From homebrewer to probrewer (Long)

I just wanted to share what it took for me to get from homebrewer to probrewer. I am not open yet, but I do have my TTB license. This is a pic of me drinking out of my favorite glass, a 1L Paulaner glass.


This is my current homebrew setup. I have collected two 7 gal buckets (one ale pail), two 5 gal glass carboys (one of which is the one I started with in 92), one 3 gal carboy, and two 1 gal jugs for whatnot.


Late in '08, I wanted to start a real brewery, but was frustrated with all the costs associated with starting something big. The philosophy (which I believe is completely incorrect) was to go big or go home. I tried the assorted methods of raising capital, but its impossible to get money for a brewery unless you are proven or have wealthy friends. I had neither of those.

Then I red Hess' article and was inspired. Some time in 2010, I started building and collecting equipment for a 1.5 bbl nano. I knew I wanted to do direct fire because that's what I was used to. I got the kettle's, hood and other assorted equipment. One year ago I built the 3 kettle single tier stand that I am using in J Wells Brewery.


I may not have rich friends, but I have talented friends! My buddies dad did the cutting and welding of the brewstand and his buddy welded the ss 1/2 in/out port on the kettle.


I read articles about burners here and decided to go with the 32 tip jet burner because of price and performance. Its $40 bucks and it takes about 1hr 15 minutes to get 55 gallons to mash temp.


I got a hazardous location motor and the 328d mill from Crankenstein. Also in this pic is the Kezer that I'm using for beer.

Buying, fabricating, "Macgyvering" and begging as much equipment as I could get together, I was no longer able to park the cars in the garage. Brew day went from the usual 10 hrs for the double batch day to 14 because of all the hauling of equipment and moving of cars. I started looking for a place in October of last year. I had 0 success until I wised up and got a realtor. I signed the lease for J Wells Brewery on April 1st.

1480 sq ft of pure awesome! Concrete floors, cinder-block walls, and even a space for a tiny taproom.


Then, came the digging...


and the sanding
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/friend-sanding-56202.html
and the tiling

and the plumbing


Total construction costs was 30k. Total equipment costs (so far) is probably in the neighborhood of 20k. But, this was all acquired over a period of 5 years or so. Allot of this was homebrew equipment that I already had.

Now, I built the bar with help from friends. My Dad did the pass through BTW, and me and 3 of my friends did the rest. Well, one of my pals did all of the painting. I just sanded, and nailed things together, and tiled floors with help from them.


BAM! brewery!


Well, sort of. The things I learned was that it cost way way way more money than I thought. I thought I was over-estimating with 30k of cash. I should have gotten 50k up front, and I would have had enough. Most of this expense has been on rent, and the build-out. The rent is costing me an arm and a leg because I am waiting on someone (ether the state, or the feds, or the city of boulder) to give me permission to brew and or build. The build out was expensive, because who knew it costs 8k to dig a hole? and running 1.25" gas line is apparently very expensive. Ah well!

Where did this money come from? Personal savings, my paycheck (buing a little here, a little there) over 4 years, my retirement, and family. I didnt take any loans, and noone outside of my family is backing me. Well, except one guy at $68.

Thanks for looking!

marking this space for additions

Excited to see you're taking the plunge and I wish you the best of luck. Keep the updates coming. Do you have a website, twitter feed, or facebook page we can follow?

Thanks, will do! Here is the facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/JWellsBrewery

website:
http://jwellsbrewery.com/blog/

Congrats -- and best of luck to you!

Great job man. Wish you the best! Good luck!

good for you. lots of luck for having the cajones to do what we all wish we could do

Best of luck to you man. Inspiring to see the pics. Hoping to do the same thing down here in the Denver-ish area.

Great start! Have you tried kickstarter yet?

What are you going to be using as a fermentor? We are currently doing 25-30g batches and the main thing holding us back from going bigger is dropping all that coin on a big 100g fementor.

I am very hopeful that you hit a home-run here. What are you doing in order to separate your brewery operation from the tap-room and what is your 'display' plan? (Going with the great glass wall?) What volumes are you targeting for both your taproom and your distribution and what channels are you using? (self or third party distribution?) Have you brewed a good deal on your 1.5 system or are you scaling up from smaller home-brew batches? If so what's your process for ensuring consistency in your beers? Are you serving food at the brew-pub?

As you can see, I'm on the same path, just a bit back.

First off. Congrats!

Secondly, your brewery blog lists that you have 1 SS drum and 2 HDPE drums. Mind if I ask how that works out ? I am guessing you are using the SS as your brew kettle and one of the HDPE's as a MLT, but what I can not figure out is how you are heating in your HDPE HLT?

I currently have a system using 2 SS drums, so you have my interest..

Thanks..

