425 bbls per year ?

CornyKegs 728
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bartbert said:
Once you have a moment to reflect, it would be really interesting to hear your "lessons learned". What went right? What would you do differently if you had a "do over"?

Anyway, congrats on what you have already accomplished. You are living the dream dude!
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Bart, overall things have gone pretty smoothly but I will tell you that by puchasing 12 of the 115 gal fermentors instead of the original plan of 5-6 was a real good move. If we had bought 6, I would be rushing from fermenter to the Keg in order to keep up. As it is with 12 my beer is getting to sit in the fermenters for 3-4 weeks before kegging. (I attribute this to the reason the beers are being so well recieved.) Then I cold crash them for another 10-20 days before force carbing them. I built a 6 head carbination line that seems to be working as designed.
Also by purchasing 72 1/2 barrel kegs I have a good size pipeline and don't have to rush them. Most of my beers are clearing very nicely and are getting beautiful at the 5-6 week point. With the exception of My Rattlesnake IPA. It is still cloudy :(
Out of the 150 comment cards that have been filled out and returned all but a few have rave reviews. ( I will tell ya it's a rush to watch people ordering the beer you made and wanting to meet the brewer because they liked it so good. I have got to meet and visit with alot of people from all parts of the world already).
The most common complaint has been that the IPA is not hoppy enough. I designed these beers in Beer Smith and the IPA is 53 IBU. I thought that would satisfy the hop heads while not getting them sent back by the folks that didn't know what they were ordering. (the general public) I may pump up the IBU next brew.
One thing that went wrong was the feds sent back our licence to be refilled out because we put the address as 7701 Interstate 40 and they wanted it to say I-40. It cost us a month of waiting but that is our government at work for ya. I also have gotten a couple of beer showers so I am a little more careful when tapping a keg :)
Sorry for the long post, Ill try to upload a video next time.
 
Glad to hear it is going well.

My initial impression was to just make what you can to the best of your ability: just make a couple of super ass kicking beers and do it in a way that is true to the love of brewing you've got. Put it on tap and when it's out it's out. I've never even been able to try Pliny the Younger and I know more about it than beers that are readily available at the local craft brew store. Limit it and it might make its own name.

Sorry, making this post after a 12oz 60min Dogfishhead 60min IPA and 2/3 of the way through a bomber of Avery's Maharaja. So it it makes sense, then awesome.. If not, just ignore me :)


joe
 
I'm glad you're having such success after all the nay sayers earlier. Specifically the guy who linked the website that said it was axiomatic that converting a successful restaurant to a brewpub adds no meaningful value. TBH, I closed that website immediately after reading that statement. Kudos!
 
drathbone said:
I'm glad you're having such success after all the nay sayers earlier. Specifically the guy who linked the website that said it was axiomatic that converting a successful restaurant to a brewpub adds no meaningful value. TBH, I closed that website immediately after reading that statement. Kudos!
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The website I linked to has been in the business of buying equipment from failed breweries and selling them to others. They've seen time and time again a brewery added onto an existing restaurant is a failed plan far more than it is successful. I'm not a naysayer by any means, I was saying the odds are against that model and for him to really think things through with a backup plan. I hope he's successful and certainly a few months isn't nearly enough to gauge success. So far so good, but how will the numbers look 5 years from now. I've been in this industry many years and finally started out on my own 4 years ago. Many people here think you can get the licensing and automatically be successful, sadly that is not the case.
 
This build is impressive in how streamlined you made your process. You took it outside of the norm, cut out a lot of fluff and must have come out far less expensive than the stainless insanity most people are railroaded into. Really expandable, you could offer a lot of rotating beers. Batches are small so there's a lot of room for fine tuning. I love that you are aging the beer in fermentation, that part alone puts you into a tiny minority of brewpubs. Looks great and yet doable, very exciting thread.
 
I would just start extremely small (1 homebrew tap) and brew on my Brutus 10 or a Sabco system or something and see how it sells and then make upgrades as needed verus rewrite my entire business model. That's just me though. Without already being a proven brewer (like Pierre Celis or someone else), I don't know anyone who has just jumped into a large scale operation from the get-go. From Victory to Dogfish Head to Rogue and many more, they've all started small and built up their businesses
 
Weizenwerks said:
The website I linked to has been in the business of buying equipment from failed breweries and selling them to others. They've seen time and time again a brewery added onto an existing restaurant is a failed plan far more than it is successful. I'm not a naysayer by any means, I was saying the odds are against that model and for him to really think things through with a backup plan. I hope he's successful and certainly a few months isn't nearly enough to gauge success. So far so good, but how will the numbers look 5 years from now. I've been in this industry many years and finally started out on my own 4 years ago. Many people here think you can get the licensing and automatically be successful, sadly that is not the case.
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I don't think its just in the brewing industry, I believe it's in every industry, the rule of thumb is that 9 out 10 businesses fail. But it only takes 1!!!!!!
 
