Muddy Creek Brewing Co. Brewery Build- Start to Finish Thread

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MuddyCreek said:
Moti, the cost associated with the brite tanks is the predominant reason we are holding off on them at first. I love shiny brite tanks as well as the next guy, but frankly the shiny stuff is generally pretty expensive.

You may want to consider doing 'some' keg distribution to outside parties though. All my research indicates that taproom sales more or less pay for operations but distribution (despite the much worse profit margin) basically give you your profit and opportunities to expand into other areas and markets. Even if you're only doing 5 kegs a week outside your taproom you're looking at $500 or $600 in sales per week, about 1/2 or 1/3 of which is net profit. That's a conservative estimate of a little under $700 a month extra profit coming in AND more people trying your beer and hopefully doing some marketing for you. Once you've got a few local restaurant and pub accounts it gets much easier to walk in to new places and attempt to generate new accounts.

In fact, we intend to do some marketing in which we invite nearby business and community leaders to the taproom in the week before we have our grand opening. The guests are invited to come in and try a few pints for free, all we ask is that they provide honest, constructive feedback on our facilities, staff and products. This helps us train our staff and work out any wrinkles in the P.O.S. system (They'll be 'rung up' but not charged.) as well as our serving and atmosphere.

(It also has the uber-sneaky benefit of subliminally generating a preference and loyalty for the brewery because they got to come in, get free pints and feel as though they were contributing to our success.)

Many of these business folks will be restaurant and pub owners and managers. Ideally we will be able to generate some inroads with these folks so we can have some positive relationships developed when we consider contacting them about potential accounts.

Ya... I'm evil.
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Naaaaah just good buisness practice ;)

I agree with the brites we are keg only right now exactly because of cost for brites and also room to operate. It was an either or situation with room to operate in and brite tanks lost out haha.
 
MuddyCreek said:
Moti, the cost associated with the brite tanks is the predominant reason we are holding off on them at first. I love shiny brite tanks as well as the next guy, but frankly the shiny stuff is generally pretty expensive.

You may want to consider doing 'some' keg distribution to outside parties though. All my research indicates that taproom sales more or less pay for operations but distribution (despite the much worse profit margin) basically give you your profit and opportunities to expand into other areas and markets. Even if you're only doing 5 kegs a week outside your taproom you're looking at $500 or $600 in sales per week, about 1/2 or 1/3 of which is net profit. That's a conservative estimate of a little under $700 a month extra profit coming in AND more people trying your beer and hopefully doing some marketing for you. Once you've got a few local restaurant and pub accounts it gets much easier to walk in to new places and attempt to generate new accounts.
Click to expand...

Yeah, we got lucky in that our brewery purchase (used) came with 6 bright tanks, lots of kegs, a kegging system, and a bottling line. So we'll be doing some packaging to hopefully get some periodic taps at tap houses and restaurants. We know the owners of one of the city's better tap rooms, and they carried my pro-am beer a couple of years ago per request, with good reviews in-house. So we hope to have some spots on rotation there as a start.
 
Alright, new update! I have a couple of 'before' photos of the taproom area. We plan on maintaining an "industrial warehouse" kind of feel. The framed wall on the west end of the taproom is the divider between the taproom and the owners future kitchen area. (photo 2) The taproom space is about 1700 sq feet. I don't currently have a photo, but there's a skylight in the SW corner of the taproom.

We'll be putting in a gas heater (hung) in the NW corner by the kitchen door area (photo 2) and an additional gas fireplace in the SE corner. (photo 1) We also will put in a gas furnace and AC unit which will vent air through the ductwork you see in the taproom 1 photo.

We'll 'rough finish' the floors to give it a rustic feel, place couches and chairs by the fireplace which can be moved when we have live music.

The 'shack photo' is an old homestead building with weathered wood that we have permission to strip for our bar fronting and trim as well as for trimming which we will herringbone for our merchandise display area. (The wood paneling on the wall in photo 1. need to do some work on it but that's where the merch will go.)

I'll get some photos of our brewing area and will update as we make progress. As far as I know we are on schedule to receive our initial funding (150k) sometime next week. I'm also working on submitting our urban revitalization grant request this week which should give us an extra 25k for free. If all goes well, the contractors should have all their worked finished sometime in mid to late May. (ya. sure they will...)

