It's official starting my own brewing business!

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akthor

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Made the deal for a new property. One that allows me to live upstairs and brew downstairs.

Will be an Alehouse and smoked BBQ joint. Will have outdoor and indoor seating, a firepit, horsehoe pits, long term might also create a campground. Only selling beer and other fermented beverages I make no liquor (keeps the riff raff away)

Still I am a looooonnnggg ways off from opening. I am not quitting my full time job and I go to class nites. I don't want to borrow money so I am DIY everything as I can afford it, the goal is to be open by the fall if I can but I am not going to be worried if I don't open till Spring 2013.

So I will be posting a lot in here, building my brewing system now, then I have to move by April 1st. Then the real work begins, setting up and building the brewing area, creating a fermentation room, DIY 15 gallon conicals, grain mill, storage for grain and supplies, and building a walk in cooler. Also incorporating and all the legal stuff, licenses, permits ect. Just a ton of things to do but I am doing it and it's pretty exciting to be working towards doing something I love.

I work 4 nights a week and have weekends off, so my FT job pays the rent and utilities and everything else. So I will only be open Fri - Sat (Sundays too during the NFL season) and since I don't need to make a certain amount of money at it to live I can do what I want when I want and grow the business however I want. And if I fail it's OK I won't be bankrupt and I will have a pretty great setup for brewing beer ;)

Lots more to come! I will be looking for lots of advice and expertise ;)
 
Sounds awesome, I'll be watching this post for regular updates. We'll need pics too! Its hard to live vicariously thru you without visual aid.
 
Congrats! Check out these Brew Strong going pro episodes if you haven't already. http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong One thing I just have to add...are you planning on brewing ~15 gallon batches? If so, you might want to reconsider. It's extremely difficult to make money on less than a 1 BBL system. Even then, 5 BBL is preferable. At least that's according to these guys. I am not trying to be a downer, just trying to help.
 
Thats Awesome!!!! me and my girl want to do that but with Pizza instead.

Ill keep an eye on this thread, it will be great to see you get everything going on step at a time...

Maybe you could have homebrew competitions there when you get up and running. It would be fun and could bring in some good business. There is a brew pub here that does that, the winner gets to brew his recipe on the pro system and serve it on tap in the pub.
 
Do you plan on homebrewtalk members getting twofers? Where is going to be?
 
I will actually be brewing on a keggle system so my plan is to do 10 gallon batches ;)

Remember I am only going to be open 2 or 3 days a week, from say lunch till whenever the last customer leaves for the night but 1am would be the cutoff. As of now I plan on being the whole show no employees. I am not borrowing money. So by definition this will be starting out as a small business. In the beginning I will be overjoyed if revenues covers expenses.

I want it to be small so I can learn as I go and not make big mistakes or try to do too much. Greed is bad in my book. I believe if I build it right, make a quality product in a great atmosphere and then the rest will take care of itself. If I brew it they will come.

Calling it Middle Earth is kind of appropriate since the look and the vibe I am shooting for is a tavern like you read about in books like LOTR and the like. I am not meaning so much in looks but in the sense community and independence of being a small village tavern.

Locationwise I am 1 mile off the busiest road in Maine in the Summertime. I don't want to say too much about my location or ideas for company name ect. until I am incorporated. Just because I don't want anyone stealing my ideas.

By my figuring I can make it work. I have an MBA and I am going nights for a BS in Accounting. I won't get into numbers too much but I figure I could comfortably make 30 gallons every brew day 30 gallons = 3840 ounces = 240 pints give or take. But I am not going after quantity or heavy drinkers or drunks. It will be kind of like a Starbucks but with beer and BBQ. Eat some food drink a couple pints, socialize, read the paper, surf the net. Just selling beer by the pint, not selling kegs to bars etc. If I sell 240 pints in a day I will be very happy.

If I can sell more than I make than my business will be very successful and I will look at expanding brewing output. But until that day comes if it does I am going to do it my way. Small batches, with lots of time and care taken in the crafting of the brews and the food. Quality over quantity at a reasonable price not overcharging like so many place do.

It will be a lot of work but I enjoy that work and I have been doing it on a smaller scale for a couple years. Now I am just looking at adding more friends and they won't eat and drink for free ;) I am sitting on 35 acres so there is lots of room to grow.
 
And yes HBT'ers can have two fors, the least I can do for all I have learned and all the inspiration and help I have gotten here. Plus when I do open for all first time customers the first beer is free ;)
 
How do you plan to live upstairs and brew downstairs? As far as I know, the TTB doesn't allow a brewery to be located within a dwelling.
 
I will look more but I have yet to find anything saying you can't have a small brewery like I am planning as long as you get municipal approval.

How do you plan to live upstairs and brew downstairs? As far as I know, the TTB doesn't allow a brewery to be located within a dwelling.
 
OG2620 said:
How do you plan to live upstairs and brew downstairs? As far as I know, the TTB doesn't allow a brewery to be located within a dwelling.

As I recall there are a few brewpubs with apartments above in several locations on the east and west coasts. I think it will depend how the property is laid out. If they are completely separate, such as no stairs from the apartment leading directly into the brewery, I think he would be OK as the commercial part of the building is permanently separated from the brewery.

The section of the federal code covering beer and brewing says you can use the brewery for another purpose beside brewing beer to make a profit as long as revenue to the TTB is protected. (Memory paraphrase) Then you get into the legal definition of dwelling, which I could never get a straight answer on...

I will try and find those examples, lord knows I will need them soon enough.

But I could be wrong, just giving my take on the situation, I haven't dealt with the TTB yet on my building, still waiting to hear back from my bank. I will let you know how it goes if I beat you to it.

Here is an example:
http://digboston.com/taste/2011/11/honest-pint-driven-to-drink-portsmouth/

I believe Rouge's original brewpub also had apartments above it.
 
Good luck with your business. I've been in business now for 23 years installing and refinishing hardwood floors. I built it from the ground up and have been busy through this down economy because I put every single breath in it. What I am sayin is work your ass off . Don't stop. Build disposable income and get quikbooks to manage your finances. I'm not trying to sound like an expert but you need to dedicate yourself 100 % or you will fail. Two different business I know but same get up and kick ass.
 
It is totally separate we removed the inside stairs the only way to get into the upstairs apt are outside stairs on the back of the building. I was considering putting in a firepole so I could get down into the brewery lickety split (plus I watched batman and robin too many times) but I would abandon that idea if it would interfere with licensing.

I will research more obviously to make sure everything is legal. The State already crushed my first business dream, The travelling beer truck, since you can't get a mobile liquor license in Maine. Not this time though. Either way I am doing this if I need to move out and in with the GF when I am ready to open or pitch a tent on the back 40 and live in that I will. Hell there is even a big shed I could convert into living quarters if it's necessary ;)

Hey sure any of you guys wanting to work for beer are more than welcome ;)

I am going down friday to start painting the living quarters I will take some "before" pics of the building and the inside and stuff and post them this weekend.

I know this is going to be a ball busting amount of work, especially working full time and school and having a messed up lumbar spine that requires heavy meds just to stand upright. But nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
 
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