do with some LLC members being modified a bit.  Is there any way to delete an already submitted amendment or am I going to have to wait until the first submission is processed before I can apply for my TIB's?

The International Fire Code exempts the storage of ‘alcoholic beverages in wooden casks.’  A recent staff interpretation and code commentary⁷recognizes this exception in the fire code. 

Whose interpretation?