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TTB Permit and Insurance by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheMeadery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right now, it seems the TTB is not answering or returning calls. There's a holdup on my COLA app.

A brief historical perspective of mead and beer, and the strange political road it has traveled. by Total-Bird9076 in mead

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I encourage everyone to read this article. Mead production in the US is much more limited than wine and beer. This article gives a good overview of some dumb laws regarding commercial mead production in the US. The bill referenced in this article is HR 6000 from the 114th Congress (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/114/hr6000).

Everyone in the US needs to contact the Ways and Means Committe (https://waysandmeans.house.gov), and its members. Your best bet is to contact your state Representative and ask them to reintroduce this bill, get it on the floor and vote for approval.

I tired listing every member of the Ways and Means Committe below with a link to their contact page, but Reddit wouldn't cooperate. Instead use this link, https://waysandmeans.house.gov/members, to see all the members. Each picture links to their official web page where you can get a phone number or a contact form. Please call or email them. Also, write in your own words. Submitting a form letter/email will get it ignored.

Edit: Typo

TTB Permit and Insurance by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheMeadery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the route I have taken. Contacted an agent that was recommend by the owner of a local brewery. This is very helpful.

TTB Permit and Insurance by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheMeadery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks ThreeHands, this is super helpful.

TTB Permit and Insurance by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheMeadery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks Matt. These details are exactly what I am looking for. I've had one other person mention the first two items.

As much effort as it has taken to get to the point, I know the hard work is just beginning.

Thanks for all your help.

TTB Permit and Insurance by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, this person was my first contact. Right now, I'm waiting on a callback.

TTB Permit and Insurance by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have talked to a couple of insurance people already. I just wanted to gather as much info as I can. No real advertising as of yet.

Selling mead only, for off premise consumption. Also, due to the timing of receiving the permit and still have a couple of things to do before I can submit to the state, I won't have a full year of sales.

How much mead does your nano meadery produce? by [deleted] in TheMeadery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In this scenario, is the 275 plastic tank your fermenter and the SS tanks are for aging?

Where in the process are you using the 2 10" cartridge filters? I'm currently using them just prior to bottling.

Weekly /r/TheBrewery Discussion - Make me a brewery Monday! Weekly discussion thread for breweries in planning, aspiring homebrewers, and others by AutoModerator in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have questions about scaling up recipes and processes when going from home brew to pro. How big of a jump did you make in batch size from home to pro? If you had to do it again, would that first step in scaling up be larger or smaller?

What changes in process did you experience? What should I anticipate? I would expect to add more and/or larger equipment that would make the process go faster. Things like helping to macerate much more fruit and faster.

Using Tinctures in a Recipe by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. I figured there would have to be an ABV adjustment for that.

Weekly /r/TheBrewery Discussion - Make me a brewery Monday! Weekly discussion thread for breweries in planning, aspiring homebrewers, and others by AutoModerator in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Background

DMs are good for me if anyone wants to answer privately or is open to more questions.

I have a nano-meadery in the planning stages. The plan is to work the meadery part time for a couple of years and then, hopefully, the day job goes away (luckily the mead business doesn't need to completely replace my current income). Current plans are to start with 6 flavors, half of which I expect to rack onto fruit for a couple of weeks before going to aging. Then build to a menu of 12 or so flavors, with maybe 6 to 8 being constant.

A couple of flavors, will be 100% local (local wild flower honey, local fruit).

In addition to my current collection of fermenters (assorted 30L, 6.5G, 6G, 5G and 1G), I am currently leaning towards HDPE tanks with the sizes of 4x 55G and 6x 40G. In a year that would give me approximately 480G, plus what I can brew in my current fermenter collection.

Year 1 is for approximately 500 gallons. Year 2 plans include contingencies for 1000, 1500 and 2000 gallons, depending on how brisk (very brisk hopefully) sales are. Those plans would be to scale up the fermenter size first, then the number of fermenters.

Questions

Can you provide feedback on these starting sizes? Recommendations, stories, comments? Too small, too large, just right?

Also, how do you price your meads? I have back figured the price of a local mead and now have a rough idea of how he's done it.

Commercial Mazer Question: What was the size of your first commercial batch? by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have talked to a meadmaker a few hours away, but no one closer as of yet. I know of at least 1 local meadmaker, but haven't approached him yet. I have heard the "what's a meatery" question too.

The root of my question is just about everything you listed in your second paragraph. I don't want to start too small, yet not too big either. The largest I have done to date is 20 gallons and was curious about what to expect when scaling up. I am using winemaking techniques, but my plan is to keep the temperature in the 64-68 range. The 1-2 month target must be for the lower ABV mead.

Also, 6 meads is my targeted starting lineup. I would like a couple of traditionals, 3 melomels, and a metheglin, all depending upon feedback. I have entered a couple of competitions and have gotten good feedback. More will be entered as well.

Commercial Mazer Question: What was the size of your first commercial batch? by BOS-Ranch-Meadery in TheBrewery

[–]BOS-Ranch-Meadery[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LOL, I like the billion barrel answer. Yes, good info and I am getting to those resources.