clearwaterbrewer

a handful might be an over-estimate... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/12/meet-the-beer-bottle-dictator.html

now my formulas are getting nit-picked... I had 3 species of vanilla 0-5%, and stated in the method of manufacture that at least one of them would be used, but gets kicked back for having zero values for ingredients. I replaced then with generic ingredient 'vanilla bean' and then it gets kicked back for something else "There is an error in the following field::" (no field listed) and they get a bit snooty: I cannot find the error, I have a half dozen other formulas that 0-1% for a dozen botanicals or more that went through fine... what is inherently wrong with having 0-0.1% as a quantity, giving you the choice of leaving a trace amount of something out of a product?

I am getting every single COLA rejected multiple times for mostly 'imaginary' issues... exact same label layouts approved for two years now saying that my alcohol content statement cannot be on wraparound portion of label (it is not, it is a 4" wide label on a typical 750ml, completely viewable from the front), and rejecting every fanciful name, asking what the fanciful name means... Big G as a variant of our Gin... If I have to explain what every fanciful name means other than fanciful, I think e these folks are trying to justify their jobs or more staff by just clicking through all 10 of my COLA's and hitting reject and typing in one sentence padding their COLA count... others seeing this?

I would get the one that covers your bottling range, and the one higher, so if you bottle at 80, get the 79-90 and 89-100, because unless you are holding you spirits and the room they are bottled in at 60 degrees F, you will have to read a higher proof.... and you can get them calibrated in the middle, as you will be reading to a tenth of a proof and a tenth of a degree, and they should not vary by more than that in half the range.... I am not affiliated with them, but I use http://www.novatech-usa.com/ I am sure others are great too. example: B61807-5900 79 to 90 Proof, Durac High Precision Alcohol Proof Hydrometer (each) [H-B Instrument # 6840] $165 for the hydrometer, $175 for the cert. I suggest 79-90, 89-100, (and 189-200 if doing vodka), and one of each calibrated and one un-calibrated... use the uncalibrated one until the final measurement. and for thermometers, use 30-124 degree 'partial immersion' get a calibrated (H-B Instrument # 3/4124 $260) and an un-calibrated (H-B Instrument # 6/1124 - $68) -mike

make sure you sweetness is not ethyl acetate ;-) if you wash gets a bit of acetic acid going, that can make it 'sweet'... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_acetate

I do this, all my products are obtained this way, there is no real reporting other than 5110.40 part VI, write into line 7 "Malt Barley Wort", and in 7c, put in the number of gallons of malted barley wort you received. (I do not put the sugar content/gravity/brix in this form, but is recorded in the log form for each receiving action) As far as the brewery goes, I am not knowledgeable of their forms, but as long as they record int heir daily logs somewhere that they transferred un-fermented wort out, and how many pounds of grain they used for that batch, they are covered... maybe they are using certain brewhouse software... if you know of the specifics of any of the software packages handling of this, please add detail in this thread to help others...

and there we go, the first PM trying to sell me monthly cost software comes in promising a 'big discount'... when it is a $9.95 app (ok, a $99.95 app) with no recurring charges, let me know...

Call Deb and Dan Carey at New Glarus!!!

I was told by consultant you should fill, out 3 forms when not producing anything 5110.11 - you will have all zeroes across lines 6 and 24 5110.28 - you will have zeroes on 8, 26, 31, 47 (and maybe 67, but I did not) 5110.40 - you will have zeroes across line 14 and down column L Oh, and make a note in big bold letters to always update the month if you 'duplicate' the last months report... if must have gotten me 4-5 times...

