Equipment Weight

[groony1]

My business partner and I are in the process of negotiating a lease for a building that is currently a shell. We are planning on doing all of our production on the second floor of the building and our future landlord needs to know the weight of the equipment so that his engineer knows whether or not reinforced floors will be needed. He doesn't need it down to the pound, but an estimate of each piece when full. Below is what we plan on having, basically an electric 7bbl system. Any help with an estimate on the specs of this type of equipment would be appreciated. Thanks and let me know if you think I missed anything.

Stainless Steel Mash Tun

4 Jacketed Stainless Steel Fermenters

Copper Still

[ebstauffer]

Perhaps you should ask this of your equipment vendors? I'd guess more than a ton and less than ten tons.

[TetonDistillery]

With all of the liquid included, those could be very heavy. Count all of the fermentations tanks being full and the still being full. Plus a bunch of other product in process.

[3d0g]

In liquid alone, assuming 6 vessels x 7 bbl you've got 5.5 tons.

[Silk City Distillers]

Get equipment specifications and provide them to the engineer to run his own calculations. It's not only the weight that's important, it's the loading, how the weight is distributed is going to make a big impact on the floor requirements. While the weight may not differ much between 7bbl fermenters, the surface area to the floor will. Something like a Conipac - low and wide, is going to be a much easier load than something tall, narrow, and on 3 feet. I suspect the engineer is not going to take napkin math as an input.

There are other practical considerations. What about a fork lift, or at least something like a walkie? You are talking an easy 1.5-3 ton here. What if you are using it to move a 2 ton sack? You've got a potential 5 ton load moving over the floor, that's more than some of the heavy equipment.

What about the freight elevator? Can it handle a pallet loaded straight in? Double stacked? A 2 ton sack?

How will you get your equipment up to the second floor? Will it go up the lift? Will you need a crane? I bet you rigging and moving might cost as much as the equipment. Or worse, what if you need to build in place, that means if you ever want to move, you'll be calling the scrap guys to bring their saws.

Also, adding floor drains after the fact will likely not be permitted, the floor needs to be built and poured with the appropriate drains in place. No cutting channels unless you want the floor to cave. While it might be possible to cut round drains, likely not going to be as effective.

What about the weight of your inventory? Grain? Fully loaded casks? Boxes of empty and filled bottles? What about trash? Spent grain?

What's the outcome if you accidentally dump a full fermenter on the floor (accidentally shear the valve with the fork lift) - is it going to get you kicked out when you ruin the first floor tenants equipment or inventory?

These are some of the items that came up when we discussed using a second floor space in an old historic factory. Surprisingly, the floors would support the loads, but only because the factory had been built to house some massive cast iron equipment, on all floors.

[MG Thermal Consulting]

If you put a poly reservoir inside for the chilled water loop (if it's closed loop vs city water), you've got the tank plus the water.

Mike