Huffy2k

Roger,  we have the same scale. Got it from Prime USA scales, Fred Herrmann, primeusascales@gmail.com and it does work great. 

Paul, I don't believe that TTB has ever specified a size for the "oak container" required for aging. This proposal seems to be moving towards defining a big barrel (cylindrical and approximately 50 gallons) as the only acceptable "container". Currently a 1 gallon oak box could have been used if you could keep it from leaking. This definitely seems to be targeting small distilleries and alternative oak processes (i.e. the squarrel).

Honestly,  I wouldn't mind barrel statements as we already note the use of  "small casks" on a couple of our labels. Our tours go into detail on our barrel program and our steady upward progression in barrel size.  We are transparent that we've used small barrels and own the fact they allowed us to build a business by having a good product to sell in under 2 years.  I'd much rather see TTB enforce existing laws on whiskey age statements. I see so many NAS labels from distillers that claim to distill themselves, are only a year or two old and yet have no age statement on their whiskey. 

My brain hurts! 😁 Thanks for the detailed update Aaron! 

Paul at affordable distilling carries stainless steel receiving tanks.  These work well and are affordable. Here's a link to their 50 gallon tank.  https://shop.distillery-equipment.com/collections/moonshine-distilling-equipment/products/50-gallon-receiving-tank-transfer-barrel-ss304

In addition, we purchased a bunch of 30 gallon stainless steel drums from Janszen discount products.  Just put these on a movers dolly and they can be moved around very easily.  https://www.usedstainlesssteelbarrels.com/product-category/stainless-steel-barrels/new-barrels/

What are the tax consequences of using gns to rinse? Are you reporting that as a loss? 

I believe it only took a few weeks for our TIB to be approved.   Looks like I submitted application on 7/14/2017 and received approval on 7/25/2017.

Hey Loren, we're looking forward to tasting the whiskey we get out of your barrels!  All the best to you as you embark on your distilling adventure!

We do exactly this! Works great. +1 on the suggestion above to use only PVC or pex rated for temp.

I dunno, seems kind of proprietary to share on a public forum I guess.  I realize we're here to help but I'd just feel more comfortable sharing via pm.

4 hours ago, bluestar said:

We were looking at a bourbon cream using the same base, but we found we could not add as much bourbon to the base cream as we would like for the flavor profile we wanted. Would be interested in learning more on how that went for you.

Shoot me a PM with your email and I'll fill you in on how we dealt with that same issue. 

Silk, we do a bourbon cream with Ultrapure as the base cream.  It's been very well received.  The tote (actually a tote sized bag on a pallet contained in a cardboard outer shell) really pushes our equipment handling equipment to the limit though.  We debated about doing this last year given the MOQ but decided to go for it and ended up selling out of everything way earlier than we planned.  We will probably do 2 separate tote deliveries this year.

Congrats Pete! We've got a peated rye coming out soon,  until your post I had not known of any other peated ryes.  Glad to hear it was well received! 

Our boiler install was definitely the biggest surprise during our buildout.  I have a 1mm BTU Rite Boiler and the installation cost (which included a lot of on-site custom welding and piping) was about $40k.  

Hello Mato!  Welcome and good luck with your endeavor.  I'm not sure of your plans and whether you are planning on distilling professionally or as a hobby.  Given your mention of a pressure cooker, I'm wondering if this is more of a hobby for you.  In that case, www.homedistiller.org contains a wealth of information for novice distillers and may be worth a look.

You could check out Big Fish (bfspirits.com) for retail sales in Illinois as well as Libdib.com for sales to license holders in NY and CA.

It will work for unloading trucks, just make sure you've got a flat, smooth surface and that you keep the pallet weight under the maximum load weight of your pallet stacker. We still request lift gates on most heavy deliveries but it works in a pinch. Just get it to the ground as soon as you clear the truck! 

Good question. We make some mixers from our unaged whiskey but only after that product has been bottled, recorded and removed from bond (i.e. Tax paid). We make an Amaro type product, an allspice dram, etc but only for use in cocktails in our tasting room. 

5 hours ago, Silk City Distillers said:

the rye is substantially less peppery and assertive.

Depending on the objective for your rye whiskey, this may or may not be a good thing.. 

Pennsylvania also allows self distribution.

You're going to hear lots of stories about endless days, government bureaucracy, unexpected costs, trouble getting distribution/sales.  Don't let the horror stories scare you away but do take note of all the troubles others have faced.  Would I have actually pulled the trigger on this business if I knew all the obstacles I'd have to clear to get it up and running?  I don't know actually...  That said, I'm glad I was a bit naive and moved forward.  Take note of the troubles of others and include contingencies in your plan in the event you run into similar walls.

We too had a delayed shipment with Atlas.  Remington seems to be a very nice guy and we are very happy with the barrels we eventually got from them.  Unfortunately, late shipments on barrels is a serious problem for small distillers who may not have the storage capacity for finished spirits.  Production can be impacted if you can't continue to run your still because you don't have any available storage tanks if you couldn't barrel. Sounds like they still have an issue with order backlog and timely delivery. Hopefully they can clear up their production backlog and start delivering orders in a timely manner. They do make a quality barrel.

US FIP, great service,  great pump! 

Peat is not a flavoring,  it's a method of malt production. Peated whiskeys should be ok even with the most over zealous ttb official. 

Upon visiting this site on my phone this morning, I was immediately redirected to a spam site ("Congratulations...") that I could not back out of.  Every time I re-started Chrome on my phone I was directed to this spam site.  Eventually, I had to uninstall and reinstall Chrome on my phone to allow me to access the interwebs.  Anyone else experience this from a mobile device?