Cape is on the money about the cost of starting out with anything resembling a production brewery. I'm looking at 7bbl equipment and I have scoured the Earth in order to come up with a solution for a BK, MLT and HLT combo using electric that runs me around 35k And that's with me having my electrician put together the control panel on the cheap rather than buying a pre-fab one. I'll also be doing all the piping etc.
Then you have to deal with transfer pumps and hoses, cleaning solutions, waste management... And trust me, we're just getting started.
I'm looking at "temporary" fermenters that I will eventually replace with Glycol cooled ones but for now, even using DIY plastic fermenters in an ambient-temp controlled room is going to cost thousands of dollars.
THEN you have to look at the kegs etc. You need enough kegs to fit your pipeline which means depending on your carbonation method and aging period you may need anywhere from 3 to 6 X the number of kegs you anticipate rotating through your accounts weekly.
Did I mention that you need all your electrical work signed off on by the electricians and your floor drain and plumbing all needs to be signed off on by the plumber. Let's not forget the building contractor who has to sign off on the structure(s) where you brewery and/or taproom will be.
You may also have to talk an architect into providing you professional drawings of your space marking where all the equipment, outlets, lights drains, vents etc. will go. Imagine walking through a giant crowd of professional pickpockets with your life-savings in loose $100 bills in your pockets. That's pretty close to how you feel at the end of every day.
I was one of those guys who wanted to disprove everyone who said "you can't do it for under $50 or $60k" Turns out, I can't do it for under about $120k. And that's flat-ass cutting costs in every conceivable place. That doesn't even take into account the licensing, bonding, legal stuff. Nor does it take into account the monthly overhead once you get going. I'm looking at running at a bare-bones level in terms of staffing etc. and I'm NOT planning on being paid personally for the first 6 months or so. Despite that, I'm still looking at a minimum burn rate of around 6 to 8 k a month by the time you pay staff, cover taxes, pay rent, pay utilities and plan for your buffer.
I'm not interested in discouraging anyone. The above talks are in reference to a fairly decent sized production micro setup, at least in terms of capacity. (I'm not even considering bottling or canning right now. My head would absolutely explode if I had to look at quotes for lines.)
All the above said, If it's your dream go after it. But you DO need to realize that staring a brewery or a brewpub is very challenging and the absolute smallest part of starting, owning and running a brewery is brewing. There's a brewery operations manual out there somewhere you can purchase and it's a great book because a great deal of it doesn't talk AT ALL about brewing. The author spends an entire 3rd of the book talking about checklists and managing staff and working deals with contractors. Some folks are irritated because they are expecting the author to talk more about cheap fermenters and mash tuns, when in fact he assumes if you're ready to get into professional brewing you probably have an idea what equipment you want to use.
You want to know what kind of crap you have to think about and create a spreadsheet for and put aside money for? How much toilet paper do you have and who's turn is it to clean the bathrooms? How often do you sweep? How are you getting rid of 400 lbs of grain each day? What if farmer Steve doesn't show up on Tuesday? Do you have staff or facilities to deal with the spent grain?
I mean **** you don't even begin to think about becomes the very thing that will cause you to fail because... well you didn't think about it.
Wow... I think I just cried a little in everyone's beer. I'm not pushing anyone away from chasing the dream, but make sure you pack some energy bars and gatorade cause it's a marathon man.
