My own TV show

[Durace11]

Looking good Bohunk! Might need to make a stop near there this summer and pick up a bottle of the award winning vodka.

[Lunabrille]

Well guys the old fart in the show is me, the guy doing all the talking is my partner, he is a partner only in name. I wasn’t going to post the address of the TV show, because it turned out to be a big farce. We shot video for ten hours, and this is what they decided to put on the show, my partner has no function in the company except to strut around telling every one he is the PRESIDENT. He has never made alcohol, or has any idea how it is done. Nothing but a big mouth. I built the bottle filler, the capping machine, and all the equipment in the shop, sorry you didn’t get a chance to see any of it.

The Bohunk

My apologies if I stepped out of bounds posting that link, Bohunk. If it means anything, for the amount of time those segments run for, I thought it was done pretty darn well. I loved it when you were talking about applying for your permit and told the agent about where you learned how to distill

[Mr Shine]

I loved it when you were talking about applying for your permit and told the agent about where you learned how to distill

Yeah. That was great!

Congrats also on winning the gold medal for best Vodka in the US!

[goinbroke2]

Bohunk, I too enjoyed the episode.
I do have a couple questions though, you said you made your filling machine? Due to the very strick rules on volume and abv, what is your tare weight? Do you fill from dry or did you wet them, weigh that and adj, etc.
Just curious because I've heard others say what a pita it is to be exact on the volume and also consistent. A lot seem to favour fill-by-weight, but it appears you fill by volume, is that correct?

Also, the capper, you spin the cap on by hand and then the machine does what? Torque the cap to a specific tightness?

It's so nice to see a micro come on here and share with us "nobody's". Thank you, I really appreciate it.

[Bohunk]

Goinbroke2, my bottles come from Mexico, so no two of them are the same size, so I fill each bottle to a level. There is an overflow on the fill nozzle so each bottle is filled to the same height. The Feds don’t like this, and if I filled 12,000 per hour they would make me stop, but I only fill 12,000 per year, so they kind of look the other way. The correct amount of vodka for a 750ml bottle is 712 grams, but then each bottle would look different on the shelf, and customers would argue that one person gets more than the other. Actually the difference in weight is only a gram one way or the other. I always start the cap on the first thread by hand, cause the machine will ruin the cap if it cross threads. That machine is nothing special, it’s just an air driven screw driver, and a time delayed ram, the bottle hits a micro switch to start the cycle, and the time delay ends it. Kind of the same thing on the bottle machine, I just push a bottle in and every thing else is done automatically.

The Bohunk

[goinbroke2]

Is there that much difference in the bottles? Hmm, never though of that. I was going to go with Marie-France from the bottle company in Quebec. Really good prices and quality (from what I heard from others) was really good. It's cool that the feds are looking the other way, finally somebody recognising a micro for what it is. Next up is convincing people you don't need several million to start up, although I supposed it seemed that much when you were starting out. LOL

Thanks for the info and good luck with your business, I want to imitate you in the future if I play my cards right.

[Husker]

GB2, keep in mind, he mentioned about a 1g difference. That is only 1 cc, so the difference is pretty small, BUT with bottles next to each other (say on a store shelf), you would see slight differences in height within the neck. I never really thought about this type issue myself, but I also do not think too long or hard, about paying any forced graft to the feds.

H.

[Tater Patch Kid]

Sorry i have not got back about this topic. I did finaly look for the show i had mentioned.
Go KUED.ORG and watch the vid Beehive Spirits
I just thought it was related.

[Bohunk]

Thanks for the web site Tater Patch, it's kind of long, but I did enjoy the whole thing. It kind of gives one some prespective on starting a business.

http://www.kued.org/productions/beehive-spirits/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[goinbroke2]

Actually, I loved it. Of course I'm a little biased hehe, but I love any kind of stories like that about micro's.

Again, good luck to you and your business!

[jorgea]

That can only help your business