Well done! That space is plenty of room for you, we've got a 1300 square foot space for our nano and I'm still marveling at how much room there is. What's the fermentation plan? Cooperage? After thinking about it, we ended up settling on a 3 bbl brite tank from Stout Tanks. The idea of carbing six 1/2 barrels for one double batch was just a nightmare waiting to happen, so we'll bottle and keg off of the brite. Pricey, but Stout is $500 less than others in the 3 bbl range, you should check them out.

More pics!

Nice, we have been looking at Stout, looks like a good product. We have some friends in the pipe and fabrication industry so we may make our own instead.

A dream!!!!! I think my wife would leave..... GOOD LUCK

lumpher said:

good for you. lots of luck for having the cajones to do what we all wish we could do

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I decided that if I didn't try, I would have regretted it.

ryclo said:

Great start! Have you tried kickstarter yet?

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I did about two years ago. They turned me down, so I gave up. Since that time multiple brewers have started kick-starter campaigns, but I haven't tried again.

ktraver97ss said:

What are you going to be using as a fermentor? We are currently doing 25-30g batches and the main thing holding us back from going bigger is dropping all that coin on a big 100g fementor.

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I am using 55 gallon SS drums as fermenters. I am modifying the lids so that they fit a corny keg lid. The current plan for transfers is a self priming diaphragm pump, http://morebeer.com/view_product/17305//Self-Priming_Diaphragm_Pump_for_Beer_Transfers. The pump works for about 150 gallons or so, then overheats. Not the best solution, but its what I have currently. I am wanting to transfer under co2 pressure, but haven't quite worked that out yet.

IMHO, this is not much different than what I have been doing for 20 years at home (minus the pump). Here is where I got most of the drums from. http://usedstainlesssteelbarrels.com/Page_2.html

I will go by the brewery and take a picture of the work in progress on the fermenter. It may be more clear on what i am doing that way.

MuddyCreek said:

I am very hopeful that you hit a home-run here. What are you doing in order to separate your brewery operation from the tap-room and what is your 'display' plan? (Going with the great glass wall?) What volumes are you targeting for both your taproom and your distribution and what channels are you using? (self or third party distribution?) Have you brewed a good deal on your 1.5 system or are you scaling up from smaller home-brew batches? If so what's your process for ensuring consistency in your beers? Are you serving food at the brew-pub?

As you can see, I'm on the same path, just a bit back.

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The brewery and taproom is seperated by a 4' high bar, and a chain with a sign that reads, "employees only". Because the fermentation room is locked (just a deadbolt from HD) it seemed to be enough for the TTB. They just asked me about the chain, because it was not displayed on my site plan. So, if you want to do the same thing, be sure to not omit that detail. Hess did the same thing, and they were told that they had to lock their fermentation chambers (according to his blog). He has individual coolers for his fermentation chambers, sort of like a keezer. I have an entire room with an ac unit.



Volumes, well, that's a tricky question, because I'm just guessing. I spoke with Asher at Asher brewing, Dennis at Echo Brewing, and the guys at Big Choice Brewing and they all told me that I will run out of beer my opening day. With this in mind, I plan on brewing 4.5 bbls of Hop Haze IPA, and 3bbl of something else, Lights Out Stout (RIS). I need some lighter beer too, a Pale Ale... not sure yet because I only have 5 fermenters. I may be able to do two cycles in the IPA fermetners...

Anyways, I plan on having at least 6bbl on hand for the opening (that's all the kegs I have, like 60 cornies) and another 6.5 bbls sitting in fermenters fermenting just in case. If I do not sell all of that, I plan on bottling the IPA and self distributing it outside the taproom. I have no plans to sell kegs at this time.

I have brewed probably about 6-10 times in the past three years on the larger system. I do plan on moving homebrew batches to the large system. Consistency is not a huge problem, but the availability of ingredients is. Simcoe is gone, amarillo is gone, citra is gone etc. When I run out of an ingredient, i will just make another recipe rather than change the existing ones. While I love Citra Pale Ale and Hop Haze V, there are other recipes that are just as tasty that I can make, Hop Haze I and Lights Out Stout.

I will not serve food at the brewery, but people are welcome to bring their own food.

NightHawk said:

First off. Congrats!

Secondly, your brewery blog lists that you have 1 SS drum and 2 HDPE drums. Mind if I ask how that works out ? I am guessing you are using the SS as your brew kettle and one of the HDPE's as a MLT, but what I can not figure out is how you are heating in your HDPE HLT?

I currently have a system using 2 SS drums, so you have my interest..

Thanks..

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This is the older system FYI, it is all SS now. This is because I had problems holding temps in the HLT with the HDPE drum, exactly as you suspected.

