kkbodine

5 minutes ago, Southernhighlander said:

Roger i hear you about Tito's.  I think that the handmade statement on the label is very misleading.  A customer told me yesterday that Tito's sold over $90,000,000.00 worth of Vodka last year.  Do you think that is true?

Well if you believe this article from Forbes (2013) then yes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2013/06/26/haunted-spirits-the-troubling-success-of-titos-handmade-vodka/#6f12b33312c9

"Tito's has exploded from a 16-gallon pot still in 1997 to a 26-acre operation that produced 850,000 cases last year, up 46% from 2011, pulling in an estimated $85 million in revenue."

12 hours ago, Red Pine said:

It also blew their minds that I'm going to do open fermentation.

 

I'm curious, what were their concerns about the open fermentation?

Some non-specific advice:

As a general rule whatever you sell is going to have to go through all the normal channels. If you can legally sell directly to the public or a bar then fine, but labeling rules will still apply. I don't know if in New York a distillery can sell directly to a hotel (I'm assuming the hotel bar in this case), I can't in Maine, but  having dealt with other states I would bet that price posting will be required. NY regulators should be able to answer that quickly.

14 hours ago, indyspirits said:

Surely this was written by committee.  Am the only one that thinks 

Is unrealistic for an "assistant"?

 

 

To me the "Essential function and Responsibilities" section is asking for a lot at the assistant level. The education and experience seems wanted seems fine but might be difficult to find given how young/small the industry is; though they are not limiting it to degrees/experience in distilling. In the wine industry, assistant winemakers would easily have that level of education and experience, would usually be educated in winemaking (BS), and some would have a master's degree. Of course wine is a bigger industry in terms of numbers of companies with a longer recent history.

Jameson has some pretty huge pot stills; Wikipedia says they are 75000 L. My family and I toured the working Midleton distillery in early 2011 but I can't remember how big they said they were. I do have a picture though which won't upload for some reason. Of course they are a massive company...

Picture here (maybe)

https://ibb.co/hCRpda

I think you were given two wrong pieces of information. Your state might have some weird alcohol permit requirement but I don't believe the TTB makes a distinction. You will need a transfer in bond form filed with TTB for anything brought in from another DSP. Maybe that is what the guy on the tour meant?

Off the top of my head I'm going with no. Wineries can only typically use grapes, fruit, honey, cane sugar, grape brandy, fruit brandy, grape concentrate, et al so something like GNS or whiskey would not be allowed. And anyway, a soda cocktail product made with some random alcohol cannot be done by a winery as far as I know. They need to investigate that idea a little more I think.

As far as I know, from the federal standpoint you just have to pay the tax and report the withdrawal on the appropriate monthly reports. Your state may have some rules about who can sell, transport, and/or receive bulk tax paid alcohol so check with them. I would create a label for the drum that states your company name, DSP #, address, type of spirit, proof gallons, wine gallons, and whatever else seems logical. There may be federal requirements somewhere in the regulations but that is what I have typically seen. We gave up producing vanilla extract for the past two years as vanilla bean prices have been very high.

5 hours ago, PeteB said:

Even though I have never met you I say your answer "NO" to your own question is incorrect. Your masters degrees may not have given you any direct knowledge of running a distillery but I would be certain that your brain was taught to think and problem solve, that is obvious from your contributions to this forum.

I agree. They show that he could complete something and most likely has critical thinking skills.

"Now hold on, because the rest of this is going to blow your mind."

Mind not blown. I hear essentially the same story multiple times per year from people who dream and talk but never do a damn thing.

I try not to be rude but sometimes people will show up on a super busy day or during an event and expect full attention/lots of time and that is difficult.

14 hours ago, Classick said:

I wonder if this covers wineries aging brandy on their premises and sending aged spirits to a DSP or rectifier for bottling?

I can't imagine that TTB would really like that arrangement as the winery would be acting as a distillery. There really isn't a line on the form for the transfer other than the blank line 7 so it would seem to be an operation that is meant to be uncommon. Or maybe they just didn't think of it.

We aways use any spirits transferred into our winery right away so I don't even carry over inventory; I figured there would be a solution as it must have been an issue at some point. Glad I could help and was actually right.

I don't see a way on the winery 5120.17 monthly report to do that transfer. Assuming the alcohol inventory has been kept track of in Part III on page 2 of that form, I would be tempted to record the transfer on line 7 and make a note in part X. A quick call to the TTB should clarify the issue.

That is pretty slick and reasonably priced.

I don't know of any kits off hand but I'm sure it can be done for well under $1000. Check out a procedure at http://www.vtwines.info click Online publication then look for Fermentable nitrogen

I have bought this in the past: https://www.zoro.com/value-brand-hose-food-1-12-in-100-ft-3jt91/i/G1138645/?q=G1138645

but it is much more expensive than the last time I bought it.

Does anyone know why 500ml is not allowed? That one has always confused me.

2 hours ago, ThomasM said:

Doesn't have to come from corks.  It can be formed in the spirit and become noticeable in the barrel.  Entire distilleries have been mothballed because of TCA in barrels well before packaging.  Real stuff. 

http://nyloveswhisky.com/lost-spirits-update/

OK so according to the article they had wooden tanks and a wooden still contaminated with TCA and literally distilled it into their products. A very specific situation and problem. I think he will be fine though because he can apparently create 20 year old flavors in six days https://www.wired.com/2015/04/lost-spirits/

I don't think the take away is ban chlorine from the distillery; it really is be careful what you do with it. It has been a major problem in some wineries and is very noticeable in wine. I don't want TCA in my facility which is a winery and distillery, so we rarely and very carefully use bleach.

Ahh my old friend Dr. Butzke (and no I'm not making a joke there). Anyway that is all well and good but unless you are using corks it should be a non-issue.

dhdunbar, can you explain this " That is a "never-ever" rule, unless you are going to redistill them - and then only when you are starting over, not when you are taking neutral spirits and redisitlling to make gin or vodka, but that is another subject." further, especially the last part?

You will spill stuff and it will be much harder to cleanup without proper drains. I would not have a facility without them. Why are you worried about TCA in a distillery? Assuming you are talking about   2,4,6-trichloroanisole ?

It varies among the states. Some require you to go through a wholesaler in that state; some don't. Many require each product to have a code number from NABCA. You might try calling NABCA to see if they have any guidance. Each control jurisdiction has varying levels of paperwork, most of which ask the same questions in different ways.

Camlock is ok but I hate having to think about male/female fittings all the time. They also seem a little harder to keep clean.