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We are currently aging some gin. I've seen through many topics here that the TTB is not allowing "Barrel Aged" on a gin bottle. Is that still the case? Are there any recent experiences that I can use to guide our choices for what to label it? Must this be formulated as a Distilled Spirit Specialty? I'm seeing many barrel aged and age stated gins on the shelves...

Sealed/polished concrete would be ideal. Anything else will have poor reaction to ethanol and spilled mash.

lol, no rage, just trying to help others avoid a pitfall like op.

I think I need to go to the doctor after laughing so hard at that. I can see the tagline now: "Virgin's Tear: The rarest of vodkas!" To respond to op: I make an obscene amount of vodka for our equipment. I hate it. Vodka takes forever compared to pot-still/low proof column runs. On a craft scale, finding the proper equipment is important, but no matter what you're looking at 10-20 hour days to produce a feasible amount of product to a quality standard that will make you happy. That's after days of stripping runs to feed low wines to the spirit runs. If I could do it all over again, I would not make neutral. I finally have staff trained and capable enough to make it so I don't have to man 100% of the long days each week we run neutral, but even then I'm constantly worried about burnout and scheduling. With that said, being on the other side of the startup phase, our vodka has performed well on the market, it's one of our leading products and rounds out our portfolio of brands quite well. Now with that said, vodka is a crowded market with very little chance to differentiate. It requires the largest marketing budget of any spirit to muscle out a niche for your brand, and even then you're fighting the steepest uphill battle in the industry. Finally, to recommend equipment: we have an Artisan Still Design hybrid batch still that has a 4 plate and 16 plate column (16 being the bare minimum I would suggest to achieve 190 proof at a take off rate that wont make you slit your wrists). It's a work horse, middle of the market pricing and ASD supports their product quite well. "Times distilled" is marketing fluff and doesn't mean anything to me. In theory, every 4 plates you distill through equates to a single distillation, with thumping adding somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 of the effect of a single distillation. Every time you vaporize at the kettle you can consider that a distillation as well (stripping run and spirit run prior to the plates). But once again, every piece of equipment is different and has it's own quality of product.

What you linked and copied applies strictly to "losses" not gains. You mentioned that for a 40% abv spirit you can be from 39.85% to 40.15% and that's not correct. For a 40% abv spirit you have a tolerance range between 39.85% and 40%. Period. You cannot have more spirit in the bottle than what is stated on the label. You must correct the stated abv on the label (which doesn't require a new cola) or properly proof your spirit to the tolerance range. The TTB is interested in maintaining proper tax influx. By under-proofing your spirit you are, in effect, sending 1% abv of untaxed spirits out the door (using op as an example). The TTB recognizes that losses occur to proof through the bottling process and have given a tolerance range that accounts for that, but you must not have more liquor in that bottle than is stated on the label. The best way to assure you're proofing properly is to take your time. It takes me 5-10 hydrometer readings (depending on the volume being diluted) and ample time for agitation/diffusion to make sure we are accurate. I want the proper amount of liquor in as many bottles as possible, as does the TTB. Don't give away spirit for free (or without taxes paid).

Build a huge frame around the equipment and run netting around it. I imagine it like the many houses with pools in areas like Flordia that are surrounded by bug netting.

There are a few distilleries doing it. I would imagine they would have to keep the distilling space fenced in and secured with approved locks. It could only be done year round in warm climates too. The thought of distilling outdoors without ample insulation during a NY winter makes me cringe. Also, to answer OP: Apply bug spray to yourself away from the still and you'll be fine, i guess. Make sure you're collecting into an enclosed tank and through a screen of some forms. I suggested a triclamp gasket that has a screen on it that would be sufficient. You wont be able to seal the still or the parrot very well though. Some bugs are unavoidable I would imagine. It builds flavor character! maybe you could encase the still and operation floor with a large bug net?

Are you worried about keeping them out of your product? I would use a gasket with a screen through which product can flow but no solids. Make sure your tank is buttoned up as much as possible. You're outside though. You wont be able to avoid them completely. I've found that whiskey, in particular, attracts fruit flies rather well so expect your parrot to gum up with bug guts. I believe people call that "earthy flavor!"