Anyway, here are some of the "from humble beginnings" photos including my E-herm home-rig which will shortly be moved to the brewery and used for new recipes and experiment batches.

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I love the space. I've been in a microbrewery in an old brick industrial building in VT, it was cool. But Great South Bay Brewery on Long Island is in a modern warehouse, concrete and steel, yuck. People still go there to drink great beer. Are you keeping the classic iron radiators?
 
This is anecdotal, but it seems the breweries that have the most bustling taprooms in the Minneapolis area also have local food trucks set up shop nightly in front of their place.
 
ThreeSheetsBrewing said:
This is anecdotal, but it seems the breweries that have the most bustling taprooms in the Minneapolis area also have local food trucks set up shop nightly in front of their place.
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Agreed. The brewery close to my house has a food truck every night. You can also bring in your own food.

As far as the pictures, the place looks great. I'm excited to see the final product. Good luck.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app
 
This is awesome, congratulations to you sir!

Although I must admit, I cringed when I saw "$1500/mo for 1700 sq ft"... my apartment is $1400/mo for 765 sq ft :(
Definitely time to get out of the city.
 
It's even better than that.

We are only required to start paying rent when we actually open the brewpub for tap sales. Until then we can occupy, work on the taproom and brewhaus and even start brewing beer after we get our licence and clearance finished.

THEN we only have to pay 1/3 rent until we start hitting month by month break-even revenue. (At that point our rent begins increasing monthly at a rate of $75 per month.)

and the rent amount (from $500 to $1500) covers not only the 1700 sq ft taproom, it also covers the entire basement where the brewery will be located, giving us lots and lots of expansion. We have currently set the lease term for 5 years from the point we begin paying rent.

We will have to adjust for cost of living increases etc., but any way you look at it we got a ridiculously good deal from the landlords. (Now, it should be reiterated that Muddy Creek Brewing Co is paying for some significant improvements / renovations on the building. A big reason the landlords are so cool toward us is because we are throwing a pretty significant chunk of money at improving property we don't own. However, the landlords have agreed to look at a list of our proposed improvements and they will sign off on what they feel will improve their property and subsequently do some additional rent reduction until our renovation balance has been repaid. Basically, we're loaning them money to make some significant improvements on their building so they will pay us back with reduced rent and some really awesome lease terms.

And now for the really good news...

Our funding is available for our usage tomorrow at noon. I'm going to have a GREAT weekend. (Making a celebratory IPA.)
 
MuddyCreek said:
It's even better than that.

We are only required to start paying rent when we actually open the brewpub for tap sales. Until then we can occupy, work on the taproom and brewhaus and even start brewing beer after we get our licence and clearance finished.

THEN we only have to pay 1/3 rent until we start hitting month by month break-even revenue. (At that point our rent begins increasing monthly at a rate of $75 per month.)

and the rent amount (from $500 to $1500) covers not only the 1700 sq ft taproom, it also covers the entire basement where the brewery will be located, giving us lots and lots of expansion. We have currently set the lease term for 5 years from the point we begin paying rent.

We will have to adjust for cost of living increases etc., but any way you look at it we got a ridiculously good deal from the landlords. (Now, it should be reiterated that Muddy Creek Brewing Co is paying for some significant improvements / renovations on the building. A big reason the landlords are so cool toward us is because we are throwing a pretty significant chunk of money at improving property we don't own. However, the landlords have agreed to look at a list of our proposed improvements and they will sign off on what they feel will improve their property and subsequently do some additional rent reduction until our renovation balance has been repaid. Basically, we're loaning them money to make some significant improvements on their building so they will pay us back with reduced rent and some really awesome lease terms.

And now for the really good news...

Our funding is available for our usage tomorrow at noon. I'm going to have a GREAT weekend. (Making a celebratory IPA.)
Click to expand...

Sick! Your living the dream, I can only imagine the whirlwind of life your experiencing but try and take a step back for a moment and take it all in.
 
Ya... Southern California is a different world. I spent a few years in Tahoe and even that was something of a shell-shock.

At any rate, we signed our papers on Friday. We have a line of credit to get started. I am trying to get some information from GlacierTanks so I can order my BK, MLT, HLT and WP tanks.

