Looking for commercial brewing

[ljforster701]

Well, I started this in the wrong forum. Didn't realize that until I couldn't find it. Looking for recommendations on commercial brewing equipment that can be used for homebrewing and then transitioned into commercial brewing. Not a large distribution but a brewpub to start. If things go well than upgrade as seen fit. Thanks in advance. Somebody stated soundbrew but they are against anything less than a 7bbl system. Also how many gallons is 1bbl?

 

[theonetrueruss]

Ok.. so maybe if you need to ask how many gallons in a bbl perhaps you should consider not worrying about your eventual commercial plans and focus one the small batches. Seriously. I am not trying to be a jerk but get some experience, do some math, form a business plan... THEN see if that is a reasonable path. A few 1000 $s in the meantime on a good setup for small test batches will do you better than trying to figure that out now. You are going to need many multiples of that to get even a small nanobrewery/brewpub off the ground.

Good luck! If you go down that road you got more balls than me.

 

[outside92129]

the odds of getting *the* perfect system right out of the starting gate is someplace between slim and none. There will be things you want changed, upgraded, reroute, or just rethought. It would be more cost effective to experiment and get your system dialed in using a few grand instead of a few tens of grand. Once you decide what is right for you can make a better decision on how and what to scale up.

 

[subliminalurge]

Also how many gallons is 1bbl?

You're asking this question and planning to go commercial all in the same post? Wow, that's either some serious balls, way too much extra money to play with, or you're really drunk at the moment. Or a combination of the three.

But to answer that question, the standard 16 gallon keg (actually 15.5) that you get from the grocery store or liquor store is a 1/2 barrel. I'm sure you can do the math from there and get a close enough number to work with for the stage you're at.

So, yeah, in a brewpub setting, doing 7 bbl batches seems like it might be on the smaller end. Remeber that you'll probably need to have a half dozen or more house brews on tap at all times, but your system will only be producing one at a time. So when you do a batch, it has to make enough to last while you do 5 other batches....

And a brewpub that's out of "house beer" and is only serving Bud Light and Corona for two weeks? That's a recipe for an abandoned building that "used to be" a brew pub. That would be like going to a steakhouse only to be told that they only had hot dogs available that night.

 

[TopherM]

There are several brewpubs here in my town. The smallest one has three 10 bbl fermenters and five 10 bbl serving tanks.

Check out this site for some good basic math to determine how big you should go:

http://specificmechanical.com/products-services/brewery-systems/system-sizing

 

[LordUlrich]

There are several factors to selecting a system size, but the key is size the system so your beer is always fresh. Figure out how much of each beer you will use in a week( ask local bars what they go through, or a local distributer). I am a brewer at a brew pub with a 10bbl system and and 5 serving tanks and wish our system were smaller as we have a few beers stick around too long.
At the same time you need to be able to keep up production, I would target brewing once a week

it appears you have limited knowledge of brewing from your post, so if you are a business person, hire a brewer, brewing is alot of work and takes alot of skill and knowledge to do well. If you want to be a brewer, help out at a local pub start at the bottom, cleaning kegs and tanks and work your way up, probably as a volunteer, and learn to home brew on your own, learning everything you can.
Good luck

 

[Corey_SS]

The local brewpub I go to is a 7bbl system, and they see to do fine. They always have at least 4-6 house brews on tap plus a couple guest taps and plenty of craft beers in bottles.

It might seem small but this general area is pretty barren when it comes to craft brews.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you had any advice on purchasing a car for NASCAR racing. I'd like to start out with a normal car but build it up to NASCAR specs as I learn. By the way, does anybody know what size tires they use for those cars? Thanks.

 

[BrewThruYou]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you had any advice on purchasing a car for NASCAR racing. I'd like to start out with a normal car but build it up to NASCAR specs as I learn. By the way, does anybody know what size tires they use for those cars? Thanks.

Classic!

 

[TopherM]

Hey guys, I was wondering if you had any advice on purchasing a car for NASCAR racing. I'd like to start out with a normal car but build it up to NASCAR specs as I learn. By the way, does anybody know what size tires they use for those cars?

Around here, those guys all buy Honda Civics......they never make it NASCAR, but they do end up with sweet two-tone hoods, xenon undercarriage lights, two-foot spoilers, and mufflers that don't seem to muffle.

 

[flananuts]

Long live the HB "Tuner".

 

[ljforster701]

Well my fault, the title should have been commercial brewing equipment. Secondly I should have stated that I'm a beginning homebrewer with 5 extract kits under my belt. I'm looking to start AG in the very near future. Also I wasn't looking at starting commercial brewing or a brewpub tomorrow or even next week, just in the process of looking for information. The 1bbl question was based on a conversion that I found but didn't make sense. The conversion from another website was 1bbl = 31 gallons = 1760 pints. Something just didn't add up. Thanks so far for the info with the exception of a couple responses.

 

[gsector]

Might want to start with reading that book by the DFH guy. Also, there's at least one or two guys who started blogs about the process of starting their own brewery or brewpub, but I don't think I've ever seen one where the guy(s) did it successfully.