We have a guy in town that started with a 20 gallon brew sculpture form More beer or something like that. He had buckets and carboys for fermentors and used 5 gallon corny kegs for serving kegs. He just pays rent for space and has a nice tap room/bar. No food and no frills. Just good craft beer. He is doing well and has invested all of his profits back in to the business (his wife has a good job). He now has several 27 gallon stainless conicals and a couple of very large one now. He has also upgraded the sculpture to a 35-40 gallon system I believe. Don't think you could do a start up much cheaper. After he told me how much money he spent starting up it was still a lot more than I would have ever imagined. Very expensive building a business from the ground up.

But great for you guys for having the guts to do it and get it off the ground.
 
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been as busy as a one arm paper hanger ( But havin a ball ).
We just sold over 4000 gal of our 7 different beers. 8th which is a winter ale will be on tap in about 2 more weeks.
We added to our keg inventory. We now have a total 96 brand new franke kegs. Woo Hoo !
I've upped the IBU on our Rattlesnake IPA twice now ( hopheads can't get enough) to a whopping 99.8 IBU. Now the IPA critics are raving !
I am stuck on a mixture of our chocolate bock/pecan porter mixture ! I call it a black tornado and my fellow dark beer lovers are telling me to take that to the GABF. I wonder what catagory that would fall under ?
As far as advertisement we have billboards up all over town and some around the surrounding states. We have the local media working with us. We have named the new Winter Ale after a local celebrity news man ( he came out and helped me brew it) and are donating 10% to a boys ranch that he grew up on. So he is busy facebooking and tweeting etc.
We have a facebook and and new website so check it out.
http://www.amarillobrew.com
http://http://www.amarillobrew.com/btb.html
 
I just read this entire thread. Congratulations on the success. BTW, that restaurant is an institution. I've seen it on TV several times and with the kind of crowds it draws, I think you'll do just fine with the beer. BTW, are you using extract and mini mash? I never saw the final decision.

One other thing: If you and your buddy ever want some more blingy tanks that are not bank busters, you could always check out glacier tanks http://www.glaciertanks.com/Products-Water_Storage_Tanks.html. I just logged onto their site and it has changed. They are now offering a line of beer fermenters and brite tanks as well as their original tanks. There is a member here at HBT who opened a brewpub in CO and they used the Glacier tanks. He has a thread about it somewhere on HBT. Here is their pub's site: http://bonfirebrewing.com/ If you click on the link to their beer, you'll see his glacier tanks. He probably has a lot of experience with them by now and could provide some useful info.
 
Wow I remember reading this thread way back when. So awesome to hear about your success! way to go
 
pokerfreak2 said:
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been as busy as a one arm paper hanger ( But havin a ball ).
We just sold over 4000 gal of our 7 different beers. 8th which is a winter ale will be on tap in about 2 more weeks.
We added to our keg inventory. We now have a total 96 brand new franke kegs. Woo Hoo !
I've upped the IBU on our Rattlesnake IPA twice now ( hopheads can't get enough) to a whopping 99.8 IBU. Now the IPA critics are raving !
I am stuck on a mixture of our chocolate bock/pecan porter mixture ! I call it a black tornado and my fellow dark beer lovers are telling me to take that to the GABF. I wonder what catagory that would fall under ?
As far as advertisement we have billboards up all over town and some around the surrounding states. We have the local media working with us. We have named the new Winter Ale after a local celebrity news man ( he came out and helped me brew it) and are donating 10% to a boys ranch that he grew up on. So he is busy facebooking and tweeting etc.
We have a facebook and and new website so check it out.
http://www.amarillobrew.com
http://http://www.amarillobrew.com/btb.html
Click to expand...

Glad to hear its been fun and that the brewery is coming into it's own!

Quick question: Are you really still doing 3-4 week fermentations and 10-20 day bright tank/cold crashing? That seems really excessive to me...have to tried going shorter to see if your customer can perceive a difference in the product?

You could effectively double your output by halving the fermentation/cold crash time without any equipment upgrades whatsover. From what I know about commercial brewing (which admittedly very little!) this should be entirely doable.

Just a thought...
 
Fantastic thread and congratulations !! It takes b@lls to power through with your own ideas when everybody else is saying what they would do if they were in your shoes !
I don't know when I'll drive down I-40 next, but I'll keep an eye out for the Big Texan !
 
That's great ! I would recommend our new rattlesnake IPA and my personal favorite is to mix our chocolate bock with the pecan porter. Hope to meet you then !
 
Absolutely. I think I posted this before but my wife's parents live in Clarendon. We're headed that way on Thursday and will be staying through Monday. I'm hoping to come drink a beer there on Friday or Saturday. I think I may bring a few homebrews for you to enjoy too!
 
