JohnMcD

Yes you can do direct sales to bars and liquor stores.

Hedgebird How much of a difference in heat up times did the insulation make? was thinking of doing the same just want to make sure its worth the effort. John

I would say let the farmer worry about separating the grain or find another farmer one less headache for you he's getting a pretty good deal on free grain

Congrats

The feds took us 32 days so i would agree in giving them a call. When i called to politely make sure there was nothing more they needed they were more than helpful.

Scott, My floor already has a coat of paint on it so I'm just freshening it up. Believe me I'm not the type to worry about a scuff or scratch and a repaint would not involve moving everything lol John

Roger, I know this probably won't help but I just bought epoxy paint today. I figure with paint any time it starts to look like crap I can just repaint and have a new floor. John If your ever down this way stop in. We hope to open sometime this summer, early I hope.

+2 for Jennifer

We just received ours today 32 days total! We were expecting 3 months so now we are 2 months behind.Not that I'm complaining.

We applied for our DSP on 2/8/13 and we just got our approval today!!! It took a total of 32 days. Not too shabby!! John

Good for you! Hope to be close behind, placed in final review a couple days ago, checking email often haha. Wish we were going to conference again this year but much work to do. Good luck !!

Congrats!

On the TTB application is this just based on physical space of the bonded area? I understand the amount of proof gallons to be produced based on your bonds, but this seems very subjective.Any help Thanks John

Equinox, The kettle that I am looking at does have a national board number and they provided me the paper work that goes with it. It shows the jacket to be sa240-304 and the "shelf and the heads" to be sa240-316 and yes it would be used for a mash cooker. Thanks John

+1

Thanks for the replies, always a source of great info here. Sherman I purchased my still from Vendome worked with Kyle Grant, nothing but good things to say!! Definitly agree with the recommendation. I was also at the class you and Paul did at Limestone Branch in the spring, good stuff. I've been going through the used equiptment sites trying to save a buck or two and wanted to make sure a dimpled jacket would be up to the job.Plan on mostly producing whisk(e)y. Equinox, in the used market what should I look out for, anything obvious? Definetly hard to get a read on some of the guys I've talked to. Thanks, John

Does anyone have any experience with a dimpled jacketed kettle compared to a smooth jacketed one? Just wondering the + -'s Thanks, John

looks awesome jimmi

Congrats

Blackheart Are you using actual fermenters or some type of repurposed bulk tank.just curious John

I vote for the one on the bottom!!

John, Just wondering if you think an 8"x10' column with structured packing would be capable of hitting 95% after a stripping run. Tough to find that kind of info and I am no engineer. Any thoughts would be appreciated. John

JohninWV, Alan recommended the SEC Millenium ethanol gas detector (sensor). The whole set up for my square footage if using one sensor with an audible and visual alarm could be done for roughly $2,500. This is estimated on approximately 1,800 square feet in the distillery proper and does not include the tasking room. I know it's a small area, but you would only need to add more sensors for a larger area. The alarms and lights are also available explosion proof, but the three alarm levels are all below an explosive level. There is also a controller that could be connected to your heat source to shut the still down automatically. I’m no expert on any of this, but I'm sure Alan would be happy to speak with you about it. I hope this helps and it is definitely another tool for us to use in keeping our distillery safe. Alan's contact information is as follows: Alan H. Petersen Jr. Sensor Electronics Corporation 5500 Lincoln Drive Minneapolis, Minnesota 55436 USA (T) 952.938.9486 (F) 952.938.9617 © 952.297.6336 www.sensorelectronic.com Email: apetersen@sensorelectronic.com

Brian, I couldn’t agree with you more. I believe the most important thing is the safety of my customers and myself. I recently did a walkthrough of my facility with my insurance underwriter and my agent, and I can tell you that both of them were fully aware of the recent events in our industry. Part of the underwriting report came back with explosion proof lamps etc. When pricing these lamps and everything else you have listed above it is almost impossible for a start up to satisfy all of these issues. That being said, I have 26 years experience working in an industry that requires entering and working in enclosed spaces where explosive gasses and dead air can be common. We have always been trained to test and monitor the atmosphere along with providing proper ventilation. Going with these thoughts, I searched for ethanol monitoring sensors and hand held testing devices. My theory is that if the still is always manned while running and the atmosphere is always monitored an alarm would be triggered that would either notify the distiller to shut down the still or be automatically programmed to shut down the still or boiler until the source of the ethanol could be found. This was well received by my insurance underwriter. They agreed that it would make sense to stop the problem before it becomes an explosive level rather than trying to prevent the explosion. I spoke to Alan Peterson Jr. at Sensor Electronics. He said he could easily outfit a facility of my size with 1-2 sensors and monitoring alarms for a reasonable cost compared to the explosive proof everything route. We all know we can make everything explosion proof and spend tens of thousands of dollars and still have some jackass come in and flick their Bic in their pocket and ultimately it would still be our fault. Here is his website: www.sensorelectronic.com. Hope this helps. John

Hi neighbor. I saw your post and I wanted to send you a note to let you know that my wife and I are basically doing the same thing you are, but in Lake George. I think we are a little farther along than you and if you would like a sounding board or if you come up against something that we might be able to help with please contact us. We have been through the ringer with the SBA, local planning boards, county planning boards, our own bank, environmental reviews and who knows what else is coming around the corner. I believe that the more people we have in this industry in close proximity, will be good for all of us. With Albany Distilling Company opening and Harvest Spirits close by, instead of being the bourbon trail we can be the Northway trail from NYC to Lake Placid. Ha. Ha. I hope to hear from you. Good Luck. John