The old procedure went like this. The night before, I would top off the BK with water to degas overnight. Boulder has chlorine in their water. Brew day started, and I fired up the kettle and milled grain. It takes about an hour to get the water to strike temp. I doughed in and topped off the BK again. 30 minutes later, the BK would be boiling. I would then xfer 55 gallons of boiling water into the HDPE HLT. By the time all the water was in the HLT, it was at 180F. after 30 minutes, the water would be around 175ish. I would lauter, then begin fly sparging. After an hour of fly sparging the HLT water would be around 140ish.

This was the procedure with an unheated HLT. My efficiency was pretty good about 75-80%. However, I couldn't double batch easily with this procedure because the HLT couldn't be heated. Also, when I fired the BK full blast it would melt the water heater blanket around the HLT. I figured that couldn't be good. So, I saved a little cash and got some SS drums and another burner to direct fire the HLT.

Another inspiring thread! Looking forward to more posts.

MikeRLynch said:

Well done! That space is plenty of room for you, we've got a 1300 square foot space for our nano and I'm still marveling at how much room there is. What's the fermentation plan? Cooperage? After thinking about it, we ended up settling on a 3 bbl brite tank from Stout Tanks. The idea of carbing six 1/2 barrels for one double batch was just a nightmare waiting to happen, so we'll bottle and keg off of the brite. Pricey, but Stout is $500 less than others in the 3 bbl range, you should check them out.

More pics!

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SO... ya, I am force carbbing in cornies. I have been kegging for a while now, and here is what I do.
1. sanitize and prep corny
2. fill corny almost to line near top, some weld mark or something
3. close and gas up to 40psi
4. wait 1 day
5. gas up to 40psi again
6. chill and serve

SO, there's a couple of things that I do that is different. I don't force carb cold, and I don't leave the gas connected. it works ok, and I can adjust co2 in the fridge. I usually get pretty close to the vol of co2 i want however.

I would love to have a large tank to carb in, but i dont have the cold room or glycol to support it yet. This will be the first thing I purchase after the brewery makes a profit.

ryclo said:

Great start! Have you tried kickstarter yet?

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KS is a bit tricky because you must provide a product for them to buy. Since you are not investing but "pre-ordering" a finished product.

As a final stab to the gut, alcohol and tobacco are prohibited by KS terms of service. Basically, they're not touching anything in this area that's regulated by both federal and state governments.

But maybe there's something out there that can work on KS.

good luck

I am jealous just reading this. Best of luck.

itshanney said:

KS is a bit tricky because you must provide a product for them to buy. Since you are not investing but "pre-ordering" a finished product.

As a final stab to the gut, alcohol and tobacco are prohibited by KS terms of service. Basically, they're not touching anything in this area that's regulated by both federal and state governments.

But maybe there's something out there that can work on KS.

Click to expand...

Not sure exactly how true this is, there are several breweries on kickstarter, among them a local group of friends who were able to fund a sucessful 40k campaign for their business. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200559997/firefly-brewing-company-craft-beer

That being said, Kickstarter didn't make a lot of sense to us due to our situation, but for others it might be perfect. I just didn't like the idea of paying them a percentage when all they're really doing is putting my stuff on a website that I still have to create all the content for. I can do that myself pretty easily with the Paypal donate button

Living the dream my man, living the dream. Good for you wish you nothing but the best!

gointomexico said:

This is the older system FYI, it is all SS now. This is because I had problems holding temps in the HLT with the HDPE drum, exactly as you suspected.

The old procedure went like this. The night before, I would top off the BK with water to degas overnight. Boulder has chlorine in their water. Brew day started, and I fired up the kettle and milled grain. It takes about an hour to get the water to strike temp. I doughed in and topped off the BK again. 30 minutes later, the BK would be boiling. I would then xfer 55 gallons of boiling water into the HDPE HLT. By the time all the water was in the HLT, it was at 180F. after 30 minutes, the water would be around 175ish. I would lauter, then begin fly sparging. After an hour of fly sparging the HLT water would be around 140ish.

This was the procedure with an unheated HLT. My efficiency was pretty good about 75-80%. However, I couldn't double batch easily with this procedure because the HLT couldn't be heated. Also, when I fired the BK full blast it would melt the water heater blanket around the HLT. I figured that couldn't be good. So, I saved a little cash and got some SS drums and another burner to direct fire the HLT.

Click to expand...

thanks for replying... It's too bad that you did not find a way to use a HDPE HLT. My would love it if I could find a way around another SS drum. Oh well, 3rd SS drum it is..

Anyway, what burner are you using that heats 55 gallons that quickly?

40K through Kickstarter, amazing! I think its the way I wrote it. A buddy at work said, you should do kickstarter. So I wrote it up right fast and published it. They turned me down saying, "this isn't what were looking for."

