RyeWater Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 I am trying to put together an excel spread sheet that calculates the exact cost of producing a particular spirit based on inputting current material / resource costs and I am having a little trouble calculating the cost of energy for a run. What I am trying to do is take into account: Cost of Grain Cost of Yeast Cost of Water Cost of Energy Cost of Enzymes Cost of Misc The cost of energy aspect of this equation seems to be a tricky one. Does anyone out there have any idea of how I could calculate the amount of energy per gallon it takes to distill a wash using a steam jacketed pot still. Does anyone have any idea of where I should start tackling this problem. Thanks, Tyler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mash Posted December 14, 2013 Share Posted December 14, 2013 Electric- take the kw rating of the equipment -X- time- X- cost per kwhr. IE- 4500 watt= 4.5 kw X 3 (Hours run time) x .35 (whatever your electricity costs) = $4.73 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG Thermal Consulting Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Or work the electric backwards from your meter amount & cost / month & the amount of runs in that month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetonDistillery Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 Utility bill divided by number of gallons produced. I think it is worthwhile to include the entire utility bill because that includes all of the energy for the entire distillery. It all needs to be taken into account when figuring out your cost of production. We have gone through numerous white board calculations to figure out our cost per bottle of production. You just need to include all of the inputs and calculate your worst case number. Then make business decisions on pricing based on your most conservative (highest) estimate of what your costs are. Just my opinion. You should estimate your costs on the high side (round up everything) so that when you set your pricing you are more likely to be surprised on the profitable side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeWater Posted December 15, 2013 Author Share Posted December 15, 2013 Thanks for the reply's. Ya we do not have a utility bill yet or that would be my route. Right now I am purely working this up for a business planning measure so looks like I will be headed down this method. Electric- take the kw rating of the equipment -X- time- X- cost per kwhr. IE- 4500 watt= 4.5 kw X 3 (Hours run time) x .35 (whatever your electricity costs) = $4.73 But i agree I would like to try and incorporate all the energy used from mashing to cooling the ferms. Does anyone have any rough estimates for their cost to produce per gallon or whatever base unit you use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetonDistillery Posted December 15, 2013 Share Posted December 15, 2013 About $0.30 per 750 ml bottle during our first year. However that amount per bottle is definitely dropping because our production runs have scaled up, so the overhead of the overall building electricity is spread over more bottles. We also recently drilled an injection well to lower our cooling costs. We are also installing solar panels. The state and federal credits make it worthwhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeWater Posted December 15, 2013 Author Share Posted December 15, 2013 About $0.30 per 750 ml bottle during our first year. However that amount per bottle is definitely dropping because our production runs have scaled up, so the overhead of the overall building electricity is spread over more bottles. We also recently drilled an injection well to lower our cooling costs. We are also installing solar panels. The state and federal credits make it worthwhile. Thanks thats a great help, ya my day job is in the solar field and the incentives are great, you made a great financial decision installing solar panels.. when you were estimating around $0.35 a 750 ml bottle what size still were you using? Steam Jacket? What size boiler? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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