Kristian

We had a similar problem initially because we filled above the head room requirement of the bottle. That's my guess since it only happened to a few, filled those few just a tad too much. Kristian

They have polylaminate outside and foil inside thus you would need a foil spinner.

Nice work!

We had a visit from the TTB and they are requiring a lockable separation between our tasting room and bonded area. The tasting room is not bonded because you cannot have consumption in your bonded area. So I imagine that the rest of Colorado will have to address this soon.

We had to have a fire rated room for anything over 150K btu. it all depends on city/county code.

Found this and thought I'd share. http://morewinepro.com/public/apps/cooling/

Bladeswitch, If you run it through the still you need a federal Distilled Spirits Permit (DSP) in addition to your state licenses. Get in touch with other distilleries in your state and read everything you can on www.ttb.gov Kristian

If you have enough ethanol in the air at your distillery to reach its LEL you have other worries and probably shouldn't be running the forklift. We use an electric forklift with no explosion proof rating.

A stainless steel pneumatic diaphragm pump would work well.

I will include the small electric boiler with it - requires 3 phase 40 amp and runs stripping 120 gallons in 5-6 hours. A spirits run takes a bit longer.

If you use water at higher pressures you can get more heat energy and it works. Spring 44 uses this type of system and it seems to be fairly energy efficient. I use steam and am happy.

http://www.micromati...ol-cid-254.html scroll down and they get bigger.

TOTC is based on what you sponsor so lots of opportunities with wide pricing. You can participate at almost any budget range.

Sorry Lenny, total forgot about your burner, not sure why I did.

Ask Ted at Roundhouse Spirits in Boulder Colorado. He is the only person I know who has gotten his direct fire Hoga approved by the city. Anyone else gotten this done?

We are selling what has essentially been our stripping still. Asking price is $8000 and does not include freight. Features include: an 8" stainless column with 4" & 2" triclamp access and thermometer, a precondenser with cooling coil, thermometer and 2" triclamp access, an 8" condenser with internal coil stand and parrot. Everything is put together by 2" triclamp for ease of maintenance and cleaning. Sanitary stainless welds. The 150 gallon pot is from the 40's and leaks steam a little. It still works well. We are not including any copper plates, packing, etc. You will need to get that on your own. We are firm on price as that is what it cost to build it. If interested contact by messaging through ADI forums. Thanks.

I didn't have to pay any fees or taxes to the county or city, except for building permits and sales tax which don't fall under distilling. I wouldn't offer any fees/taxes for distilling or spirits production to them.

They didn't want our neck tags on the COLA and classified them as advertising so my guess is no.

congrats, absinthe takes a little perseverance.

If you have too much of the tails which are heavy in oils you'll have this problem. Also, temperatures of the distillate and the water when mixed, and solids/chemicals in the water can cause haze. Try redistilling and cutting tails at higher proof. I know a distiller who had this happen too.

We started small in an industrial 4-plex. The building is newer and next to our city bike path so it had decent foot traffic. We negotiated for a reduced rate the first 6 months and then stepped up to normal. Then 6 months after we started selling our neighbors moved and we took over their spot. Then a year later we started hinting to the other neighbors that we wanted their spot and fortunately for us they were all thinking of moving so it worked out well. Now we occupy the whole building. Anyway, we were fortunate to find somewhere that this was even possible. It would have been very difficult to move. It would have cost more than $15,000 in money spent, lost time and production. We aren't very large but I'm glad we didn't have to move and I dread the day we do. I think people will visit regardless of your location if you make good use of social media and local events to get the word out. They'll go to an odd warehouse to tour/sample/buy. Just my experience, hope it helps.

Talk to Paul from Fusion Glass (China) http://www.fusion-glassworks.com, or Gabi from Vitro (Mexico) http://www.vitro.com/vitro_packaging/ingles/home.htm

DISCUS has some good info under their economics tab on their website. www.discus.org

Our distributor sells glass to restaurants/bars and we get it through them for the same cost. It's fairly reasonable and the quality is good but not very promotional. Maybe check with similar groups near you.

We did it this way for a limited release brandy that we are selling in the tasting room only. But the finished "label" was handwritten on the glass bottle with a metallic paint pen. There are some requirements that may make your approved generic and then finished label not work. The COLA approval process ensures that there are enough contrast in the decoration to be able to read the info, some items must be visibly separate from others. This is easy to do in word but when you get your finished label it may not be so obvious.