If you were going to get a 1, 2 or 3 bbl system which would you get?

If you were going to make the jump into commercial brewing and were going to get either a 1, 2, or 3 bbl system, which would you purchase? Just curious. I like looking at these sized systems and am wondering what else is out there and why people would pick it. I really like the 2bbl Speidel.

BVilleggiante said:

If you were going to make the jump into commercial brewing and were going to get either a 1, 2, or 3 bbl system, which would you purchase? Just curious. I like looking at these sized systems and am wondering what else is out there and why people would pick it. I really like the 2bbl Speidel.

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Almost 2 barrells, it makes 200liters of beer which is 50 gallons

That is the system i would go with as well, i love my 5 gallon speidel. It makes brewing so much fun!

I can brew and have beer in the fermenter and everything clean in 6 hours and i can do other things while mashing/boiling...i have even taken a bike ride while mashing before.


Only a few things holding me back from buying a 200l system. Money: it costs 15 grand plus shipping and you need a few thousand more for a glycol chiller, a few thousand more for fermenters and a few thousand more for bright tanks....


actually now that i think of it, money is the only thing holding me back from doing it. If i had 30 to 50 grand right now i would dive in head first with one of those systems. It is just so damn easy to use and repeatable.

Bigger is absolutely better if you're planning on going commercial. If you get 7 or 10 bbl fermenters, you only want to have to brew 3 or 3 times to fill em, not 3 to 5 times. No doubt in my mind -- 3 bbl.

mkling said:

Bigger is absolutely better if you're planning on going commercial. If you get 7 or 10 bbl fermenters, you only want to have to brew 3 or 3 times to fill em, not 3 to 5 times. No doubt in my mind -- 3 bbl.

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Why not just get fermenters slightly larger than what you are brewing?

80 gallon fermenter for the speidel 200l is what i would do.

I totally agree that bigger is better when going commercial as you can make a larger amount of beer for the same ammount of work and a small cost in upsizing to make more profit but...i would rather start nano, 1 or 2 barrels at max and brew more often.

I brew on a 5 gallon system right now and it gives me the opportunity to brew more often which widens my selection of beer and gives me experience.

Don't get me wrong, if speidel made a bigger system and i could afford it i would totally go for it

Why cant i just have 50 grand lying around?

Alchemy said:

Why not just get fermenters slightly larger than what you are brewing?

80 gallon fermenter for the speidel 200l is what i would do.

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If going commercial - and plan on the need to be able to expand - it makes the most sense to buy fermenters twice the size of the batches you are currently able to make. If you have a 10 barrel brewhouse, buy 20 barrel fermenters and bright tanks. You brew 2 batches in a day to fill them up. As the brewery grows and you need to increase production you don't need to swap out 100% of the gear - just the brewing equipment.

Obviously if it were just for a personal system it doesn't make sense to do that.

Not sure if you have been there, but check out probrewer.com. You will find some helpful info.

Go with the 3bbl if funds allow..

Ok
Here is the question. Are you going to be a large home brewer or a small commercial brewer. We ran Blichmann 1 bbl and then a 2 bbl systems as a small commercial brewer and then changed to all Stout equipment.
Huge improvement in repeatably, quality and greater yealds.
Try Clamp fittings, commercial heat exchanges,
The Stout equipment is 4bbl BK and MT. Plastic HLT (no need to spend money for a fancy SS HLT) and three nice Conicals.
Needed a 4bbl MT for the big beers.
NO chilling system as we have a controlled environment and use friendly heat tolerant yeast.
Next step is to go to 7 bbl conical s with cooling and double brew with existing brew house.

3bbl here if I went commercial.

I'd go 4 bbl double biab. Muddy Creek has some pictures on here. 4 bbls of beer in 4 ish hours. Buy 8-10bbl fermenter and you can double batch down the road.

I can understand biab if you are doing 5 or 10 gallon batches but I don't understand the appeal in a bigger system. What am I missing?

BVilleggiante said:

If you were going to make the jump into commercial brewing and were going to get either a 1, 2, or 3 bbl system, which would you purchase? Just curious. I like looking at these sized systems and am wondering what else is out there and why people would pick it. I really like the 2bbl Speidel.

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I think the short answer is: the bigger the better, to offset fixed costs.

I think the long answer is: If you have to ask a homebrewing board how big your commercial brewery should be, are you really ready to take the plunge? Ideally, you would have a business plan and financials where you could calculate how much beer you need to produce to break even and go from there.