(I considered just putting some whirlpool inlets at the top of the BK, but since I am using an electric system I'll have 5 or 6 15k heating elements protruding into the BK and I'm concerned that they'll interrupt the whirlpool because they baffle the flow of the wort. I'll be asking their opinion on this as well.)

It aint easy bein' cheap.
 
You may note I edited the above. It took very little thought to come to the conclusion that too much tinkering with the function of the various tanks is a path to doom!
 
Ok, I have some updates. They aren't sexy but they're a necessary part of the business.

The lease has been finalized and signed. That has allowed us to submit the state and federal applications for brewery licensure. This is a mildly tedious process, but considering the motivation you breeze through it in no time.

I have gotten through the bulk of the equipment ordering. I'm working with Glacier Tanks in Portland. I am hoping my brewhaus is ready for pickup in 3 months or so. Then the brewhaus and our kegs will be driven back via delivery truck. Our kegs are coming from Stout tanks. They have given us the best deal that I've been able to find and I've been happy with them.

We started cutting the floor drain system last week and hope to have it finished a couple weeks from now. Then the real fun starts. Our plumber will start laying out the brewery drainage system and our electricians will start laying out everything for our electric brewery from the milling room to the brewhaus to the fermenting and cold room to the keg storage room. Upstairs we will start work on the insulation, floor, skylight, tiling, walls and bar in the taproom. Of course the plumber and electricians will have to do all their work up there as well.

So much has to be done and I'm admittedly freaking out. But it's a good freak out I suppose. I'll try to put some pictures up as we tear the floor apart for the drainage system. Our facebook page isn't quite up yet and our twitter feed is quite new but you can follow us as we begin our progress in earnest if you like. @muddycreekbrew

Wish us luck. We cut more floor this weekend!
 
Submitting our Product list to the state is great fun! A few of our beer names...

Muddy Creek Stout (Go ahead, get a little dirty!)

Dirty Blonde (You know you want one...)

No Paddle Amber (You're up Muddy Creek with No Paddle)

Storm The Door Porter

Good Time (As in, "I'll have a Good Time...")

8 Seconds

Seeing Other People (Special Bitter)

Head Turner (She'll ruin your life. And you'll thank her.)
 
I will,

However - We decided to upgrade to a 10 bbl system with a more traditional footprint. We're going with a BK, MLT, single HLT and a Whirlpool kettle.

We're planning on doing 300 gallon batches in a brew session. I will provide you with average breakdowns of our costs from cleaning to brewing - packaging - serving and distributing. Basically an average product run lifecycle.
 
New News!

This weekend we finished breaking out the brewery drain system trenches. I have to get all the concrete out yet. That is next weekend's job. We also removed all the ceiling from the tasting room so I can get the insulation sprayed up into the roof rafters. After that we finish the floor in the tasting room and start on the walls.

Meanwhile after the concrete is removed from the trenches the plumber will lay the trough drains and the pipes while the electricians are wiring the brewery. I'm ordering the brewhaus this week, the license apps have been submitted and I'm just sitting around drinking beer. (ya. sure I am. Jackhammers are HEAVY!)

I'll get some pictures up. check us out and please friend us at https://www.facebook.com/muddycreekbrewery
 
MuddyCreek said:
New News!

This weekend we finished breaking out the brewery drain system trenches. I have to get all the concrete out yet. That is next weekend's job. We also removed all the ceiling from the tasting room so I can get the insulation sprayed up into the roof rafters. After that we finish the floor in the tasting room and start on the walls.

Meanwhile after the concrete is removed from the trenches the plumber will lay the trough drains and the pipes while the electricians are wiring the brewery. I'm ordering the brewhaus this week, the license apps have been submitted and I'm just sitting around drinking beer. (ya. sure I am. Jackhammers are HEAVY!)

I'll get some pictures up. check us out and please friend us at https://www.facebook.com/muddycreekbrewery
Click to expand...

Were you using pneumatic or electric breakers? 60 or 90#? How much of the construction are you doing yourself, and do you have any experience in the field or just doing the demo by the seat of your pants and paying someone to construct?

