The big day

[Damase]

Greetings all,

We are getting closer and closer to our equipment arriving (well it arrives into port on Sunday, and once it clears customs it comes to us) and was wondering if anyone had any good (or bad, or humorous) advice on the unloading of the container trucks and doing the install of the brewhouse. What would you have done differently and what things should I expect (I know a long day is in order and not always having what I need)?

I looked about the forums and am either using the wrong search parameters or not much has been posted about this.

Thank you for all the advice I have gleaned over the years.

[panadero]

Hello,
When our cargo container arrived with 4 fermentors and 8 seving tanks we were expecting two serving tanks per pallet. there were four. Our fork lift had the lifting capacity, but not the reach, and was tipping over. We ended up having to take each tank off seperately, which took a lot of time - ended up paying extra time to the driver. Of course you probably have a loading dock, and wont have this issue, but there you go.
Don't rush the job is my 2 cents, no one getting hurt is key.
David

[GlacierBrewing]

I'll echo David's sentiments: Make sure your unloading equipment has the required capacity. Also, make sure it can fit through the door into your facility!

Oh yea, take a ton of pictures. You'll thank yourself later as they make great material for your website of FaceBook page.

Prost!
Dave

[MatthewS]

heavy duty ratchet straps!!!

and yes! Be careful and check the load capacity of your fork truck. I remember ours tipped a bit when lifting the 40s.

Good luck Damase... cant wait to see your new digs!
Matthew

[Damase]

Got the ratchet strap (heavy duty!) getting a second forklift (renting a 5,000 lber), will have plenty of cameras, but we have no loading dock, doing it the old fashioned way, drag then pick them up.

And Matt... swing on down, I am sure that N would love to mark another brewery on his list

D

[nohandslance]

Just unload the equipment as fast as you can. Get the truck drivers on their way, with a nice '40 spot' handshake. Worry about getting the pieces into place later. Nothing worse than a grumpy truck driver making degrading comments on your weak forklift skills and wanting to get to his next pick up.

Congrats on the the opening of your brewery.

Lance
Rebel Malting Co.
Reno, Nevada USA

[nohandslance]

And have a pallet jack.

Good luck. Please post pictures.

Lance
Rebel Malting Co.
Reno, Nevada USA

[NHBrewer23]

Damase,

I would recommend using a rigging company. While it is a great sense of accomplishment to unload your own equipment, it won't feel that way should anything go wrong... Riggers are insured and have experience moving awkwardly sized and balanced pieces of equipment. You have some pretty large pieces coming.

Our riggers had some interesting attachments for their forklifts which were designed for tipping up tanks. It took them all of 10 minutes per tank to unload from the truck, tip up, and put into location. In addition, they leveled the tanks for us.

It was previously mentioned about unloading the equipment in a timely manner, so true. One of our truck drivers was already scheduled for a pick-up for their return trip and quite anxious to get his truck unloaded. Places a bit of stress upon everyone during an already anxious time.

If you have any specific questions, give me a call.

James

[dfalken]

Well my first shipment with most of the large tanks arrives Sunday as well. I am hiring a professional fork lift operator and renting the forklift for the unloading.

[kai]

Do you have children?

The process is somewhat similar to childbirth. Sometimes long and scary, and safer in the hands of professionals.

[Luch15]

You really won't know what you are dealing with until you put your eyes on it. Are the tanks on cradles? are they on pallets? are they just standing in/on the trailer? there are so many ways it could go. First inspect everything before you get it off the truck, that way you can refuse the shipment if it is damaged or just not what you paid for in the contract. My advice would be have pallet trucks, fork lift, straps, and wood cribbing ready along with plenty of help. But most important do not rush. Don't take any crap from the driver, it takes as long as it takes. if he/she doesn't like it, too bad. I certainly wouldn't tip someone that stands around and insults you.

[panadero]

We had two hours built in to the delivery charge, it took four - we tipped the driver, and paid the 100- to the shippers. The driver did help us a bit.

[Damase]

Everything is coming soon. We have hired another forktruck, looked at riggers or just a foreman, talk about big bucks. Hopefully we have another day or two (Football tomorrow, recovery a day after that... maybe?) then it will be a long day with Pizza and tip for the drivers!

[HampdenBrewing]

Forklift capacities

Having been a forklift tech for 20+yrs., I can tell you that the rated capacity is based on a 24" load center. That is the measurement from the face of the fork towards the tip. So in the case of long reaches on large objects, the capacity of the machine drops considerably.Also when using things like fork extensions, add in the weight of any of the attachments. You can usually find load capacity charts in the operators manual that should be with the forklift. Please use care and hope all goes well.
Doug

[schmogger]

I am not sure of your layout but renting a grade all with fork extensions helps a lot. If you have an opening big enough to stand up tanks, if needed, outside before moving them instead the grade all is the ticket. Most grade alls have a 6000 lb capacity. If the tanks show up on their sides don't forget to pick up some clevises and heavy duty straps with looped ends on both sides of the strap and you can't have enough pallet jacks. I hope this helps and good luck