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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

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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

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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.

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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?

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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

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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.

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