So jealous of your journey, I've been talking with a buddy about starting a brewpub for about 10 years now but I've only just started brewing... it will probably be another 10 before we make any serious plans.

Liked your page, keep the updates coming.
 
I was using a 60# electric breaker. My GC is coming in this weekend and the framing will start Monday. As for the demo, our plumber mapped out the trenches and I cut them with some volunteer help. That was a job but not as tough as breaking up the concrete which was a walk in the park compared to this weekend's task of moving the concrete out of the trenches and digging them down to a foot deep for the plumber to put in the trough drains and the pipes. The electricians will start work as soon as the framing starts going up.

I'm ordering our mill this week along with our brewhaus equipment. We're going with Apollo Machines out of Canada for the mill and Glacier Tanks out of Portland for the Brewing equipment.

This week also includes tasting room cleaning and preparation for insulation spraying in the roof rafters. After that it's floor finishing and wall scraping and painting. So much fun you'll never want you leave!
 
Well, it turns out concrete removal isn't really all that relaxing. It's more like a full contact sport. I expect to finish it today after work. I had a few volunteers lined up to help but as we all know stuff happens and when the choice between fun activities like skiing and sledding or hauling concrete comes up it turns out hauling concrete loses.

I had to do the concrete removal by myself which made the job a bit lengthier than I'd hoped but as I said tonight ought to be the last of it for my part. I'm hoping to get the plumber in next Monday or Tuesday to start laying in the trough drains and the rest of the plumbing for the drain system. Also Electrical lines and outlets can be run next week. I'd have pictures to post but there was nobody to take them unfortunately. I'll put them up when I got em.

Till then, Thanks for those who liked us at https://www.facebook.com/muddycreekbrewery Your likes and shares are very much appreciated. Folks are enjoying our trivia, history, and what's in a name segments. We appreciate any homebrew tips and input you guys would like to contribute as well. Have a great day!
 
9 days later and much has happened. The plumber was much delayed but Muddy Creek Brewery's motto is "Go With the Flow" so we just started framing in the fermenting and lagering/cold-crash rooms. After that was done we had the electricians come in and start running the wiring and putting in the boxes. All that will be finished by noon today. Conveniently the plumber showed up about an hour ago and started measuring out the trenches for the trough drains. He's determined that we've apparently overshot the length he planned for. (I don't agree. We gave him the floor plan with the same measurements we used, but - he's got the materials to start working so the plumber material cost negotiating is about to commence.)

I know you are clamoring for photos. The reason I can't really provide any is because we are building the brewery in the basement of our building and the lighting is nonexistent which makes photo opportunities pretty minimal. But I'll take a couple of phone shots today at lunch since we have some temporary lights up from the electricians from yesterday. Till now it's been halogen lights on stands blinding us every time we look up from the ground.

I must say things are getting very exciting. Our federal application has moved to the next stage of acceptance, our brewhaus is being manufactured and our fermenters are also in production. Our mill will be delivered in a month or so after we build our milling room and we'll have our tasting room roof insulated in a couple of weeks so we can have our hardwood floor finished, and tiling the "muddy creek" part of the floor. After that it's building the bar, installing the gas fireplace and overhead heater, and bringing in the furnishings.

I can't keep up. All you guys who are dreaming of starting your own micro, be prepared for the multi-tasking nightmare (and happiest feeling) of your life.
 
Good luck man! I drive through Butte once a year to visit my family in Whitefish...Let me know when you are up and running so I can visit!
 
Alright. You guys have been very patient. You've asked for some time for some photos and I have finally taken the time to drag out my phone and take a few picks of the basement. We are placing the brewery in the basement of the Butte Daily Post. The Daily Post was built in 1922 and served as the Butte newspaper for many years. The following pictures help show why it is important to support your local brewery as yours truly was the guy who along with my partners operated the concrete saw and the breaker and lugged out the concrete by hand and then dug out the trenches. Our plumber is currently installing the trough drains and within just a week we'll have the fermenting and lagering rooms walled in.

Hopefully our tanks and fermenters are only about 6 or 8 weeks out and the aging room and milling room will be complete as well as the brewhaus hood and venting system and the entire brewery side will be complete. I will look over my other photos and start posting my tasting room "before" photos so you can see the before side of the world there too. You will be able to enjoy the epic transformation with me. it's all very exciting and almost makes up for all the back-breaking labor. Well - almost. Anyway. I hope you enjoy all the photos and I know you will appreciate the journey it represents from the before to the after.

