Going Pro - Help in TN

[jamesrm]

Hello folks,
We have all thought about going pro, and well I have an opportunity that would be fun to exploit. A good friend of the family is looking for a new place to produce their commercial beer, current volume is in excess of 1000 bbl per quarter. Of course, I would have a few lines of my own for use in a micro environment, perhaps around Hendersonville TN. I have a great company that makes excellent from scratch pizza and Italian food that would love to run the food side.

One catch, the beer is a lager, and will have to be conditioned for awhile before being able to be distributed.

Can someone give me an idea on setup costs with good used equipment for that volume? I have some time on this decision, and would imagine I would either get an internship at some other brewery or go to Sibel before proceeding. Also anyone who has jumped through the hoops in TN I would love to know how hard it is to get the proper licensing.

Thanks!

 

[WorryWort]

Have you seen the ProBrewer forum? No offence to the 'locals' here, but I suggest you ask the question there too.

From the research I've done a used 10-20 Bbl system can be purchased used for around 100-150k (sometimes significantly less). That doesn't include configuration and misc. bits, kegs, plumbing, perhaps a bottling line. etc....

That said, you can also do with a smaller system if you have the ability to purchase more fermenters and storage for conditioning. I'm not sure what would be required there.

All told, the equipment you need depends on many factors, and there are trade offs to be made, and equipment's not the only cost. To start a production brewery (not brew pub) from the ground up could easily take 300-500k. Some spend north of a million and have really pretty looking places, new, custom breweries. etc...

But start poking around on Probrewer.

I had some other links for my research, but can't find them right now! If I do I'll post them.

 

[z987k]

1,000bbl a quarter/4kbbl a yr(that's a lot of beer for a new company... a **** ton), I bet your startup costs are north of 500,000.

I mean to do that and being brewing 50% of workdays a year is 30bbl a brew day.

 

[Catfish]

If you haven't worked in a brewery before, I would suggest a program along the lines of the American Brewers Guild's. The Siebel program is more aim at those already in the field. Also I would suggest offering yourself as a cheap/ free laborer to any and all local breweries.

Definitely go read the probrewer website. Reread all the archived discussions, the are invaluable.