Ned the winter ale is still on tap and we have growlers to go ! In the fermenter now is a bourbon barrel stout and FNW lime light.
 
Howdy friends I wanted to update you on the Big Texan Brewery progress. It's been a one man operation until today. I got 2 young men to wash and fill kegs then clean the fermenters etc. Today Hooray !!!
This is almost 1year since the day we got our brew pub license. I've brewed about 160 times this year and keep 96 kegs in constant rotation.
I've been brewing 300-400 gal per week and just barely staying ahead of demand.
We sold out of our first growler series and got in the second series. These have all been signed and numbered by the owners and myself.
We went to the brewers conference in San Diego a couple of weeks ago and saw some beautiful equipment and everything beer. We are going to try to get through this summer with the set up we have. Then in the fall start a bad ass brewery build !
What's the most important thing I've learned ?
Yeast ... Keep it healthy ...

image-2710844931.jpg


image-1828070987.jpg
 
This thread delivers. I am going to the Big Texan for the first time on a road trip with my wife this summer, as someone new to brewing, I am excited to taste your beer. Congrats on the success!
 
Congratulations! I was wondering when we'd hear from you again. Sounds like you've been very busy.
 
Tomorrow is our brewery's 1 year anniversary ! This has been the greatest year of my life ! Thanks to all the folks that post such great information on the forum. Without it I would never have had this opportunity !
 
Congratulations on your first year! Have you decided how big you want to go when you expand?
 
Congrats! This was a great thread to follow and actually see how it turned out. If I'm ever down that way, I'll definitely stop in.
 
Wow this has been a great summer ! My biggest production month I kegged up 1980 gal. We are currently offering 10 beers and with the soon to be released Oktoberfest makes 11.
We are trying to design the new 10 barrel brewery and get it under construction ASAP .
A brewer from Belgium stopped in and invited me to visit their brewery and I'm trying to plan a trip this fall/winter .
Here's our 3rd growler label. Those things have been HOT sellers !

image-3911634092.jpg
 
Congrats on your success. So, do you need to change the original title of the thread to a higher number? :)
 
425 bbls per year was a little high. We produced just under 400 in the first year.
The plastic conical fermenters have held up just fine. For those that think it can't be done with plastic, I clean them with PBW and a boat washing mitt and they are still like new . I have seen some much better plastic fermenters advertised in brew magazine. They have racking arms and a better sealing lid. I had to really work to get ours to seal. Also with no racking arm I have to drain all they yeast out of the cone before filling kegs and that takes a couple of days of opening the drain valve slightly every few hours.
 
pokerfreak2 said:
Wow this has been a great summer ! My biggest production month I kegged up 1980 gal. We are currently offering 10 beers and with the soon to be released Oktoberfest makes 11.
We are trying to design the new 10 barrel brewery and get it under construction ASAP .
A brewer from Belgium stopped in and invited me to visit their brewery and I'm trying to plan a trip this fall/winter .
Here's our 3rd growler label. Those things have been HOT sellers !
Click to expand...

Me and my wife stopped by over the summer to try your beer while on a Rt 66 road trip. Man, really great beer! Thank god for that place having a motel right on the premise! :cross:

7935466444_ba97cb63b3_c.jpg
 
Today on CBS News Sunday Morning, they were featuring food all over America and yes, The Big Texan was part of the show. I was all set to see some of the brewery, but it was just about the 72oz steak.
 
Thanks for stopping by yo !
Limulus , I was also expecting at least a quick blurb about the brewery but I guess the show was about food not beer :-(
New beer on tap is called Jack Rabbit Red. Layers of Carmel malt with huge hop flavor without bitterness dry hopped with Simcoe.
Also IIPA called Wup your donkey will be ready in another week or 2. Cheers
 
Only in Texas would a brewpub ferment in a trailer!!!

Read the entire thread. This is awesome and inspiring. Glad you guys are doing well and were able to do it on the cheap.

Keep updating us when you get the new expansion rolling.
 
I ate there as a teenager. Back then, the steaks were amazing, and worth the drive. Apparently, they haven't changed, since you guys are still in business.

I remember this thread from a long time ago, but hadn't read that the Big Texan was your buddy's business. How freaking cool.

Congrats on all of the success! If I find myself in Texas again, I will definitely make it a point to visit the Big Texan an sample the beers - as well as the steak.
 
Hi all fellow brewmasters ! Sorry I haven't posted in a really long time. We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary ! Woo hoo !!! So to do something crazy I made a batch of smoked jalapeno and bacon beer. We are calling it " Smokey and the Bacon ". I'm still brewing 100 gal batches with 12 beers on tap. So brewing 1-2 times a day just to try to keep the pipeline flowing. Bigger brewery still on the drawing board. Some of you have stopped by and I thank you for that. Sorry to the ones I missed. We are getting ready to enter the GABF for the first time.
Thanks to all the folks who post great info on this site. I owe my career to them.
 

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