OldFriend

1 hour ago, Patio29Dadio said:

Show the sombrero of death requirement 10 ft from all stills and below 36" from the floor for needing explosion proof electrical.  That will impress them.  It will cost you a bit more, but should not break the bank... and you will more likely not blow up your distillery. 

No stills in our business model, just sourcing barrels of whiskey. Which hopefully simplifies things with fire code.
Thanks for the good info!

On 1/2/2020 at 5:13 PM, Patio29Dadio said:

Agree with Thatch.  However, depending on the level of distillery experience with you local building official and fire marshal, you might be better off driving this by telling them what you think is required and providing them the CYA materials they can use.   Buy the DISCUS distillery code manual and read it top to bottom, and then give them your plan and a copy of the manual (I think the Copyright permissions allow you to provide copies to people involved in your project... check it out though).   Your plan should include things like the MAQ you intend to support.   For example, if you are making something with GNS and your operation is large enough to require in excess of the MAQ allowed given your sprinklered and/or non-sprinklered control rooms, then you would be pushed into a Class-1 / Division-2 fire code classification for flammable materials and you will need a lot of things including a floor with containment gutters and a drain and might require special fire prevention.  You want to stay in Class-1 / Division-1 if at all possible.

One thing that can help is that spirits stored in barrels are arguably not included in the MAQ calculation.   But I know of some distilleries where the local officials still required sprinklers and a floor drain in the barrel storage area.  I hear that in Kentucky due to the recent barrel rickhouse collapses where whisky went into the local streams and rivers and destroyed fish and other wildlife, and made a mess out of the environment, that there is talk of requiring containment drainage ponds for any new rickhouses.

The last point I would make to anyone starting a DSP... put in floor drains.   You will regret it later if you don't.  

Thank you for this reply. We're looking at a setup right now where the whiskey barrels (sourced) would be stored in a very secure ex-grain silo, and we would have an adjacent blending/bottling room. The Bottling room would be much easier to install a drain and sprinklers than the silo. But it sounds like in some cases the storage area would need a sprinkler system and maybe drainage. Probably best for us to contact local officials?

Hello,
I'm trying to locate a comprehensive list of DSP site requirements. Most notably I can't find information about whether the DSP, which in our case will not be operating any mashing/fermenting/distilling equipment, has any liquid drain requirements.
Cheers!

Thanks bluestar, that gives me lots to dig into.

Hi all!
Your forum is a wealth of knowledge, thank you for being here and for discussing in depth so many facets of whiskey making.

I'm interested in sourcing, not distilling. If I have a house on a property with a very large shed/garage (not attached to the house), could that property legally become a DSP, so that we could store many barrels of sourced whiskey in the big shed? I know there are complications with the TTB if you're trying to operate a still within a residential property, but what about just storing lots of sourced whiskey?

If it helps, the property will be in the state of Missouri.

Thank you for your help!