Building the building and setting up the slab

[Hypnopooper]

I'm in the process of picking out our our building for a craft distillery in TX. We have settled on a 2400 Sqft steel building with 16 ft walls to accommodate a forklift in the future (if necessary), to be built on a piece of property that I already own. To start with, we will be running (2) 50 gallon stills (one of which I already have). Future plans are to move to 150 gallon within 2 years.

I am planning to use storage containers on the premises for barrel aging, and since Tx is a three tier state and I can't sell to the public from the distillery or tasting room, I have no immediate plans for a tasting room/tours. If laws change and or we start getting enough interest, this can be added on at a later date.

I have been researching brewery businesses, and most tend to agree that a sloped floor with a built in drain are desired. What are feelings on the sloped floor and drain amongst distiller's. Is it overkill and unnecessary?

Is my 2400 sqft space adequate for a starting space? Should I be able to operate out of this size building for several years? If we outgrow this site, we eventually will be looking at moving to a new site in an more rural area which is the end goal anyway.

Thanks

[Max Action]

For the cost of building from scratch, I would expect you'd be better off going bigger. Maybe you can find some savings on shorter walls. With a pitched clear-span roof, you can still have plenty of clearance in the middle even with just 8 or 10' walls. My forklift is happy with 11' ceilings. Puttling floor drains and plumbing exactly where you need them is a big advantage of building new, so just put a lot of thought into your layout in advance.

[Panoscape]

Have a meeting with your states Department of Agriculture / food safety division person regarding setting up your place before construction. They will have all the codes and recommendations for drainage and food safety. If I was building my own place, I'd build it for the larger stills with sloped floors. You most definitely will be doing "flood-type cleaning" and depending on your state, will require proper drainage.

[Blackheart]

Floor drains and accommodating for steam condensate return played a big part in our set up. If you're doing steam heat and relying on gravity to deal with your condensate return, you'll need to get your equipment high enough to deal with the slope requirements. Floor drains are an absolute must as far as I am concerned.

[JohninWV]

Just a comment about the "forklift in the future" comment. I have NO idea how anyone has a distillery without a forklift. Glass, grain, etc. I'd plan for it now.

[MG Thermal Consulting]

Just curious how you intend on setting up your chilled water system for the multiple tanks.

Good luck!

[Jedd Haas]

Check your local plumbing regulations as well. Floor drains are highly regulated in my jurisdiction. Sometimes doing things a little differently can make a big difference in costs and ease of passing through the regulatory process.

In our case, after talking to a number of knowledgeable individuals, we opted to enclose our sloped drainage areas with curbs.

[Hypnopooper]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Some good points were brought up. Really appreciate the input.

[smaug]

Jedd Makes a good point.

If I had my druthers, I'd much prefer a gutter/ trough / deck styled floor drain system that would allow for re-positioning equipment as the floor space evolves.

Can line an entire array of tanks along the floor. Then push and pull the lay out as you add pieces down the road with out affecting the need for drain mods..