jan’s corner

The

joys

written by Jan Morris photos courtesy of The Hardware Distillery Co.

of

Floor Drains W

hen we first started thinking of starting a distillery, we

holes in the floors and large gaps in the old hardwood floors, I

sought advice from everyone. With respect to the building, like to call ‘self-draining’. No need to invest in floor drains here,

we were mostly advised about location and size. Only one person

told us about floor drains. So far, I have found this to have been one of the best pieces of advice, ever. We included floor drains in our plans and had three large

or so I thought. Most of the holes have been plugged, but some were missed. Last summer a little girl was fascinated with the floor holes in the tasting room, and kept trying to push candy through them.

ones installed in our production area. I dearly love each one of Finally she succeeded and was reduced to tears. I believe that them. The floor drains are near our stills, and I have learned that stills and spills go hand in hand. The floor drains are put to use everyday.

there is a saying about this. Some of our fermentation takes place in these self draining areas. While we were at the ADI conference in Denver one of

Our distillery is an older building, and before it fell into

our fermenters, which was full of fruit honey mead, tipped over.

disrepair, it had been a hardware store. The floor is uneven, and

While we were miles away and blissfully unaware, the spillage

in the location of our floor drains, this is especially true. So, a

oozed its way into the holes and cracks in the floor. From there

large squeegee is indispensable.

the sticky mass flowed, like a warm moist glacier, into the

One of our first mishaps involved a river of foam. We were

basement. This sounds like it might be good news, but it landed

alerted something was terribly wrong when we saw something

everywhere. We have spent many hours scrubbing, and the job is

odd in the parrot’s beak at the beginning of a run. We opened the

not done. If only we had floor drains everywhere!

still, and this beautiful gold foam began gushing out like a river,

Floor drains. They can bring great happiness, and you cannot

and there appeared to be no stopping it. It just kept coming. We

have too many of them. If you are looking for advice on your

ran back and forth with buckets trying to catch it as it poured

building and layout, this is the best that I can give to you.

out, but there was foam everywhere. At least it was pretty and smelled nice. Once again, floor drains to the rescue.

Jan Morris owns and distills at the Hardware Distillery Co. with her

Because our building was a hardware store there are lots of husband Chuck. They are located in Hoodsport, WA. For more info visit holes in the floor. These parts of the building, where there are www.thehardwaredistillery.com or call (206) 300-0877.

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