NanoBrewery build

If you boil Honey it loses most if not all of its flavour. I would try adding it after the boil and steep for 20 min or so if it were me, either that or rack onto it for a secondary.... I've not used maple syrup though.

Woodstock inn brewery here in nh makes a really good maple porter IMO. You may want to contact them.

Finnagann said:

If you boil Honey it loses most if not all of its flavour. I would try adding it after the boil and steep for 20 min or so if it were me, either that or rack onto it for a secondary.... I've not used maple syrup though.

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I wasn't talking about boiling the syrup. Add it when you bottle the beer instead of using priming sugar. Maybe a mixture of both, because I know honey does not produce the amount of carbonation like priming sugar does.

Nice project. I followed it a few months a ago and it seems to have grown considerably, good read and I can't wait to follow the updates.

Today I'm brewing my Raspberry Wheat. That'll make 40 gallons brewed this week. I suppose that's not much compared to the 31 gallons/batch I'll be doing soon. Clean up will NOT be fun on the new equipment. :cross:

WHAT A READ!! Stoked.

A quick question though: why no IPA or IBA or IRA?

subscribed

I've brewed an EPA once but there are a gazillion IPA's out there and I'm not a big hop head so I brew different recipes and let the others battle for IPA stardom.

HBHoss said:

I've brewed an EPA once but there are a gazillion IPA's out there and I'm not a big hop head so I brew different recipes and let the others battle for IPA stardom.

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Way to stand up to the stigma that every craft brewery has to have a IPA. The measure of a brewery is not ibu 's

Stigma? I figured that every brewery has a flagship "ale", hefe and porter or stout...I am from Oregon. Maybe its just what i am used to? Plus a stigma implies a negative connotation... I think IPA or ales in general are all positive. Just what my tastes are I guess... Ales are what got me started brewing.

It's good we aren't all the same

I guess I am a bit bitter, I get people in my pub about once a week saying we aren't a real micro-brewery because we don't have an IPA, yet nobody drinks my pale ale. But I am in a unique market.

I get the same thing, people wondering why I don't have an IPA. I just tell them what I mentioned earlier and I've had a few people not even interested in trying what I have just because they only drink IPA's. There's plenty to try out there and it doesn't bother me that they aren't refined enough to be willing to try something different.

LordUlrich said:

I guess I am a bit bitter, I get people in my pub about once a week saying we aren't a real micro-brewery because we don't have an IPA, yet nobody drinks my pale ale. But I am in a unique market.

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There are so many IPA's out there, that is what people are used to seeing and consuming (other then TV beer). Just make something with alot of hops, call it an IPA, and watch people drink it. Most people off the street would know the difference.

Count me in as someone who's also not obsessed with IPA's. I like Bells 2H (have a clone of it in my fermenter right now), but this will be something that gets brewed once/year or every other for myself and friends.

I think its cool that you are brewing your unique styles and not trying to sandwich in another competing IPA. Eventually the market will probably shift around and there will be the next thing thats extremely popular.

Got any more pics of that new brewhouse? Really cool thread.

LordUlrich said:

I guess I am a bit bitter

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Speaking of IPA
LOL

So got the propane tank moved from the old brewery to the new one (all of 30 yards). It's all hooked up and I tested the new burner and from 140 degrees to a rolling boil of 35 gallons, it took 30 min. I'm happy with that. Got the new heater for the fermentation room and it's holding temp at about mid 60's, so happy with that. Looks like it's almost time to to brew a batch.
I just need to figure out how it's all going to work and where to position everything. Also need to get the front door hung. It always comes down to the details.

bruin_ale said:

Speaking of IPA
LOL

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That's good, I like that.

Sweet!

Someday I may catch up with you lol. For now it is my spare bathroom, kitchen, and 10x12 shed

Gotta start somewhere.

Thats how I see it

add another to the list. spent the last week on and off reading, couldn't stop. saw the small brewery building in the beginning then I looked towards the end saw the large new building and i had to read the whole thread to see how you got there. great read, I am truly inspired.
congrats

I'll second that. Reading this thread was an epiphany. I'll confess that at first, my thoughts were "this is bull****, there's no friggin' way anyone is professionally brewing in THAT."

I stand corrected, and I apologize. The audacity of your plan made me a doubter, but now I believe! As I went through the pages and read of your successes and minor setbacks and challenges, I actually began to think "hell, if he can start small and do it, why couldn't I?"

I thank you for giving me that spark of hope that someday, I might be able to turn my hobby into a business. I'm going to have to do SOMETHING when I retire from the FD, because of you, that may just be opening a nano/microbrewery and tasting room.

Denny

You should see what I professionally brew in, looks like someone stuck me in a closet LOL

nukinfuts29 said:

You should see what I professionally brew in, looks like someone stuck me in a closet LOL

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You run a nanobrewery? I thought you would.ve been in IT. How bout some pics of your setup?

Tyrone said:

You run a nanobrewery? I thought you would.ve been in IT. How bout some pics of your setup?

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I'm actually in law enforcement, used to be in IT but it wasn't my true calling. Like Boss I maintain my day job. Come sometime in March 2012 my brews will be hitting a few bars here as well as two gas stations. Hopefully expanding out as it seems to be a hit in all my test feelers.

I will be giving pics this spring, right now its nothing to look at. Just a kitchen and a crammed shed, and a few closets lol

Sent from my Galaxy S 4G using Home Brew Talk for Android

nukinfuts29 said:

I will be giving pics this spring, right now its nothing to look at. Just a kitchen and a crammed shed, and a few closets lol

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Roger that.

