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Smogre · 03-20-2008, 08:29 PM

Go check out Linky
It's a pretty good little beer industry link.

BryanZ · 03-20-2008, 08:38 PM

fantastic! that was just what I was looking for, thankyou

Jim Karr · 03-20-2008, 09:02 PM

Go to your state's website and do a search for liquor licenses, brewery licenses, brewpub, microbrewing. (You get the idea.)

You may also want to go the BATF website at the Federal level.

That just tells you about licensing. Marketing your product, however, is going to cost you a great deal more than the actual cost of the product.

I sold advertising to merchants on a group of radio stations for almost nine years. Obtaining a rung on the positioning ladder inside the consumers' heads is an extremely expensive and an extremely slow process.

**Bobby_M** · 03-20-2008, 09:04 PM

It's not easy man. Even when you convince a few places to carry the beer, people have to want it and buy it. The buy rite near me has a rack with Climax Brewing growlers. I asked them if they sold a lot of it. The guy that stocks the shelves told me he can't remember the last time they had to order more. I mean, that's a fine local brew (Roselle Park, NJ) but there's just so much selection out there.

I'd recommend starting a restaurant first, get some cash flow, then add a brewery inside. It's the food that will keep people coming in. Jersey is a bit saturated with brewpubs though.

**Wayne1** · 03-20-2008, 10:10 PM

Bryan Z,

You might want to look over this site http://www.beertown.org/craftbrewing/about.html

It is the home of the Brewers Association. They have LOTS of information about the craft brewing industry. Send them an E-mail and tell them your plans. They should be able to suggest more information for you.

Look through all the links, read the statistics and join the BA. Get the Brewers Resource Directory.

Contact the turn-key brewery suppliers. They may have some used equipment on hand they may be willing to sell.

A lot of the early brew-pubs and micros started out with used dairy tanks.

You really don't want to use ANY equipment that is not stainless.

You are correct in thinking THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in the brewing BUISNESS is marketing. If no one buys the beer, it doesn't matter how good it is. You should contact a distributor to see what sort of "product" they might be able to sell. In some states a brewery is NOT allowed to self distribute.

Here is another link http://www.beerinsights.com/
This is for a trade publication called beer marketeers insights. It should give you a better idea of what sort of challenges you might face.

When I was hired to open the Hubcap Brewery and Kitchen in Vail, CO in 1991, the entire build out of the brewery and restaurant was about $350,000. that was with a 7 bbl, steam fired, two vessel, brewhouse, three 7 bbl open fermentors (they had lids, they just weren't pressure vessels) and 12 used Grundy tanks (British pressure vessels adapted for serving).

The SandLot Brewery at Coors Field was built as a pure brewery. 10 bbl three vessel, steam brewhouse (mash mixer, Lauter tun, Kettle) with four 20 bbl cylindro-conical fermenters, four 20 bbl aging tanks, and eight serving tanks. Coors was paying the bills. The budget was $500,000. We spent $800,000.00 before opening day. I made a few mods to the gear and probably spent an additional $50,000 in upgrades during the first year.

The last place I was involved with was the RockYard Brewing Co. Another pub. Budget was $250,000 each for the Brewhouse equipment and kitchen equipment. Both came in over budget.

It typically takes 2-3 years of operation before a business venture will show a good profit. In budgeting start-up costs, you should also figure in operating capital to keep you going during the months when you are running at a loss.

***Yooper*** · 03-20-2008, 10:27 PM

Here's a great read by one of our own HBT members and his experiences running a brewery: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/dont-try-home-parts-1-2-3-a-11412/index2.html

BryanZ · 03-20-2008, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne1

The SandLot Brewery at Coors Field was built as a pure brewery. 10 bbl three vessel, steam brewhouse (mash mixer, Lauter tun, Kettle) with four 20 bbl cylindro-conical fermenters, four 20 bbl aging tanks, and eight serving tanks. Coors was paying the bills. The budget was $500,000. We spent $800,000.00 before opening day. I made a few mods to the gear and probably spent an additional $50,000 in upgrades during the first year.

great info man!

think you could give me a little more info? you sound pretty knowledgable on the commercial aspect of it

I wouldn't mind some educated guesses on some stuff so I can figure out my potential proft, specifically on the setup I quoted....

when going commercial how long is the batch in each fermenter and and secondary? about the same as a homebrew? or is there some other things that speed up the process?

I'll just guess that the longest process is the aging tanks....Because you can only produce as much beer as your tanks can hold... so i'm gonna take a guess of 2 weeks in the secondary tank.

if my math is correct, I have a maximum output of 5314 gallons of beer/month, or 56,682 12oz bottles

any idea how much I'm going to pay for ingredients/water/glass bottle/etc? Just make a guess on how much ingredients would cost on a 600gallon batch

What do the brewers usually sell the 6 packs for....$4.50? kegs?

I'm not seeing too much room for profit here, even with the brewery operating at max output

The most money I could probably ever sell 12 oz bottles for is 75 cents a bottle, which would put me at a max income of $42,500/month, which is like a small diner lol. I guess there is less overhead with a brewery. Very few employees

BryanZ · 03-20-2008, 10:57 PM

holy crap

I just called up a bottle distributor

I got a price quote for 10,000 bottles

44 cents a bottle!!!!!!!!!!!

thats absurd

how do you make any profit????

BryanZ · 03-20-2008, 11:08 PM

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2002/02/18/smallb1.html?page=2

also I read this article

this guy is only doing 125 barrels a month?

I guess thats a lot for a microbrew, I wonder how much profit he's making

**Brewpastor** · 03-20-2008, 11:28 PM

brewing and profit don't go easily together. That is the real joy of homebrewing.