I'm in the early stages of planning a microbrewery, so I came here for advice and pointers, as well as some questions. I want to open a brewery and tasting room somewhere in Chicago IL. At the moment my main mission is to figure out what size in terms of BBL capacity I should start with. I plan to start with the medium sum I need to make all my ends meet and reverse calculate the starting capacity from there. I don't see how I'd be able to do that without interviewing all the brewery owners in Chicago about their expenses (I live in FL; not sure about trave any time soon), but I should be able to come up with at least a close estimate based on researching the costs of everything I will need online. But I figured it won't hurt to ask in case other people made similar calculations for comparison.
In January I will have an opportunity to volunteer in the local brewery for a few shifts and see how things are ran from the inside, but I want to prepare for that so I don't miss out on asking good questions due to ignorance.
I appreciate any pointers to guides and material. I have some business eduction so I'm set as far as knowing how to incorporate etc. and I know how to brew at home, but I have only seen full size equipment in catalogs I briefly encountered and that's where I need the most help.
If somebody here already owns a brewery and would like to give me pointers, here are some of the more specific questions that I have:
What percent of the final sale price of your brew is after-tax profit?
What is the biggest expense?
How much was all the starting equipment for your given capacity at the very beginning?
How much space did that brewing area encompass?
What sort of temp control did you employ and how much did it cost to maintain?
Was a bottling setup there at the beginning or did you only do kegs at first?
How much are th
In January I will have an opportunity to volunteer in the local brewery for a few shifts and see how things are ran from the inside, but I want to prepare for that so I don't miss out on asking good questions due to ignorance.
I appreciate any pointers to guides and material. I have some business eduction so I'm set as far as knowing how to incorporate etc. and I know how to brew at home, but I have only seen full size equipment in catalogs I briefly encountered and that's where I need the most help.
If somebody here already owns a brewery and would like to give me pointers, here are some of the more specific questions that I have:
What percent of the final sale price of your brew is after-tax profit?
What is the biggest expense?
How much was all the starting equipment for your given capacity at the very beginning?
How much space did that brewing area encompass?
What sort of temp control did you employ and how much did it cost to maintain?
Was a bottling setup there at the beginning or did you only do kegs at first?
How much are th