1911Spirits Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 Does anybody know of any reliable companies specializing in rack-house design. Currently we are only a vodka/gin distillery but are looking to start a pretty significant expansion which will include barrel aging. This will be our first rackhouse and we want to make sure we do it right! Is this specialization common place in the industry or are we over-thinking it? Thanks Matt 1911 Spirits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffin Claw Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 http://adiforums.com/index.php?showtopic=3369 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Lenerz Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 http://www.teambuzick.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captnKB Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 barrel warehouse was too high of cost for us. We store most all of our barrelled products on wine barrel racks. It has been pretty easy to manage with good planning. We have over 200 53 gallon barrels in a 2000 sq ft warehouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerPederson Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 An alternative to barrel racks is to store your barrels on dunnage, as they do traditionally in scotland. If you roll the barrels on to 4x4's you can get a higher barrel density per square foot. They can be stacked 3 or 4 high like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1911Spirits Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Thanks for the reply's! Right now I am in contact with some of these people. It seems as each craft distillery has a secret to their aging process as it is hard to get into their rackhouses in tours. Also I prefer not to store barrels on top of each other without racks to try and save the structure of the barrel and minimize leaks as much as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HedgeBird Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 It seems as each craft distillery has a secret to their aging process as it is hard to get into their rackhouses in tours. I have not been to a distillery yet that did not want to show off all the barrels they have filled up! I also only know of one craft distillery (im sure there are many I am not aware of) that has a separate rackhouses and they offers separate tours of the distillery and barrel house. Is it possible you are finding it hard to get into their rackhouses because they don't exist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McKee Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Hey, Consider palletizing them vertically and then just stacking them. Lots of examples in macro and micro distilleries of this technique being used. We use both wine racks and pallets, both work well......but to be honest I sort of like the palletizing system better. Just easier to work with and really maximizes your storage efficiency. Cheers, McKee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Haas Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 What's the maximum number of pallets that you stack? Consider palletizing them vertically and then just stacking them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McKee Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Check out the photo in this article. http://www.wsj.com/articles/diageo-shares-climb-on-takeover-speculation-1433768168 Cheers, McKee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedd Haas Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Oh I see. Pawn it off to Diageo because McKee's Stack Height™ is Top Secret. On a slightly more informative note, it was interesting how they had those custom pallets to fit 6 barrels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McKee Posted August 7, 2015 Share Posted August 7, 2015 Jedd, I'm about as top secret as Trump's toupee. 4 barrels to a standard pallet, shrink wrapped (or banded) together, and 3 high is as far as I currently go. Cheers, McKee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerPederson Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 One issue to keep in mind is the ability of air to circulate in the rack house. I had heard that given the scale of their rackhouses, Diageo has had issue with air flow amongst their palletized barrels. They found those in the center of a stack showed far much less maturity than those of equal age near the outside of the of the stacks. They have had to implement significant upgrades to their warehouses in order to get the kind of airflow that they need. Obviously most of us will not encounter the same issue given the volumes we produce, but the necessity of good airflow in a rackhouse is something to be aware of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captnKB Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 we built our own heavy duty pallets out of 2X4s each pallet hold 4 barrels and we stack those pallets 4 high Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluestone Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 I'm about as top secret as Trump's toupee. This crack really deserves more recognition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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