CalwiseSpirits

I'm in the market for a 1000-1500 gallon spirit storage tank and I'm trying to figure out the best and most economical way to gauge it. Up until now I've used relatively small tanks and have just forklifted them onto a 3x3 platform scale that I have. What is the best solution for weighing the contents of a tank of this size? The only option I know of is installing load cells into the stand - I was quoted $4,000 by a local scale guy for the load cells and indicator (not including installation) which seems like it might be a bit high. Are there any online shops you'd recommend that may be more competitive? Or is there a different setup/method I should be considering?

I tried a few whiskey batches with Kveik. It worked well. Didn't produce any unique flavors as far as I could tell, but it got the job done.

PMed

I have about half a drum of USP glycerin and an unopened 5 gallon jug of 32% hydrogen peroxide I'll sell you for $600 + freight from California. If you want the whole bundle I'll throw in some Bitrex too. Hell, if you want product ready-to-sell in a dispenser bottle, I'll sell that to you for cheaper than you can make it yourself. If you can still find substantial demand out there then more power to you... frankly it sounds odd to me that you're able to find demand but unable to find common ingredients.

Fading, but not gone... still doing quite a bit of business, just slowing down.

I have extra sanitizer containers I'm looking to get rid of to make room in my distillery. 608 1gal HDPE jugs w/caps 720 12oz HDPE bottles (24/410 finish) 1,000 mini trigger sprayers (fit 12oz bottles) $1,200 to take it all. Two pallets worth. FOB California.

Thanks to all the hard work we've all been doing over the past month, I'm starting to see hand sanitizer reach its saturation point. However, the product I've found to be in demand now is ethanol that can be used for sanitizing surfaces. I've been getting quite a few requests lately. I understand that packaging ethanol and labeling it for surfaces makes it a pesticide and requires EPA approval. Has the EPA or another federal agency removed any of the roadblocks that currently prevent us from doing this? I saw a document recently that talked about labeling denatured spirits - I thought it was one of the FDA advisory documents but I don't see it now. Can we just denature ethanol with the 40B formula and bottle it up in jugs?

Don't mean to throw this thread off too much, but on the subject of proof... I've seen a few distilleries selling sanitizer at 70% strength. Their labeling looks to be on point in every other way so I imagine they know what they're doing but I'm trying to figure out if they're just ignoring the 80% rule or they know something I don't. Was there a recent recommendation from FDA or TTB allowing this? I didn't see anything but maybe I'm missing something.

I've been getting numerous requests from businesses and government agencies for an SDS for the hand sanitizer. Does anyone know of a boilerplate sheet out there that can be repurposed? Or do we each need to have our own made?

My interpretation is that it is meant to be read as-is. We have a + or - 5% tolerance which is pretty wide anyway.

Thank you for the update. I'm trying to denature with lemon oil because it's cheap and readily available but I'm having issues with it coming out of solution when proofed below 85%. I called into TTB a few minutes ago and the woman I spoke to (Kelly) said that she believes we are authorized to denature. She is going to double check and get back to me with the recommended formulas.

Yes, isopropyl I think would the best. But finding isopropyl is incredibly difficult right now, hence why we're even having this conversation about ethanol in the first place. I found a flavor manufacturer who can provide me lemon oil for incredibly cheap. I'm going to try denaturing with that. I'm selling sanitizer to agencies in 16oz-1gal jugs. I'm selling it for $15/gal. Excise tax adds another $4.32/gal onto that - a 30% increase. I'd like to pass savings on. Under your understanding of the law, are we legally allowed to denature as a beverage DSP? I think that's what you were getting at in another post but just want to clarify.

This is what is required for methanol purity for denaturing. I'm also wondering if it needs to be USP-grade for this application, if we can even use ethanol denatured with methanol for these purpose. Also, what we consider heads isn't pure methanol... there is actually very little methanol in it... it is actually mostly ethanol. I doubt the heads we produce have the concentration of methanol required.

The paperwork is the least of my concerns right now - if we find out we can denature I'm just going to keep strict record of my activites that I can use to fill the paperwork out with later. I think this makes it pretty clear what formulas we need to use - I assume we'd be under "Antiseptic solutions" for hand sanitizer. I'm also finding there are lot of agencies and public servants out there that just need surface cleaner - I have PDs that need it to sanitize their cop cars, fire fighters that need to sanitize gurneys, etc. For that purpose I'm thinking of just making a denatured ethanol without glycerin or hydrogen peroxide, if TTB will allow us.

Per the TTB authorization: "Formula guidance for the manufacture of hand sanitizer: TTB is authorizing the manufacture of hand sanitizer products consistent with World Health Organization (WHO) guidance. All TTB-permitted DSPs (including AFPs and beverage DSPs) may manufacture hand sanitizer products that are comprised of denatured or undenatured ethanol..." They are expressly giving beverage DSPs permission to make hand sanitizer with denatured alcohol. Do they expect us to get it solely from somewhere else instead of denaturing ourselves? I want to believe that the intent of this is to allow us to denature. Figuring this out should be as easy as making a phone call to them? I also know that DISCUS and others are pressuring TTB to exempt sanitizer made with non-denatured ethanol from FET and that would be an easy fix to this problem.

Bump.... I have the same question.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm trying to wrap my head around this method. When the alcohol is distilled out of the herbs I would think that it strips the flavor out with it too, like making gin.

It may very well be. I don't know and I haven't been able to find much information on the production process.

Those of you that use the Kveik yeast or are experimenting with it - what results have you gotten? Are the fruity esters really that pronounced? I've experimented with other beer yeasts, including Belgian farmhouse strains, and haven't been able to make any rum better than what I currently make with wine yeast.

Does anyone know how to make non-alcoholic distilled spirits (e.g. Seedlip)? What do you use as a base? My initial thought is to use a mix of water and glycerin but one of the main issues I see is the lack of solubility and stability of oils in water.

Yes, I'm aware it can only be sold within my state. I'm just trying to figure out what the benefits are. I read someone saying that in another thread, what would be an example of a non-mandatory regulation? That's what I'm trying to figure out. You still need to include brand name, alcohol content, gov warning, presence of HCFBLM, etc.

What's the major benefit of applying for a Certificate of Label Exemption instead of just getting a full COLA? It appears to be done through the same online form as a COLA and my understanding is the label still needs just about all of the same information required to obtain a COLA. Are Certificates of Label Exemption processed more quickly? Anyone have any recent experience? TTB's COLA processing times have gotten pretty long again and I'm in a bit of a bind to get some new labels printed so I'm looking for solutions.

Thank you very much, @bluestar that makes sense

How does TTB regulate the transfer of fermented wort/beer from a brewery to a distillery? I understand winery to DSP doesn't require a transfer in bond approval- all that's necessary is keeping the BOL in records. Is this the same for brewery to DSP? Thanks!

Thank you for that offer @Buckeye Hydro, I may take you up on that soon. I have not had any issues since. I'm still not sure what it was because I still use coated oranges sometimes when I can't get them direct from the farmer.