Julius

+1 for Distillery Solutions (Five x 5)

I am pretty sure it can integrate with cloud based quick books. 

13 minutes ago, FireRoot said:

I am hoping to re-open this discussion.

Fist I will describe our current situation: We established our distillery with only a distribution model and have been distributing for a little under a year. We distill on our farm which is good for manufacturing, but our location sucks for a tasting room (hence the distribution model). Our sales are starting to gain a little momentum and we are currently only distributing in our state. We have no debt, which is a huge plus. However, sales are slower than we'd like and we're not making enough money to live on yet.

We are wondering if you think it's worth taking on investors/going into debt to build a tasting room in our nearest city? Do you think the marketing you gain from a tasting room is worth it, or does it really increase your sales that much?

We are afraid that without a tasting room our brand will get left in the dust with all these other distilleries popping up that have tasting rooms. Or if we distribute out of state or out of country then maybe a tasting room doesn't even matter. Any advise on the situation is greatly appreciated.

What would your budget be building a tasting room? Would that money be better spent furthering your on premise campaign? 

3 minutes ago, UpAndAdam said:

How safe is it to run 60-70% on electric elements? ive always tried to stay below 40%.

I do not know. I have only worked with steam and direct flame. I am sure someone else can answer that question. 

I have not used your exact system, but I would assume it will just take multiple runs and charging the pot with at least 60%-70% abv. The other option would be to run your still as slowly as possible, but with only 8 plates, I find it hard to believe you will get compliance distillate from a 30% abv charge. 

17 hours ago, Patio29Dadio said:

Latest... they are fighting the “blend” part because the two allowed/recognized blend types are:

1. Straight whiskeys from the same state.  (No formula required)

2. A product that is a blend of at least 51% straight whiskey/s plus GNS (even though the description does not require GNS, that is the intent of this type...  a product with other stuff blended to the straight whiskey.)  A formula is required for this.

My approach was to apply for #2 but just skip adding any of the other stuff... something that seems to be allowed in the specification of the type Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey.  But when my formula is only multiple straight bourbon whiskeys they put it as a type Type Whiskey/Bourbon... basically negating the need for a formula.  

They want me to remove the world “Blend” and “blended” from all the parts of the label, because, they say, that they don’t want the consumer to be confused.  

And I tell them if I label it Straight Bourbon Whiskey while it is a blend of more than one Stright Bourbon Whiskeys from different states, that seems to:

1. Be misleading to the consumer as the consumer will naturally assume it is one bourbon.

2. Eliminate a key description of the uniqueness of the product... being a blend of different straight bourbons and not a single expression.  

I have a name of a specialist to talk to and will try to reach him next week to talk this through.  From my perspective, they should allow it to be a Straight Bourbon Whiskey but accept the fanciful name “Capital Blend Bourbon Whiskey” as long as I remove “Blended Straight Bourbon Whiskey” from the label.  Otherwise I have to call it Capital Straight Bourbon Whiskey... and that misses the point.  

Learning that there are number of COLA gray areas and undocumented standards known by the TTB agent and not otherwise documented in any definitive way.  And I have A LOT of experience dealing with federal regulations.  

#2 In addition to GNS being used in blended whiskey, it is also common for spirit or light whiskey (whiskey distilled over 160proof) to be used in a blend. 

Small guys with pot stills can not make GNS with the consistency and price of the ethanol plants. 

The possibilities with different botanicals are endless. The same base can make an infinite amount of different gins. Not sure why you think botanicals don’t have an impact. 

edit: sorry, did not see this was a thread resurrected from the dead. 

Blended Whiskey =/= A blend of straight whiskeys.

I believe Jailbreak has given you sound advice. I would love to know how you finally get approval (and see the label).

Just a heads up, bourbon and rye blended together are not a “Blended Whiskey.”

Blended Whiskey is a class/type that refers to a blend of whiskey with something else (NGS) and requires a formula approval.

Anecdotaly, we had higher loss in our palletized storage compared to our racks. 

Do you make any peated distillate?

12 hours ago, Patio29Dadio said:

More than likely they had some claim that has caused them to evaluate their client portfolio and attempt some risk management. 

I had one carrier quote that would only cover us if we promised to move our barrels to another building.  Even though the barrel room is a separate, sprinkled, control room.  The rep admitted that he was getting this handed him from underwriters because of a previous claim where a still fire took out the barrel stock stored RIGHT NEXT TO THE STILL IN THE SAME ROOM!  But they could not accept barrels in another control room away from the production area.   They are reactive that way. 

Makes sense. 

I’m just glad our building has exceeded requirements for all of their questions. 

Have been insured by this company for four years. I will PM you specifics. 

99% of it involves questions about compliance with the NFPA. Our building was built well above and beyond code, and we haven’t changed anything since the start of the policy. After multiple onsite visits, and we thought they were pacified, there will be another site visit about construction and compliance in a non production area of the building. 

It is just incredibly strange that these questions are being asked 4 years after the fact. 

So this cyclical nature explains why I have had insurance underwriters around year?

Does anyone have a name or two of brokers in the US with peated distillate for sale?

19 hours ago, whiskeytango said:

I have been trying to reset it and its not re setting.   

Sorry bud. No one has ever accused FONL of being an awesome website.

4 hours ago, whiskeytango said:

I have been trying to log on to formulas on line and been getting shut down, anyone able to access this or is this closed until they re open to. 

I am able to log in right now.

Reset your password, FONL likes to expire your password without cause. 

On 1/14/2019 at 10:05 AM, Dominat said:

I am baffled by the range of design and combinations of copper heads on stills - balls, teardrops, witches hats, etc, with and without plate columns, not to mention the various angles of lyne arms, etc etc. 

I am looking to produce tasteful gin from GNS. Does any one have any expertise they could share on the pros and cons, from this perspective, of the different combination of stand alone copper heads, or of the copper head in combination with a column?

regards 

One way to start, pick out your five favorite spirits (gin in this case since you are making gin) and look at what type of still produced them. 

On 12/20/2018 at 8:34 AM, AnthonyM said:

@Julius The nails I am referring to are the hoop nails. I didn't know if I should put more back in once I tighten the hoops. My phone's camera is garbage so it may be a bit to attach a picture.

 

@barristerandbrewer I appreciate the caution and information. I will reach out and give you a call soon.

 

Regards,

Anthony

Pictures of the nails in the barrel please? 

4 hours ago, AnthonyM said:

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Our production area is not super insulated and we have a great deal of fresh air intake to feed our burners. We end up with whatever ambient humidity there is outside but temp can swing in a single day due to the still heating things up.

Humidity is hard to keep up with here since we have the joys of being considered a temperate rainforest. Our summer humidity can be crazy so without going back but I can say that it probably dried out a great deal before leaking started. The biggest change did coincide with the outside temp dropping in the area.

When I am resetting hoops is it advisable to put new nails in once i pop out the old ones and tighten things up?

Nails? Pictures please.

A small copper thumper/doubler would clean your spirit up some. Sorry I do not have any mashing techniques to help. 

I am guessing you are doing on grain distillation? 

What kind of still are you stripping with? 

What is the PG to bushel yield of the stripping run?

You are based out of Illinois?

95 day for our last TIB approval. Multiple follow ups were required...

Tube in shell heat exchanger.