First, he said he does not have the capital for that software, and I understand where he came from... I am not sure I agree with using the costly software for small folks starting out, a couple hundred dollars a month is great if it does everything and you have ten thousand a month coming in, but they don't do everything, they can't... You still have to do all the measuring, all the data entry, and you have to do it their way, they just do math and database recording... sure they fill out the reports, but in my opinion, you really need to do the reports yourself for at least a little bit, your name is still on them!... Oh, and from what I hear, don't try to go back and correct a mistake you found you made in one of those programs... worse than trying to correct something in your Retail POS system... I spend maybe an hour a week filling out basic daily log forms I created in excel for each kind of tracked activity: received fermentables, fermentations, transfers, stripping runs, whiskey runs, neutral runs, botanical runs, dilution, gauging and bottling runs, barreling and entry to storage, and removal from bond... In the beginning, it was well more than an hour, but you get good at it... those forms have no math, they are simple daily records that I print out a bunch of each type and keep in the distillery area, I do something on the list above, I fill it out by hand... (it is also a great thing to show people on tours to show the detail of records you keep to appease the government and why they should buy a bottle of something that is truly 'hand crafted!) Monthly, tonight, actually, I will take all those daily record sheets in my binder and last month's forms, and tally up totals.... I will go through my distillation records and total up any 'finished spirits' and open the 5110.40 "production", I will go through it and triple check everything.. I will go through my dilution, gauging, and bottling records and my 'removed from bond records and tally them up and I will fill out 5110.28 "processing".. I didn't fill any new barrels this month, so my 5110.10 'Storage' will have the same values that I ended with last month... I literally spent more time typing this than I probably will doing the reports tonight.... I have looked at putting my data into one of the lower cost systems like distillitrak. I probably will go with them eventually, but the startup is too time intensive at the moment, as the setup of vendors, every container, every ingredient, etc... are one thing, but every time you turn around to do something different, you have to go add this or that to your ingredients or vendors or items or whatever before proceeding, it really seems to hurt the artistic workflow of a small shop.... you should do it in excel sheets of your own making for a year or so, specifically so you know what the software you will likely eventually purchase is doing... The biggest reason I will eventually get a system is for more than 10 products and products at multiple proofs, that is where spreadsheets fail and a database shines... but even then, it will do things the operator does not understand, especially if the operator does not have an intimate understanding of how the daily records and monthly TTB forms relate to each other... OK, I spent an hour and a half writing this... time to do reports..

It was told to me by an expert (ex TTB) that frequents this forum that 'if a 6-foot fence is good enough for a storage tank of thousands of gallons, it should be good enough for your DSP, right?...' I guess the question becomes: how does a outside storage tank get away if the CFR is specific enough to outlaw a scalable wall? Me? what did I do for the gift shop? I spent way too much and have a 2-hour firewall and 90 minute door because I tried to make my local officials happy, and kick myself for doing so.,... Customers cannot see the still unless the door is open, which means one of the two named people on the DSP has to be there... distillery consultants are worth every penny... especially if you get them involved before approaching a contractor or local official...

the bottle is stock glass... again, "Please only respond if you have BOTH the flasks and the correct color caps 'in stock' ready to ship."

I like this package design for a small run of our first whiskey: Please only respond if you have BOTH the flasks and the correct color caps 'in stock' ready to ship. Please post here if you do, others may want this too... -mike

William - If you are buying a container load at a time, they are all great... if you are buying a pallet at a time, not so much...

If you have the printer and the bottle, you can experiment with the placement of the two rollers that the bottle rolls on, they have different grooves, and I can confirm you can have the left side in one groove and the right side of the roller in another groove and have the rollers in a V shape... it may take making a more adjustable roller system, and even having the labels printed on the roll at a tilt, but anything is possible with enough tinkering.. (and labeling parties to do production until you get the automation correct...... (you should see trying to train people the hand-eye coordination to get the label on the front of a flip-top bottle so that it aligns with the bail!)

I can only find plastic screw on caps for these, I have looked for a few hours now... have you found any metal screw on caps that will fit these?

I would say that it is not on the GRAS list, therefore you cannot give a GRAS notification number, but instead state that you are following TTB guidelines that you have less than 10ppm following the TTB's circular: http://www.ttb.gov/industry_circulars/archives/2007/07-05.html also this earlier thread... http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=293 bottom line, you will have to come up with a polite way to make the TTB rep think outside of their cubicle for a moment...

