daveflintstone

For those of you who sell in both 750ml and 1L bottles, what percentage of each are you selling?

Because of my location I have to order my bottles by container and am trying to guess how much of each size to get.

This was already discussed in this thread I think.

As I understand the laws as they stand, it is the federal TTB laws that prohibit anyone from owning more than one step in the distiller-distributor-retail chain. I was told that if you own, or your spouse owns, a distilled beverage distributor or retail outlet (including bar, tavern etc) license, you would not be allowed to have a distillery license. As most of the laws are, this is left over from the end of prohibition where the federal government did not want to see organized crime control the liquor business from one end to the other.

It is state and/or county regulations which dictate what a distiller can and can't do as far as retail sales, not TTB.

Maybe you could approach this as a rental space for catered functions. Your alcohol would be bought beforehand and provided during the function, same as the food, etc.

Pre-diluted spirit proof=130. Wine gallons=500. To get down to 80 proof multiply your wine gallons by your proof (500x130%). This is your total proof gallons(650). Divide your total proof gallons by your desired bottling proof (650/80%). This will give you your total volume (812.5). Subtract the total volume by your original volume (812.5-500). This is the total volume of water that needs to be added in order to achieve your desired bottling strength (312.5).

Drew, I believe this calculation is not taking into account the contraction of the ethanol/water mixture. Are you not going to need more water than that? My calculation is 322.33 gallons, not 312.5. Am I missing something (which would not be unusual)?

btw, anyone know of a source for a small air sparger/bubble mixer, like 500 gallon size?

Hi, I wonder how much time does is take to run tests and get the formula(recipe) of a new Distillery. And also the average of materials is use in that process, perhaps equivalent in litters of final Product.

Hope someone can help me with this.

Luigie

What?

Ok, gotcha. I was just wondering if the corners made it more difficult to clean. Sounds like a no.

I bought some from Custom MetalCraft last yr. Three 550's with the cooling jacket and wine tank accessories that I use for fermentation and 2 350s for mixing and bulk storage. they are a terrific value.

Glad to hear these are working out for you. Are you finding them easy to clean, and how are you doing that?

I came across these stainless totes, 375 and 550 gallon, for lease for only $45 a month. I think they would do very well in multiple applications in a small distillery. For a start up trying to conserve money, it could be a good way to start.

Check it out: http://www.totetank.com/

thanks for the info; that sounds expensive.

Sometimes I wish I was in the ice cream business.

How are you packaging your 50ml mini bottles? Mine are glass, so I'm thinking a 12pack cardboard box with dividers. Anyone use something similar?

I see Absolut and some other brands packing in an open cardboard tray with plastic wrap around it. That would be great, but I wonder what kind of machine is needed for that.

I found a device called a mixing eductor, which is basically a nozzle that increases the flow rate of a pump by 3-5 times. By mounting this in the mixing tank, a small pump can mix with the capacity of a much larger one. My 40gpm pump becomes a 200gpm mixer, turning over a full 1600 gallon tank every 8 minutes. It is brilliant, and inexpensive. I've ordered one and I'll report back with the results.

Wow, that is something I never thought or considered. I assumed if I blended by weight using the correct formulas (I've got Payton's alcohol blending software) that would be that. I don't understand how diluting in multiple steps will give different component weights. I thought weight is independent of temperature?

I'm with Rich. Just clean your hoses well and hook a pump to your bottom most valve and "pump over" the top of the tank for a half an hour or so. Take readings from the top and bottom of the tank to check your mixture. Done.

This seems to be the consensus, makes sense, and thank you muchly.

When adding water to get your neutral down to 80 proof vodka, what are you using to do the mixing?

I guess it would be the same process with rum.

I have these 1600 gallon tanks (oversized, I plan to put no more than 1200 gallons in them) and don't know if I need a costly tank mixer to mount on the side, or if there's another way.

I think there are at least 7. maybe 8.

My math might be wrong.

I use PVC flexible tubing, mainly because it was the only 1" diameter available close by. It's clear so it's easy to see the fluid transferring, which is nice. As long as you don't need sharp bends in the run, otherwise it can pinch closed.

rocket surgery is my new favorite phrase.

Now I'm going to go wire my rotary pump; how hard can it be, it's not rocket surgery.

How do you facebookers compare its effectiveness to that of your website?

I'm trying to decide whether to spend several thousand on a fine website or instead going with a simpler, cheaper site and relying more on facebook for promotion.

I don't know what your plans are, but if you have any intention of growing, it's worth starting out with a larger bond than you think you might need. It takes so much time and effort to get a bond and to make sure they are correct, along with the fact that they are so cheap, that it's worth it to get one larger than needed.

My $65,000 bond was about $600/annually if I remember correctly.

Everyone on this forum seems to say the same thing about the bonds. My experience was quite different, in that I found the TTB bond process quite simple (with the guidance of my TTB rep) and had no problem getting a superseding and then a strengthening bond. A couple small corrections, one of which the TTB made over the phone and one I had to fax in another page, no problem.

The bond is, of course, needed to get the DSP license; my advice is to not sweat it, get whatever you think you might need, and raise it later if necessary. I got the minimum bond in cash, and then raised it twice when switching to a surety. The surety deducted the amount I had already paid them from the new bond cost. Easy.

holy crap, 28,000 bottles a day. maybe next month...

I make liquor. It tastes good. I prefer the title of Mr. Liquor Maker, along the lines of Mr. President.

As much as I'd like, there's no way I'm going to dorp you.

Do you need to have your DSP # on your outside sign for the distillery ?

no

The other part of the equation is even though we want lower taxes, there needs to be an offset to lowering that tax. Will it bring more jobs, will it bring more people to open craft distilleries and have a larger gain in overall tax collected? Bottom line is we have to have a strong reason to lower this tax and what overall benefit will this make.

Well I would assume the reason is the same as given for the small breweries.

Well, why not?

Click here for the story about legislation introduced in the senate to reduce the tax rate for small breweries, by half.

Where is the Distilled Spirits Council on this? I will gladly sign up and pay a $500 membership fee if they can expand this to include small distilleries.