NightHawk, if you are wanting to use HDPE you could use it for a mash tun. I didn't have any problems with using it for a mash tun. I could hold my mash temp for an hour and I did not even have a lid for it. It would be really inconvenient, but you could use a 2 vessel system? The pro's I talked to used fermenters for their HLT. They would boil the water, and knock it out into a fermenter, then use that liquor to sparge with.

This is the burner I bought:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/160798944175?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
I bought the second one from them because when i moved from the home brewery to the pro brewery i broke some of the tips on the first one. I ordered some spare tips just in case i break some more.

When I ran the burners with a regulator, it took over 2 hours to boil. I have over 400k btu's down the line to the brewery on 1.25" black iron pipe. The meter runs 7" of water column and black iron pipe is 100' to the kettle. I run .75" line around the kettle to make the connections.

Do you think you could bootstrap it at all? Rumor is St. Arnold's in Houston offered "free beer for life" to those who bought their fermenting tanks and mash tuns. In their old brewery, you could see "Saint John", "Saint Robyn" or "Saint Joseph" on the tanks. These names represented the people that paid the $75K for the tanks. In return, they got free beer for life.

I am bootstrapping, I think. I have no loans, so I would be bootstrapping, i think? most of my money came from my retirement, my job and an investment from my family, and one investment in the business from my friend. total family investment is less than 10% the other 90% is my own.

How are you controlling fermenting temps? This is way over my head, just curious. or did I miss it?

I don't think I said prior. I am using ambient temperature control. I have a room in the back of the brewery that I will install a window ac unit in. I currently use it in the garage and it keeps the temp at around 60, the fermenters are from 65-69 which is in the range for the yeast that I am using.

Congrats! I hope all of your hard work (and hard earned money) will payoff for you! Looks like a huge project/goal!

Thanks, im pretty excited to be brewing for a living, cant wait!

How do you like using the stainless barrels for fermenters?? I don't think there is any valves on the bottom so do you open the top, stick in your hose and pump the beer into kegs?? How about cleaning your barrels. They must be heavy to move around?? Or can you clean in place?? Good luck with your new adventure.

What a fantastic adventure! I can only imagine how busy you must be, but more photos/updates when you have a chance would be appreciated!

"so do you open the top, stick in your hose and pump the beer into kegs?"

This is exactly what I do. I clean them by lugging them around. I also cut a hole in the top of the barrel that fits a corny keg lid so i can stick a modified brush in there to scrub when needed. They are about 40 lb's empty, which isn't too bad to move around, just a little awkward. When I use the lye solution, i put in 5 gallons and roll it around on the ground, and I plan on sanitizing the same way.

Now that i said, "lye" i just want to mention that I don't use it at home. I prefer oxyclean, soap and water. Lye is a pain to work with, lots of safety gear, and I have to balance the ph before getting rid of it. After using lye, I have to do an acid rinse to put the stainless in an acid state and passivate it. Then I can use more familiar stuff like starsan.

At home, I just use water and elbow grease. If that doesn't work (very rare), I use oxyclean. No gloves, no respirator, no face shield, chemical apron, water proof boots, and no goggles. Well, sometimes goggles.

I love using these because they are economical, and stainless. Much better than the plastic i was using before. A cinch to clean. You can even steam clean them, which is awesome. Any reason i can think of to fire up the burner, ill do it.

" but more photos/updates when you have a chance would be appreciated!"
Yea, I will do that tonight. I have a bunch of photos in my phone, but I think its time for an update. Ill run out there tonight and take some pics. I'll also put up a pic in the DIY how i converted the drums into nicer kettles. I just simply cut the top of my BK, but I think the way I did the HLT and MT is better.

Did some work, fixed up some fermenters and labeled them today. Was thinking of polishing them after a lye soak to get rid of the root beer smell from them.

Did some grinding on the seam to smooth it out. Two of the fermenters I got had a terrible weld.


Here is the corney lid on the fermenter. I had to grind down the legs some so that it would fit on the top of the barrel.


Here is the wheels i roll the fermenters around on. not too hard. To the left is the wort chiller, and the blue tank is my balance tank for storing lye/acid. Have to make sure the ph is arround 7 before sending down the drain.


Here is the lye (2% sol) doing its job


Lye safety gear


Mill stand and a ladder in the back. I wear gloves too.

Pic of brewstand, cus its not in the prev. pics, forgot to post it.


You can see the 16 inch duct for fresh air intake, and the hood for exhaust, mop sink, and 6' trench drain and a little slope. Ill take another one tomorrow showing all the plumbing for the burners, and the stainless kettles once they are done.

Thanks for the pictures. Do you ever wish you had the open head drums?? Might help with cleaning?? The wheels are genius. Great idea.