I'm wondering if anyone has insight on pitfalls to avoid when marketing and attracting people to your tasting room. I've heard of distilleries getting fined for incentivizing with alcohol. Is this true? As a broader question, what is and is not kosher when marketing alcohol/tasting room/distillery? For example: I'd like to produce a business card sized incentive card to hand out on business-to-business runs or at events. Can I put on that card "buy one cocktail get a second cocktail free" or "good for $5 off any bottle when purchased in the tasting room?" Or should it be more generic like "good for $10 at the tasting room." What about "frequent flyer cards?" That is to say "buy 10 cocktails get one free." I want to adhere to regulation/law obviously. Thank you!

After submitting a COLA it will take that many days to get a kick back where they either ask for amendments or they approve. If you have something glaringly wrong I find that the second it hits the hand of the reviewer it gets kicked back (no origin statement, no gov't warning, something like that.) That first kickback is usually shorter than what it takes to do a final approval. In terms of resubmitting, you have a period of time (a week? 10 days?) to fix the problem and resubmit your app. It will then be at the top of the figurative pile and be approved within a few days. You can start production, just can't remove from bond without an approved label, obviously. If you're waiting on a cola, you can fiddle with that process while producing the product for the bottles. Start the bottling process and label after, or wait till the labels come in to start the labeling/bottling.

Pitch a normal yeast and nutrient dose and let'er run dry. Who knows, it may be your best ferment yet. I find our rye whiskey does significantly better flavor wise if we allow for some bacterial action a day or two after completion. Rum in particular has a rich history of utilizing bacterial esters (dunder pits) to produce fun flavors. Check your pH and make sure it's in a healthy range for your yeast before pitching (the MBS would do that).

You can, but you're stripping the first layer of flavor from the interior of the barrel. Just lay them out a few days before you fill them and spray them down like they're a garden. Soak on the outside thoroughly and then leave some water sitting on the head. Flip, soak again and leave some water on the other head for a few hours. I've done this with cold water from the spigot. You get the rare minor leak that you can seal with a cooper kit easily and you don't lose any flavor.

Depends on pitching temp, starting gravity, yeast strain, nutrient availability, ambient temperature, PH, available oxygen, mashing protocol (did you fuck it up?), exogenic enzymes vs endogenic enzymes (endogenic produce more unfermentable, or poorly fermentable sugars which = slower). Do you want some of that icky, bacteria action that happens after a ferment finishes? Makes for a good whiskey but you have to wait a few days! I've found, all things equal, that rye ferments faster than corn. Exact same procedure for rye as corn and it ferments to completion a whole day or two more. Rye is done in 3 days, corn in 4-5 maybe? There's a lot of variables that effect time, and flavor.

Rye has a lot of protein in it. Glucans and the sorts. For some reason rye ferments are much more vigorous and ferment dry much faster than, say, corn. Here's how we handle it (we do a lot of rye): - Make sure your fermenter has a good amount of headspace. I try to aim for around 15-20% of empty capacity with a ferment in the tank. - Pitch at a low temp, but not too low. We pitch around 85 deg F. If we pitch over that we, almost guaranteed, get a boil over within 12 hours. Under 85 by much adds a whole day to the fermentation speed. - defoamer should help, but I honestly haven't found one that has changed the issue that much. - enzymes. Make sure youre using a betaglucanase that can break down beta glucan. If you don't, your mash will be viscous and difficult to work with. It may also retain CO2 from fermentation more and cause more foaming. Just a guess. With that much rye I see it as a requirement to have a good betaglucanase on hand (we use sebflo from specialty enzymes). - Look at a less aggressive yeast strain.

Artisan Still Design is reliable and hard working to make sure you're setup. They have a strong network of pro contractors and a tremendous amount of experience. We own an ASD and put them through the ringer and it was well worth it.

Congrats ASD!

Find a local steam fitting contractor. They typically are very experienced with gas line management and would easily subsidize installation in exchange for a boiler service contract. From the street back to replace our line we were looking at about $5-10k. For 60k you're looking at a new boiler at that point. A rather large one at that. Is your boiler undersized for the size line you want and your quote includes that? Also, your utility company may subsidize or outright do the work for you to some extent. something is fucky with that 60k number.

I've done some research recently on what it would take to get racks. For powder coated steel (no need for stainless, much more expensive) you're looking at about $20-25 per barrel. So if you're buying the standard two barrel setup you're looking at about $40-50 per rack. I also found if you build your own wooden racks from 4x4 you're looking at about $10-15 per barrel plus a lot of labor if you do it yourself. It's well worth it for smaller barrels that have high turn over from shorter aging windows. We are doing just that: wooden barrel racks for <30G sized barrels and steel barrel racks for 30 and 53G sizes which are much more difficult to handle without the racks which are forklift-able. As to how many to buy: whats your barreling plans? What size barrels are you using? How much space do you have? How many barrels are you putting down a month? I would try to buy at least quarterly to save on shipping. If you're putting 4 large barrels a month, buy 6-10 double racks a quarter.

