Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Arismac wrote:

Zak Griffin wrote:It'd be nice if he at least gave us some credit for the recipes he's copy and pasted from here :think:

There ARE actually laws in Australia about that. But as with many things the cost of pursuing at law is ridiculous.
In any event he is very naughty. :handgestures-thumbdown:

db1979 wrote:

Arismac wrote:

Zak Griffin wrote:It'd be nice if he at least gave us some credit for the recipes he's copy and pasted from here :think:

There ARE actually laws in Australia about that. But as with many things the cost of pursuing at law is ridiculous.
In any event he is very naughty. :handgestures-thumbdown:

Looks like his distillery is closed now.

the Doctor wrote:

db1979 wrote:I have wondered about the licencing requirements of being able to demonstrate skills and experience in distillation. I'm betting the licencing mob won't be too happy if they hear "oh yeah no worries, I've got this illegal still at home that I've been using for the last few years". :laughing-rolling: be like rocking up to get a car licence when you drove yourself there in an unregistered vehicle you made yourself.

Other than industry experience, what other options are there? I'm betting none. :think:

One of the onerous restrictions that Customs and Excise use to control the licensing of distilling is the competency requirement. There is a very simple way around this. If you have worked at a licenced distillery and have been certified a competent distiller they cannot knock you back on this count...for your information I have a batchelor of vocational education and training (Charles Sturt Uni) which is current and I am a licenced distiller with an unlimited licence ( any volume any product ) If anyone needs to be certified. I am willing to help. It is not easy. but truthfully guys it is quite possible to overcome these hurdles. I do not want a rush of tyre kickers...but if it is your dream to distill the industry needs inovative driven people to build craft distilling...I can and will help if possible. The minimum requirement is a short intensive period of shadowing with certification of demonstrated individual skill. Simply you have to complete the whole process from wash to spirit run and be certified as having not killed anyone including yourself in the process. This is a path not for everyone. They make it hard. But it can be done. Never ever say that you distill anywhere but at a licenced distillery, as it will preclude your getting a licence.
Doc

warramungas wrote:I think microdistilierues should get tax relief personally.
You go to markets and see distilleries pushing their product and its got a $30-$40 premium over the mass produced imported stuff.
Should be up to a certain volume of alcohol produced you get 50% tax relief then it could incrementally increase (without killing them) as production ramps up and the distillery starts to become more profitable. This should apply across the board as major distilleries overseas producing millions (???) of liters would remain unaffected.
Many australian boutique products Ive seen Ive just about had a heart attack at the price and i have to reeeeeally love it to buy a bottle as i can get imported stuff cheaper.

BSC_Kilby wrote:There's a lot of really great info in this thread around the tax side of things, but the bigger and more complex hurdles in my experience are the storage and handling of flammable goods. The laws around this are mainly written for refineries but are applicable to any scale of the distillery. There's confusion amongst people in the industry from suppliers to work safe, but if you can get copies of the ADG code and the AS/NZS 1940 - 2017 standard for the storage and handling of flammable goods, you'll be fairly well informed. There's also a standard for electrical installations and equipment in explosive environments that is relevant to flammable goods, but a good sparky should be across what can be done once you have a hazardous area inspection and report compiled. These reports and often the works and equipment they demand are expensive. The distillery I work out of now was ordered to install a vapor scavenger (a big exhaust) for our bottling which was $25k and we're small to medium-sized craft distillery.

Sam. wrote:

BSC_Kilby wrote:There's a lot of really great info in this thread around the tax side of things, but the bigger and more complex hurdles in my experience are the storage and handling of flammable goods. The laws around this are mainly written for refineries but are applicable to any scale of the distillery. There's confusion amongst people in the industry from suppliers to work safe, but if you can get copies of the ADG code and the AS/NZS 1940 - 2017 standard for the storage and handling of flammable goods, you'll be fairly well informed. There's also a standard for electrical installations and equipment in explosive environments that is relevant to flammable goods, but a good sparky should be across what can be done once you have a hazardous area inspection and report compiled. These reports and often the works and equipment they demand are expensive. The distillery I work out of now was ordered to install a vapor scavenger (a big exhaust) for our bottling which was $25k and we're small to medium-sized craft distillery.

Do you class your distillery as an explosive environment? Do you use a gas detector to confirm this?

Sam. wrote:How does it get classed an explosive atmosphere if it's not measured?

Unless your still is doing a spirit run 24/7 then the distillery won't be hazardous for the majority of the time I would have thought?

What state are you operating in? I assume there could be some differences between each states safe work departments...

Dan54 wrote:Hi Guys, I'm considering going down the route of applying for a license but have little to no experience for the application. What processes have other people gone down? Are there courses that can be undertaken? Cheers, Dan

bluc wrote:I would think barrel ageing in a rickhouse to be a bigger hazzard then the still.. :think:
Naturally thinking of a micro distillery. Big boys the still would be processing a lot more vapour at any given time then their rickhouse...or maybe not..

Professor Green wrote::text-+1:

If you have no experience at all it's going to be difficult as the ATO will probably require some sort of proof that you know what you're doing and they'll also want to know that you have all the necessary council approvals in place too.

If you're really set on going commercial, I would recommend taking a certified distilling course to start with.

Cheers,
Prof. Green.