with no sprinklers, you are limited to 120Gal of IB and IC flammables per control area - This number includes barrels but not glass containers for retail sale. with any level of approved sprinklers (such as .2 over 1500ft) you are increased to 240 per control area... Barrels are exempt from MAQ's *IF* you have sprinklers, but specifically sprinkler design and density pointed out in the DISCUS manual, and the DISCUS manual says, for 0-6 high stacked barrels with ceiling-only sprinklers, .22gpm per sqft over 4000sqft... so unless your 'control area is less than 4000sqft, you need 880GPM, or a 6" supply line... it is much more detailed than just what I put above, it gets into 'modified H3' and how you can be exempt from spill control, ventilation, XP devices, etc..., and it is a real web of requirements that go back and forth between not only the fire codes, but also the building codes... a fire code consultant such as Dalkita is worth every penny... anyone reading this and contacting such a consultant BEFORE buying or leasing a building will save a lot of headaches and money and be open in less than half the time...

how many grams per liter are we talking, I am sizing a bigger gin basket to hold enough juniper and corriander for a full still charge, going a bit bigger now makes sense? (the Pontarlier recipe looks to be 115 or so grams/liter of macerated botanicals, and I am at 40g/L or so with Gin, but the Pontarlier may be above TTB threshold..) Also, what is the density, that is, how much does a liter of it weigh, I get about 400 grams in a liter of space for juniper, which is what I am sizing the basket it on..

They *can* be inferior, or they can be quality if you are very rigorous or have an agent over there... They *can* have a huge minimum order They *can* have a 8 week or longer lead time They *can* have a negative impact on customer impression someone doing organic or craft and wants to say they are supporting the little guy does not want chinese glass...

I got my key retaining master locks with custom engraving from http://www.hpionline.com/ I dealt with: CAMIE LEAVERTON | Sales 1.800.778.2217 | p: 619.444.3147 ext.231 | f: 619.444.5677 camie@hpionline.com here was my quote(text only, could not add formatting) Product Number: 6850KALJ Name Selection List Price Model 6850 24.33 BumpStop No 0.00 Keying Option Keyed Alike 0.95 Shackle Length 2-1/2 " (64 mm) 2.35 Total Unit Price: $27.63 Quantity: 7 Total List Price: $193.41 Service Options: Laser Engraving

First of all, Dave Dunbar is the man, everything I know is based upon his help.... To agree with him, I do not think bottling excess can go straight into 'storage'... I either leave it in 'processing'(personally, I have mostly only used this for filled bottles though): 5110.28 - 46 ( "On Hand End of Month" (and next month it appears in 27( "ON HAND" Or I send it back to 'production' 5110.28, part 1, 20 © "USED FOR REDISTILLATION" ( do not record it in the 5110.40 Production form except at end of quarter for "17. PHYSICAL INVENTORY- END OF CALENDAR QUARTER" I suppose with barrel aged spirits like you have, you may want to send it back to some form of 'storage', but you could be putting it an another container and 'mingling', so maybe have to send it back to production, then to storage... but you may have fun proving an age statement... I would ask the legality of just not taking that amount to the processing account on paper to begin with.. Can the spirits be reduced to bottling proof and transferred from the barrel to a storage tank while still in 'storage'? if so, then only take to 'processing' what you use to bottle ( including your losses in 24©) -mike

Here in Florida,we had a 2 bottle per customer per year limit that recently changed to 2 bottles per brand(COLA) per person per year, which is a tracking nightmare. Based on what others were using in the state, I used Quickbooks POS with an add-in called Ability Total Customer from Ability Business, but it did not do the actual tracking of quantities, but that was easy to check before the 'per brand' increase in our sales limit. I convinced Ability Business that this would be a worthwhile modification and worked with the software engineer to help him create this feature and bug-test it. Then current downloaded version seems to work exactly as most of us need it. This only works with Quickbooks POS, so not for everyone, sorry!

Also looking for US sized (200ml/375 ml) swing top bottles, round and flask... Glass manufacturer reps - Distillers have customers that want something that will not be thrown away after 1 use! NO offers for container loads from China

Looks like just a case of being extra safe... "one of the small stills had overflowed with hot liquid and steam" my bet is cooling water flow stopped... combustible gas sensors are cheap insurance and in my opinion more valuable than sprinklers... I have 3 "Drager Polytron 2 XP" and a enmet CP-60 control panel to read from one location. You learn very quickly what it takes to get to 20%LEL (which is quite a lot, actually).