Chlorophyll is a pigment that reacts to light forcing it into an excited state. This oxidized state readily hands off electrons to a series of transport molecules that reduce chlorophyll back to a ground state. Once chlorophyll is dissolved in high proof ethanol, it is separated from those electron stripping molecules and as a result stays oxidized. Over a short period of time, all the chlorophyll in solution will oxidize and lose it's florescence. The result is what's called a "dead leaf" color. This muddy green color is prized by absinthe drinkers as it implies the coloring step was performed with natural herbs and not added artificial colorants. If this "dead leaf" color is what you're implying when you say your absinthe looses it's color, there's no way around it. In fact it's a feature not a flaw of a good absinthe.

In NYS, assuming you're a farm distiller, the NY department of Ag and Markets is your governing body. They will do periodic well being checks. The worst thing we encountered was a lack of paper towels by the hand washing sink. In regards to distillery buildout inspectors...you need to have your local building inspector and fire inspector on board. You will also need your electrician to have, or find your own, electrical inspector. Those three need to be onboard with your plan and sign off on every step you make. I have found that no one knows what their talking about in regards to what fire, electrical and building codes apply to a distillery. It is your job to be fluent in the generally approved practices. The most centralized source for reference is the fire recommendations that DISCUS puts out for a rather large fee ($150 i remember correctly). Otherwise you must slog through whatever code book your local town treats as gospel. If your local building inspectors who have jurisdiction aren't willing to work with you, you have a problem. You need your town to sign off before the dominoes of higher tier governments will allow you to move forward. The federal TTB license assumes you have approval at a state and local level, for example. I can't stress enough how important this is. If they wont sign off, you don't have a distillery and need to relocate. I would start by buttering up and involving your local building inspector. They should, if they're doing their job correctly, bring in the fire inspector and yield to the electrical inspector for their respective fields. Once again, assume they know nothing about what distilling and how regs apply. It may be worth it to you to seek out a fire safety engineer who is completely aware of the needs within a distillery to help plan and design your still house. This may be a way to soothe the nerves of your local inspectors that you've already contacted. We ran into a tremendous amount of unplanned expenses due to electrical work our local code people didn't know about. Everyone is trying to pass off liability and cover their asses in case something happens in your space and they become scared and over demand based off of little knowledge. I can't stress enough how much YOU need to know about the regs and what your space should look like (engineer would be helpful). This is crucially important so you have a SAFE SPACE to work in day in and day out, and hopefully inspectors will come on board for you.

We started with roughly a 2k sqft tasting room, 4k sqft production floor and another 2k sqft for storage/barrel warehouse. We chose this location because there's an easy 12k sqft on top of that into which we could expand as we grow. Space was one of the top considerations when we were looking around. More the merrier. Buy as much as you can handle (same with still, fermentation space, bottling capacity...you can see the trend here).

Be careful dumping down the drain as each municipality is differently equiped to handle the massive influx of BOD you would be putting down the drain. We were told explicitly not to dump stillage down the drain. It goes to a local farmer who enjoys it as feed for cows.

Depends on your product. If you're making neutral you usually want to strip first to get as much spirit in the kettle for the spirit run. That makes flooding the column, balancing take off and proof easier. Whiskey/rum/brandy/ect. can go either way. There are flavor implications for running straight from mash through a column vs double pot stilling. Your flavor is not something most of us can help you with as its subjective and unique for each distillery. That's why this is so much fun! I've found the closer you are to a raw material the fuller the flavor. That's not always a good thing. If i distill once through a column i'll typically get a fuller flavor than if I strip then spirit run through a pot still. The number of plates and dephlemator settings of the column all effect the flavor of the spirit off the still too.

RO or distilled water removes any liability from using other water sources. They're the safest (in regards to product quality), relatively cheap and impart no flavor. You can use local fancy water sources but depending on mineral content and source they can impart flavor and cause hazing/clouding.

Sam, Pacific Botanical's price is $22 per lb where the other source above was about $200 per lb. I can't imagine there's such a drastic spread in quality between the two. Thanks for the heads up on pacificbotanicals! I will be purchasing from both for test batches to see how they both perform. I'll chime in here after the fact to see the results.