Research Questions - 15bbl microbrewery

Hi I'm new and not sure if this is the correct forum but here goes...

I am writing a business plan for a university project which I need some help with from some experienced brewers.

I am planning an organic microbrewery which will produce organic beers alongside a small range of gluten-free beers and I'm thinking of using a 15bbl brewing system.

Can anybody provide me with information on generic ingredients cost for each brew, What is the normal number of brews per week on a 15bbl system and how many litres each brew will produce (and the average yield).

I am confused due to the different measurements I have found while researching (BBl, litres, hectolitres etc).

I have only experienced homebrew kits and wish to know more on full brewing. I am currently reading Ted Bruning's Microbrewers' Handbook and also Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

I suggest reading extensively over on probrewer.com forums


but to address a few of your questions...

Can anybody provide me with information on generic ingredients cost for each brew, What is the normal number of brews per week on a 15bbl system and how many litres each brew will produce

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a "15bbl brewery" (meaning fifteen "barrels"; 1bbl = 117.35 liters; ~31 gallons) is generally referring to the amount of beer you can brew in one single production run on the equipment. Obviously costs are extremely variable based on scale. A "20bbl" materials-cost would be less than simply 20x that of a "1bbl" system, for example (but not including capitol equipment costs).

however, for estimate purposes (ignoring exact flavor profile for now; only considering recipe ingredients/materials), brewing 15bbls requires almost exactly 15x the amount of ingredients that a 1bbl recipe would call for, so you can just scale a 1bbl recipe by 15x to get a good estimate of the amount of the hops grain and yeast that you would put into a 15bbl batch, and thus, cost of a 15bbl batch.

having said that- the cost of a batch varies incredibly, recipe to recipe. an IPA that calls for 500lbs of hops is going to be way more expensive than a lite pilsner that only uses 50lbs of hops, for example.

I am confused due to the different measurements I have found while researching (BBl, litres, hectolitres etc).

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those units all measure volume, just in a different scale. hopefully, being a university-level project, you should already know how liters and hectoliters are related....

I'm on my phone so I can't find it. But the http://www.soundbrew.com site has some solid info. There is also a cost s sheet on a per batch basis

Using my numbers that I have put together for my business plan. My per batch ingredient costs for a 7BBL bach is just over $485. This is using the suppliers that I have talked too so your costs per pound may be a little different. Also you need to concider the market in your area and how large you are(seats) and how long you will be open. This will give you some information on your projected sales and than you make your production estimates off of your sales. You also need to take into account the different styles you want.

This is also not your total cost of goods sold. You have to account for alot more than just the ingredients when computing your numbers.

Most of the american equipment producers use BBL's and most of the European equipment producers use Hectoliters. I would just stick to one type only. Use BBL's..

Also consider that hop utilization increases as size increases so you use less hops. But linear scaling is the safest way to go.

Jvnw.com has some resources for planning. A lot of your brewing schedule depends on tank space and demand. From what I understand planning to open with a schedule of brewing twice a week is good. Also figure 2-weeks of tank per ale and 3-weeks per lager. Go with unitanks that let you carb in them or consider at least one full size brite tank. Don't forget the glycol system and boiler. And how small of a bath can your 15bbl system produce? Maybe you want a small run of RIS to barrel age? How small can that be? I'd double size at least one tank for your "house favorite" beer that has a high demand. You can double batch into it for efficiency. I'm on my phone but maybe tomorrow night I can dig up some resources.

different way to look at things
one 22 oz bottle of micro beer
20-30 cents for grain/hops
50 cents for bottle
25 cents for a good micro label
all other costs total cost 2$ / bottle
sell at 4 and retail at 8

That is for a 2 bbl system

Hi everyone, Fortunately I pulled an all-nighter before I had a chance to read your replies and found the information I needed. I thank you for your responses anyway.

I have chosen to specialise in gluten-free beers and have found that all of the current breweries in the UK I have researched only offer bottled gluten-free products. Therefore, I have chosen to offer Gluten-free beers in casks (or firkins).

I am in the process of a market analysis but do not know how to write one for the Gluten-free beer market in the UK, does anybody have any pointers as it would be very helpful.

Thanks,

David

Ps. I only have a week left to finish the plan.