Want to build brew system for my lounge - Need Help!!

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funkybuddha

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Hi Everyone,

Just came across this site while looking for different brew systems. Amazing. I've been a homebrewer for years, but have always used extracts. I own a small beer lounge in Boca Raton, Florida and am thinking about making the jump to brewing my own beers for the bar.

So far my lounge has very much been a labor of love and I am trying to keep my costs as low as possible. Could anyone point me in the right direction in building something. Not looking for anything too huge. Maybe even brewing 15 gallons at a time. I want it to look relatively decent, because it will be in view of customers.

Thanks in advance for any help and if any of you are in the South Florida area, come on in to my place (funky buddha lounge) for a pint or two on me!

Cheers!

Ryan
 
Welcome to the boards. :mug:

While I don't have any specific advice to offer, might I suggest posting a thread in the introduction section stating that you are from Florida in the thread title? People tend to respond to others from their neck of the woods and you could possibly get a few local, experienced brewers to offer up some advice.

Good luck.
 
Probably the first question to 'prime the pump' would be: How much money can you invest in a 'micro system'? In any bussiness venture you have to 'run the numbers'.

1. How many of the 'product brews' do you suppose you could sell a day, week?

2. How much more could you charge for your 'product brews'?

3. How many hours a day, week could you devote to brewing your own 'product brews'.

Spread-sheet these questions and you will extrapolate what size system capacity for starters. Extract brewing would be exponentially more expensive the larger the system capacity.

My experience in the 'bar-bizz' is that patrons won't care what quality they're drinking after a couple of 'units' (drinks-beer, wine, mixed, straight). Unless you have a sufficient and dedicated clientele of connoisseur beer aficionados, your venture might not be worth the time.

However, there might be mitigating factors that might redeem this idea; new and changing 'product brews' would draw patrons from other local establishments (when you 'seat' a patron, they usually will stay).

Some other notes: Assuming you keg 15 gals in 3-5gal soda kegs. That's 40 pint glasses until you have to go back and change kegs. Might work like some 'happy-hour' promo. 4 buck pints times 40= $160 per keg. Larger kegs....................

Then don't forget creating and maintaining a 'backlog' of conditioning brew. You would have to set up an area of rotating kegs at the ready point depending on how much 'product brew' you would need to keep interest.

Unless you want to keep your labor of love and periodically introduce a couple kegs, here and there, it might not be worth the time. And, in your state, is there a standard and license you must have to have a brewery on premises?
 
Thanks Flyin' I will definitely post there as well.

Thank you calpyro, I will check that out!

Great question zoobrew. I was hoping to spend a less than 2000. Am I dreaming? Not sure how many of our beers we would sell. We are definitely a beer bar that is geared to the connisseur. We don't serve any macro beers at all. We have over 100 microbrew and craft beers. Most of our time is spent educating the consumer on good beer, but we do have our fair share of drinkers that appreciate a good belgian! That being said, we would be trying to brew really unique beers and staying away from traditional lagers or everyday ales. Although, we may brew a few of those as well.
 
Just checked out the systems Calpyro. I think these are designed for outside use only. I can only assume it is because they are running from propane tanks.
 
If you are looking to come up with something fast and proven I would go with a Brew-Magic system. I costs alot more than you intend to spend but many brew pubs use them as pilot breweries to test a recipe. It can be used with natural gas. It is semi-automated and there are alot of them out there. I am sure there are a few members here that have them. The only caveat is that it will set you back $5500. The url is: Brew-Magic by Sabco
 
You cna also look at The Pol's setup for going electric. Not going to look as professional to the public eye but is a very nice system.

I second the brewery license notion. Definitely want to check that out first.
 
There are a couple 2 and 3 bbl brewing setups for sale on probrewer.com in the classifieds section
 
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