I'm intrigued by the business aspect of brewing as a serial entreprenuer. I've had some wins but some turkeys as well but all tech related. I want to leave tech and do something that pays the bills until retirement in twenty or so years.

This is very inspiring as everyone else has stated, I've always read forums full of pessimist haters who say you can't start this small but it makes the most sense. Obviously now we can all point to Dogfish Head but haters still abound. It took me stumbling upon a tiny brewpub in Santiago to get me looking into this, and by tiny I mean 8 seats. Of course they have much more lax regulations (no stupid 3 tier system) but still corporate piss lagers to compete against.

Since I've been recently inspired I've decided to start a brewpub in a similar fashion as you (glorified home brew setup) and see where it takes me. Maybe this is the beginning of a go-pro revolution.

TheBreweryUnderground said:

This is very inspiring as everyone else has stated, I've always read forums full of pessimist haters who say you can't start this small but it makes the most sense. Obviously now we can all point to Dogfish Head but haters still abound.

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I don't think it's so much haters as realists. The cold hard facts dictate you are much more likely to fail in business than succeed in business; doesn't matter the industry. Can a person start a nanobrewery and be successful over time? Yes. Very few actually make it.

A brewpub like DFH is an entirely different business model than a straight up brewery of any size. When your only product is beer, that changes things and makes it harder. Beer is a volume business.

IIRC DFH began as only beer, their Brewpub was a later development. But I never finished his book so I could be wrong. Personally, I hate their beer but I have a great deal of respect for Sam and he has a lot to teach us.

Tyrone said:

Roger that.

I'm intrigued by the business aspect of brewing as a serial entreprenuer. I've had some wins but some turkeys as well but all tech related. I want to leave tech and do something that pays the bills until retirement in twenty or so years.

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I wouldn't rely on it to pay the bills lol, not for a long time anyway. If you want to work at an $80k a year level and not get paid a dime for it, and shell out money all the time, this is for you

Weizenwerks said:

Beer is a volume business.

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If it was entirely a volume business microbreweries wouldn't be in business and everyone but us homebrewers would be drinking macro backwash. I think the amount of success Hoss has had very early on shows that there's more to it. Of course breweries will come and go and many will get started off on the wrong foot, but my main complaint with the 'haters' are the ones that aren't constructive to up and comers saying you need a million or two to get started and that the paperwork is impossible. The haters are usually cynic non-pro brewers who can't think small.

Also it does vary quite a bit state to state, it's much easier for a nano to get started if they can get retail dollars on their brew. In Cali Hoss is very lucky that they're brew friendly (as compared to other states and not to the wine lobby of course), if breweries are in a similar situation I think it's the best way to get an operation going. I'm in Chicago looking to do a tiny brewpub to be able to sell and distribute my beer which leaves me with a lot of room to grow if the market is right. I think any start up brewery that can should look into having a taproom so they can make money skipping the middle men of the industry.

Someday I'd love to get back out to California and try that wee heavy.

I don't have anywhere near $5000.00 and I got started.

nukinfuts29 said:

I don't have anywhere near $5000.00 and I got started.

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Beautiful.

TheBreweryUnderground said:

If it was entirely a volume business microbreweries wouldn't be in business and everyone but us homebrewers would be drinking macro backwash. I think the amount of success Hoss has had very early on shows that there's more to it.

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Absolutely there is more to it than just volume, but put it this way: the less volume you produce the more costly and less profitable it is. The more volume the cheaper your COGS and the more profit you will make.

I think any start up brewery that can should look into having a taproom so they can make money skipping the middle men of the industry.

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You bet. That's how I started, since my state allows it. The tier system is stupid.

nukinfuts29 said:

I don't have anywhere near $5000.00 and I got started.

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Neither did I. It shouldn't cost much to get started. That's the beauty of freedom.

I read Sam's book and Dogfish Head did have a restaurant before the brewery started.
I went to Sierra Nevada Brewery today and took their tour (for the second time) and the founder was a 5 gallon/batch homebrewer first and started in a small shed then grew from there. It's not pretty and involves a lot more leg work than starting big but is definitely a lot cheaper and I think a lot less riskier.
Thank you all for taking the time to read all my rambles and I wish you the best of luck should you decide to take the plunge. If I can do it, then it can be done.

I am planning a tap room brewery, very small and this is giving me more inspiration. Awesome!

I love what Hoss is doing, hope the best for him and would like to be able to do the same. However, what I gather from keeping up with this thread over the last few months is that the success Hoss has had is being measured by two things: opening a tap room in the summer months and building a bigger (none-the-less small) nano-brewery at his home. Those are both wonderful, but what hasn't been talked about that much is that he is in debt and is taking a risk (like any investment) that this will work out for him. My guess, with his current business model it will likely be years before he turns a profit; therefore, he will keep his day job for a while yet.

For the most part, this is true. I will be keeping my day job for as long as I can. The one thing though is that I just now have business related debt (the loan to build the bigger brewhouse). Up till this point I didn't have any business loans. It wasn't till I had established that there is a market for what I produce that I decided now was the time to take the financial plunge and commit myself to this business.

Today I ordered more grain and bulk yeast. I'm ready to brew on the new setup. I still need to put up shelving and get a bit more organized but it's ready to brew in.

Spent a day at work reading the entire thread last week. It plays out like an inspiring autobiography. I'm a new addict to home brewing but have always wanted to be a business owner and what better business to get into!

Mariposa is a short drive from Fresno. See if I can get SWMBO to consent to a "nice drive through the countryside" this weekend >

I should be open this weekend. 3-6 Thursday-Saturday. I haven't been open since early November. Was focused on the new brewery but I have some beer ready now.