Announcing My Brewery - Hailstorm Brewing Co

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That's the right answer. I'm planning to get started in 2015 and plan to keep my "day job" to support my family and brew at night/weekends. I plan to do this for 18-24 mos (or sooner if I am able) before I take a draw. It will be a lot of expense at first before I see a profit, especially one that I can support my family on.
 
That's the right answer. I'm planning to get started in 2015 and plan to keep my "day job" to support my family and brew at night/weekends. I plan to do this for 18-24 mos (or sooner if I am able) before I take a draw. It will be a lot of expense at first before I see a profit, especially one that I can support my family on.

Congrats Hailstorm! Best of luck to ya!
 
While you won't know for certain what salary you can draw for awhile you must have revenue forecasts? Operating expense forcast? A business plan? Some sort of idea what to expect or if the business is even viable?

It would be unfortunate to find out a year later the business doesn't earn enough to provide a salary!

I'm just trying to figure out how to best determine these values before starting a business. If I won't be able to quit my job and pay my bills there's no point in my pursuing this.
 
While you won't know for certain what salary you can draw for awhile you must have revenue forecasts? Operating expense forcast? A business plan? Some sort of idea what to expect or if the business is even viable?

It would be unfortunate to find out a year later the business doesn't earn enough to provide a salary!

I'm just trying to figure out how to best determine these values before starting a business. If I won't be able to quit my job and pay my bills there's no point in my pursuing this.

Each situation is going to vary widely based on location, demographics, brewery size, whether you fund it in cash vs a loan, whether you have a tap room selling at retail vs wholesale to a distributor or a combo of both, etc etc.

That being said, I saved what I needed to support my family for a year ($50k) so that I can actually quit my day job and do this full time. After year one, I plan to draw what I currently make at my day job. Our business plan is very modest, and I think we'll beat all of our projections by a long shot, but we're being cautious and planning accordingly.

On a side note, if you plan to be able to do this full time and be able to draw a salary to live on after a year, and you're not doing a brewpub, 15 barrel is the MINIMUM size I would even consider looking at.
 
We got all of the framing up for the tap room and bar. The cooler will be behind the large metal stud wall and the taps will pass through it. The long, wood stud half wall will separate the brewery from the tap room and will have a bar top on it. The main bar is framed up as well, and is an "L" shape, 20' on main side and 6' on the short side.

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Awesome! Maybe I missed it, but what would you like your proportion to be taproom vs distribution?

What would I like? 100% taproom! But in reality, we'll likely start out around 50/50 and see where it goes from there. Once we get a feel for the market, we can adjust as we add capacity.
 
Congrats! I've worked a little bit with the State of Illinois, so i'll be praying for you . . . :D
 
It is looking really nice, good to see it all coming together. Thanks for sharing the pics with us as you go it is interesting to see a brewery come together. Thinking I'll have to do a road trip once you get up and running.
 
Congrats on the endeavor. I'll have to make the short trek down from across the border.

PintoBean said:
The long, wood stud half wall will separate the brewery from the tap room and will have a bar top on it.

I like the novelty of the open view, but I'd be cautious orient equipment as to avoid injury to patrons should an accident occur. The Red Hook incident from 1-2 years ago comes to mind. An insurance company might flag it as a risk and affect premiums, but more genuinely I personally would hate to put anyone at risk. Despite being craft, it's still a beer factory.

Sorry to be a potential Debbie Downer. Hopefully you already have that considered and the overall layout just isn't clear in the photos. You certainly seem to have everything well planned, and thus well orchestrated.
 
Now THAT is some serious beer porn. Way to go HailStorm! Best of luck
 
Aaahhh...all that purty stainless steel...:rockin: Nice view on the day Prohibition was repealed. 80 years ago today.
 
It should be a national holiday... or perhaps just a religious holiday for us brewers. I will definitely raise a glass when I get home.

Keep the pics coming!
 
It should be a national holiday... or perhaps just a religious holiday for us brewers. I will definitely raise a glass when I get home.

Keep the pics coming!

I'll definitely keep posting pics. I've watched several threads on here of guys building breweries...it's better than porn ;) Brewhouse is coming Tuesday, so watch for an update then.
 
Will do! And I'm home now, so Cheers to the 80th anniversary of Prohibition!
:mug:
 
Finally got this beast of a boiler put together. This was the first piece of equipment we received way back in August, and we've been procrastinating on putting it together because lifting those plates sucks! Anyway, all that stainless we got last week gave us the motivation to finally slap this thing together.

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Brewhouse has arrived! Made the short trek from the manufacturer in Rock Island, IL over to us in Tinley Park, IL this morning. Nice to have the guys that built it so close.

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