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Forklift vs Pallet Jack

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  • Forklift vs Pallet Jack

    Anyone use pallet jacks at small brewpubs (<5 bbl) where you don't have space for an overhead door?
    Trey Wilson

  • #2
    We have 3 pallet lifts, two manual, one electric. They're great for most things around the brewery. The electric-drive is especially nice for moving heavy pallets, like a pellet of full kegs, but the manual ones get the job done.

    We invested in an electric forklift when we upgraded to a 10 bbl brewhouse from 3. I don't recall how we got by without it. Three pallets of full kegs, stacked, are a breeze to move.

    When installing something big, like a fermenter, we make use of both the forklift and the pallet jacks.

    Get at least one manual pallet jack for now, then add more as you need.
    Timm Turrentine

    Brewerywright,
    Terminal Gravity Brewing,
    Enterprise. Oregon.

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    • #3
      Do you have a loading dock? How are your floors? If you only need to move pallets horizontally across reasonably smooth floors, you won't need a forklift for a brewpub. I'm assuming the heaviest thing you'll be moving is a full pallet of malt (2200 lb max.), and that's easily done by hand with a standard pallet jack.
      Sent from my Microsoft Bob

      Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
      seanterrill.com/category/brewing | twomilebrewing.com

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      • #4
        Agreed with above posts, you can get by with a pallet jack only at first, but if you ever want to go vertical with your storage or if you don't have dock high loading you'll eventually need a forklift.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by twilsonbrewpc View Post
          where you don't have space for an overhead door?
          I'm quite not sure what that means. But if you're not stacking anything, a pallet jack http://www.handtrucksrus.com/pallet_...%5Bzoom%5D.jpg will be fine, so long as you don't take it off concrete.

          There is a middle ground though. You could get a pallet stacker. http://www.maybury.com/liftruck/Crow...e-stackers.jpg This is the one we've got. It's too tight in here to run a forklift around effectively, but we need to put stuff on shelves, move malt upstairs, get things off trucks, etc.. Cheaper than a forklift, smaller, but with the outriggers getting in the way sometimes it does have downsides too. But ours'll do 3000lbs up to 14'.
          Russell Everett
          Co-Founder / Head Brewer
          Bainbridge Island Brewing
          Bainbridge Island, WA

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          • #6
            We have a tractor with forks. The ability to unload product from trucks will save you about 20% on freight.

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