Need advice on Formula preparation and monthly reports 5110.11 & 5110.28

[BaldEagleSpirits]

Hello friends,

I'm now in the process of preparing my formula to TTB for approval. I have studied the rules and examples on the TTB website. It seems a bit complicated. It appears to me that the ingredients and the percentages thereof have to be reported. Am I right? But I don't brew nor distill by myself. I purchase 190 alcohol from a supplier for blending by myself. Do you send your products to a testing lab to get a test report and then submit a formula?
As I haven't started production yet, my montly reports could be simple and easy. I have drawn thrice alcohol for experiment/research use, each time a gallon. However, when I file the monthly reports, I cannot proceed to the end and complete the form if I fill in line 16 of the 5110.11 form with a number, e.g., 7 gallon proof. It always says there's a mistake. Have any of you had this issue before?

Can any of you give me some advice?

I'm also looking for an good business to design and print bottle labels. Do you have any go-to but affordable designers and printers?

Thanks!

 

[Jedd Haas]

1. Use a spreadsheet for your formulas. Hint: set up all quantities as a percentage range. You don't need a lab, you need to accurately record how you made the product and the percentages of all ingredients.

2. You apparently need to learn what a proof gallon is. When you draw your gallon of 190, that's 1.9 proof gallons. You draw it from the storage account and transfer to Processing, where you enter the quantity in the "received" section. All entries have to balance.

3. Good designers aren't cheap, cheap designers aren't good. Good, fast, cheap: pick two.

[adamOVD]

My best advice for figuring out monthly forms, is to start by reading the glossary of terms, then begin looking at the forms once you have a clear idea what "proof gallons", "tax determined", and other specific terminology means.

[Turner Labels]

I'm happy to jump on a call and be a resource regarding the graphic designer and label printing questions.  Feel free to reach me at jeremy.brooking@turnerlabels.com

Cheers,

Jeremy