Barrel stack height

[whiskeytango]

How high do you all stack your barrels,  Talking just the two barrel side racks.  I seam to remember something in fire code (or maybe im just making it up) that you cant store above 10 feet? So that limits you to 3 racks heigh.  I know I have seen them as high as 5 in some other distilleries just wondering if there is a firm hight limit 

 

 

[Kindred Spirits]

It depends on your location and fire code. Especially your fire inspector. Some clients of mine have them 15-20' up others have limits at 10'.

If you get a variance for a rickhouse, you can build higher than that.

[SlickFloss]

I am not gonna start chasing obscure codes and a lot of it is going to depend on where you are and if they blindly accept IBC/IFC or a hybridized version of them or something else completely but I think ultimately this is going to come down to 1) where you are in the country and 2) the individual spaces rating and overhead clearance. For instance I believe you could stack 6 high in the right place with the right racks (h3 room with XP fixtures) but I think you could probably do 5 or maybe even 6 high in the right room as well, for instance if you had enough clearance to be more than 5/6 feet from a non XP light fixture in an s1 or similar space. 

 

End of day the cheapest answer (if you don't get caught) is to do what you want but the best answer which is often cheapest down the line and actually legal is to get a variance to accommodate the storage that you want that best fits the reality of the limitations of the physical space you're in. Very few people on here have dotted their iOS and crossed their ts on ETOH storage compliance, and ultimately they're fine as long as no one ever comes knowing to check, with growth of industry in last few years we are bound to see some failures in facilities pretty soon that will lead to more scrutiny for compliance. I recommend to anyone who will listen, there's only one way to do things and thats the right way the first time.

[DCD]

Just last month I visited a large bonded wharehouse where they store spirit barrels on those racks. They had plenty of ceiling height, but limit their stacks to 5 barrels high. Not because of fire regulations but with more layers stacked on top the pressure on the bottom layer caused barrel deformation and leaks.  

[Kindred Spirits]

14 hours ago, SlickFloss said:

I am not gonna start chasing obscure codes and a lot of it is going to depend on where you are and if they blindly accept IBC/IFC or a hybridized version of them or something else completely but I think ultimately this is going to come down to 1) where you are in the country and 2) the individual spaces rating and overhead clearance. For instance I believe you could stack 6 high in the right place with the right racks (h3 room with XP fixtures) but I think you could probably do 5 or maybe even 6 high in the right room as well, for instance if you had enough clearance to be more than 5/6 feet from a non XP light fixture in an s1 or similar space. 

 

End of day the cheapest answer (if you don't get caught) is to do what you want but the best answer which is often cheapest down the line and actually legal is to get a variance to accommodate the storage that you want that best fits the reality of the limitations of the physical space you're in. Very few people on here have dotted their iOS and crossed their ts on ETOH storage compliance, and ultimately they're fine as long as no one ever comes knowing to check, with growth of industry in last few years we are bound to see some failures in facilities pretty soon that will lead to more scrutiny for compliance. I recommend to anyone who will listen, there's only one way to do things and thats the right way the first time.

This is probably the best worded response that will ever come to this question.  I have seen some amazingly sketchy things when it comes to barrels and while I hope nothing bad happens at those places, the probability is that in time something will.

If you want to build ricks make sure to account for all of the variables. Have them designed by someone who has done it before and make sure they are built to handle the loads on them. Before even starting, check with your fire marshal, no reason to spend money on a system without knowing it would be approved.

If you try to sneak something past your AHJ, be prepared to deal with the backlash and strained relationship going forward. Otherwise just do it the right way like @SlickFloss said.