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Best of luck. It will be interesting to see how it goes in a very much blue collar, Budweiser environment like Butte. I wish you had been open a few years ago when I was on a project up there. Not many places to get good beer at that time, although McKenzie River Pizza had a few good ones.
 
Hooray pictures! Keep 'em coming when you have time, really enjoying watching this process.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Home Brew mobile app
 
How stuff gets done... (Featuring Devin Sherman, the oldest son of one of the partners and Tina my lovely wife of 22 years on July 4th this year.)

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What still needs to be done, featuring the "to-be" tasting room and our skylight with its glass needing replacement which we'll be doing in the next couple of weeks. We are leaving the rafters open, sanding and finishing the floors, obviously repainting the walls hanging ceiling fans and lights and going for a rustic look. We are very excited and I'll continue to post pictures as we progress.

This weekend we start clearing out the brewery area to build the milling room and expand the keg aging room. (Don't have the long green for the brite tanks yet.) The plumber has promised to have the drain system done by tomorrow so he'll be finished by the end of the month. ; - )

Next week we'll start on the milling room framing. I'll try to keep the photos updated as we're starting on the construction phase in earnest now. Have a good weekend. I know I will. I'm brewing some Muddy Creek Chocolate Stout in all my spare time.

Oh, and as an added bonus I'm adding an extra inside sneak peek into the inside world of complex brewery planning. I'm going to show you the detailed specifications our plumber started with a couple months ago when he first began designing our drainage system before he drew up the scale version. now you'll see just how complicated this whole process is.

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Oh, I also wanted to put up another update. I'm putting together a Kickstarter or IndieGogo campaign to help raise funds for the Taproom and we did a Taste-test on St. Patty's day in Butte. (It's kind of a big deal in Butte.) Anyway I had the film company who's doing our kickstarter production capture the taste test and of the 40 or 50 people we ran the test on we got a 75% win rate over a couple of major breweries in our Northwestern area, Big Sky and Kettlehouse. It was a huge victory and we got it on tape for the production so I was feeling pretty damn good about it.
 
Progress looks great. we designed our tap handles on a used coaster just a few weeks ago during our Mardi gras party. Its amazing how low tech everything gets when it comes down to brass tacks.
 
We passed our first inspection. We are now cleared to bury our brewery drain lines over and cement them in. Don't worry. I'll get a picture first. We would have had our fermenting and lagering/cold crash room wiring inspection passed too but the electricians apparently didn't submit the permits.

Anyway our milling room is going to be framed in this week and possibly our aging room too. Our fermenter may arrive in the next couple of weeks as well. If our Federal licensing comes through by May we may just make our mid-June opening date. I'll take some pictures of the drain lines this afternoon and try to post tonight.
 
Our brewery drain trenches are being cemented in today and our taproom ceilings are getting the first layer of insulation sprayed in as well. As soon as the second layer of insulation is sprayed in we can paint the taproom walls in and finish the floors. After that we'll build the bar and our tables and chairs. (We know just how we want to do them. I'll post a picture in just a minute.)

As soon as the drains are cemented in I'll take a picture and post that too. I think we may just have our brewery open by July in time for festival season. If anyone wants to see Evel Knievel days in Butte in July and try some Muddy Creek Chocolate Stout or some No Paddle Amber ale come on over to Butte America. We're dying to see you!

By the way, that's one of my partners and his son in the photo next to my wife and my two daughters.

tasting_room.jpg
 
We have a friend at the local power company who's saving these up for us. This is just the rustic look we're going for. We'll be sanding, lacquering the tables and padding the seats and placing these all around the taproom. The corner will feature a beautiful fireplace and we'll have some great live music on the weekends for our dance enthusiasts.

I'm getting more excited by the minute. My concrete guy called and he's getting close to finishing up. Hope to be able to post a few photos of the finished drains soon. I may have to drink a few pint of No Paddle this evening and I definitely plan on brewing some Dirty Blonde this weekend!

Tables_for_brewery.JPG
 

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