More on septic...

[Palmetto Coast]

I am looking at leasing buildings now. Most of them that I am looking at have septic rather than sewer. They tend to be in small industrial parks. From everything that I have seen on here, septic is NOT the way to go. I understand needing a large enough system, wanting to keep the system in balance, etc. Just trying to get a concensus. Do we, in general, want to stay away from septic? Is there anyone using septic in a situation like mine that might want to comment on specific things to watch for?

I will be starting with rum and whiskey (the latter probably from purchased, unfermented wort, so no grains to dispose of).

Thanks,

Todd

[Scott @ Twenty2Vodka]

Make sure you have a decent grasp on the volume of cooling water you'll need to dispose of too. Every drop of ours currently goes into the drain, with no real limits on volume (so far). A water cooling tower and reclamation systems are too pricey (at least for us) to build at this stage in the game. We were going to build a new building at first with a septic system with a gallon-per-day capacity that was kissing the line of needing another level of permits and professional design. Had we gone that direction, and finally experiencing the actual manufacturing numbers, we would have needed to get permission to dump our cooling water out doors in a field drain type setup which isn't ground breaking but triggered it's own fees, permits, and government agencies to please. Not to mention, in the winter, you need to spray it into snow, else you'll just build a giant ice damn...in all not even close to worth the trouble.

Also, once you are licensed to turn on the equipment and begin the recipe-discovery stage (experienced or not, you are going to go through this stage), there will likely be entire batches that are better just discarded. Make sure you have a plan for that volume too.

You are going to have soooooo many other things to worry about down the road, i'd suggest making whatever moves you can now toward a sewer hookup.

-Scott

[JohninWV]

Scott is leading you in the right direction. I'm on sewer and it was a big enough problem like that....permits and all. I also have a duplex grinder pump for my sewage because I'm below the gravity main. That's a big enough issue, and like Scott said, all of the other things that you have to worry about....septic just seems like too much of a problem with the amount of cooling water.....I wouldn't go down that route.

[Palmetto Coast]

Thanks for your help, guys!