LordUlrich
Well-Known Member
First off best of luck. I will back up the comments that pro brewing is different from home brewing. I am the brewer at a brew pub running a 10bbl system. First bigger is not always better, it is important to sell all your beer quickly. Having beer go stale will up costs quick, by killing the reputation, and sometimes just having a good product wont garuntee you will sell out.
I will say the things which matter are a bit different when scale increases. For example at home my heavily insulated mash tun can lose several degrees in an hour. The much larger mash tun at work, with hundreds of lbs in grain loses nothing. At the same time things like autolysis which are not dealt existent in small batches takes care to avoid in a 15 foot tall tank.
I see the allure of nano brewing being lower risk but also lower profit potential.
In regards to the price of kegs, keep in mind while a pint may cost $6 keep in mind everyone wants a cut, the bar, the distributor, the state, the feds.
For equipment did you look at the plastic conicals, yeah stainless is better but also way more expensive. I looked at them a few years ago when thinking of opening my own place and they were like 1/10 th the price. Although I would call them a short term solution, programed for replacement after 3-4 years with stainless.
As far as cobbling together a system while you may save money, a system built by an expert has advantages. I recently visited a brewery with a system built from modified tanks and after talking with the brewer I got the impression that the little nuisance problems were from piecing the system together, made me glad I run a purpose built system, from a brewery manufacturer.
I will say the things which matter are a bit different when scale increases. For example at home my heavily insulated mash tun can lose several degrees in an hour. The much larger mash tun at work, with hundreds of lbs in grain loses nothing. At the same time things like autolysis which are not dealt existent in small batches takes care to avoid in a 15 foot tall tank.
I see the allure of nano brewing being lower risk but also lower profit potential.
In regards to the price of kegs, keep in mind while a pint may cost $6 keep in mind everyone wants a cut, the bar, the distributor, the state, the feds.
For equipment did you look at the plastic conicals, yeah stainless is better but also way more expensive. I looked at them a few years ago when thinking of opening my own place and they were like 1/10 th the price. Although I would call them a short term solution, programed for replacement after 3-4 years with stainless.
As far as cobbling together a system while you may save money, a system built by an expert has advantages. I recently visited a brewery with a system built from modified tanks and after talking with the brewer I got the impression that the little nuisance problems were from piecing the system together, made me glad I run a purpose built system, from a brewery manufacturer.
