how to add on brewery to existing restaurant

Williams 728
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Thanks for the support y'all. The energy for this thing has certainly been encouraged by this site! Actually, there have been a lot of negative comments that have been equally helpful along the way. I'm still waiting for the hammer to fall but so far, so good.
 
Wonderful! I can't imagine how good you must feel. I have a friend that took the plunge and now owns his own brewery, it was definitely tough for him but with some hard work and will power he did it. Sounds like you are well on your way. Keep up the work! and the updates.
 
Awesome. I've been planning on doing a similar nano-brewery thing. There's a guy I've gotten in contact with on probrewer.com who's doing something similar in PA....He's already up and running, making the beer in his garage and selling sixtels to local bars. I've gotten a lot of helpful advice (and equipment) from him. I can fwd his contact info to you if you're interested. I'm sure he wont mind, so here's some pics of his brewery:
Flickr: breakerbrewingcompany's Photostream
 
Sounds like great news for you. Keep us posted, a lot of other brewers dream of exactly what you're doing. Knowing what steps you've gone through will help us out someday.

If I'm ever in the area I'll gladly help out for a day or two. Just feed me and give me a place to crash.

B

B
 
Looks like you are in my area - always looking for business interests. Will provide free support and start-up labor for beer and new business associates.

Joe B.
 
brianholton, I too have chatted with CM from PA and he has been very helpful.

The outpouring of support is fantastic. So many said it can't be done, and we're still not there but it seems so close. Of course, that's what everybody thinks and it still takes forever. I'd be more than happy to share what I've learned and done so far. I'll be back soon.
 
joe et al,

stafford va only about 5.5 hrs from here. We have submitted our license applications to ttb and abc and are eagerly awaiting approval (or not?!). The virginia licenses for brewery and off premise (kegs and growlers) ran us about 3k and we had to pay a tax bond to the ttb for 1k. In other words, we're committed (or should be). Paid the rent and deposit on the building (actually a 18 X 16 foot room) and installed water and sewer and electric. Picking up some cooperage next week and placing our first ingredient order for 'testing and tasting' but won't be able to sell anything until we're approved. Next up is to run our ads in the paper alerting the community of our intentions. Can you believe each ad will run us about 700 bones? It really does add up.
 
ads in weekly local paper cost $45, sweet. State needs $2500 to cover a tax bond that we'll never reach as our production is too low. Whatever. Met with local distributor tonight and they loved the beer and want to carry it for us. Next is to discuss the terms, markup, etc. So far, so good.
 
so our applications are filed with the federal TTB and the Virginia ABC. Of course, ABC can't do anything until TTB gives us our brewer's notice and approval. TTB asked us for another round of paperwork after we filed and they will have that tomorrow. After that they have to do a phone interview with myself. How long will it take after that? That is one question. The other question is, how long will it take for ABC to approve us?

In the meantime we're awaiting our boil kettle and chiller so we can dial in the system.

Finished installing insulation and motel ac/heat pump unit. Can keep the whole brewery (all 288 square feet of it) 65F with no problem.

Once we seal the floor we will move the big equipment in (freezers/fridges/mash tun etc.)

We're sittin' on 700 lbs of grain and several pounds of hops awaiting our first brew session.
 
that is so cool i really do hope things work out and if i am ever in Virginia (the odds are I won't) i will have to try one of your brews.
 
Very cool :mug: I was at the Martha Washington Inn last winter for an American Association of Professional Landmen meeting. Neat town and that will fit right in. Best of luck. :rockin: If I am ever back that way will have to check it out.
 
Hell, you're closer to all of East TN than the rest of VA. Let me know when you will be 'opening' or where I can get your beer and I will make the drive on the first weekend available.

Congrats!
 
thanks for the kind words. This thread helps me keep the enthusiasm up during the doubtful times. Sometimes I wonder what the h$%l I'm thinking, that brewing is a lot of work, cleaning, etc. The ultimate payoff isn't that large and if I f up the beer it comes out of my pocket. I just heard from another brewery that it took 3.5 months for them to get federal ttb approval instead of the 30-60 days they tell you. Ugh.

On a good note, our giant blichmann kettles came yesterday and they are indeed sweet.
 
I was just at a very good business conference and you know how it is good to pick up on at least one good word of advice from the speaker? Mine to you would be on the lines of marketing. You are going to do the newspaper, tv, ads, flyers, etc. If your town is quaint and they appreciate local business. The speaker denoted 1 very important fact... DEVELOP RELATIONSHIPS.

He said early on in his career, which was in the restaurant business, he would take 4 hours each day and walk around town, knock on peoples doors and develop relationships with them. He would ask to "give me a chance". "Give my business a try". Well it worked. Right now this gentleman has been VP of Ritz-Carlton, and now CEO of a Henry Ford Health Systems hospital in Michigan.

I swore to use this word of advice if I was to ever turn entrepreneur. Good Luck!
 
This may have been addressed already so sorry I didn't read all the posts but was anything mentioned regarding the yeast dumping and your municpalities ability to process those little critters at the water treatment facility? I too want to do this but I am worried the suburb area in mind isn't big enough to support the yeast dump of a brew house. Lagunitas brewery had a similar problem a few years back and was kicked out of the city. Just wondering.
 
All of the environmental/water stuff goes through the ttb. Given that we're a 1 bbl system and recycling most of the yeast I don't think our impact is going to be that great. But that's not for me to decide and I'm not sure who actually decides - only the ttb ask for the info, the state does not. I heard about several breweries whose yeast dump was their biggest environmental impact of concern. According to 5 star, pbw and star san are completely safe for municipalities - it's the septic tanks that can be affected. 5star has impact statements for all of their products on their website.

Plus, I assume you could just kill the yeast before flushing to avoid metabolic contamination or oxygen depletion or whatever the problem may be.

I'm sure this issue will come up and I'll post.
 
All of the environmental/water stuff goes through the ttb. Given that we're a 1 bbl system and recycling most of the yeast I don't think our impact is going to be that great. But that's not for me to decide and I'm not sure who actually decides - only the ttb ask for the info, the state does not. I heard about several breweries whose yeast dump was their biggest environmental impact of concern. According to 5 star, pbw and star san are completely safe for municipalities - it's the septic tanks that can be affected. 5star has impact statements for all of their products on their website.

Plus, I assume you could just kill the yeast before flushing to avoid metabolic contamination or oxygen depletion or whatever the problem may be.

I'm sure this issue will come up and I'll post.
 
hey man.. I just found this thread in my 'new posts.'

Good to hear that you have made the next step with your hobby!!

It'd be awesome to see some pics of your setup if you have some time

Keep up the good work
 
awesome to see some more posts here! We just finished coating the floor in the brewery and will be moving stuff in this week. Once we have it set up I'll take some pics and post.

We'll be fermenting in 44 gallon brute containers for now. they're cheap, available at home depot, and food grade. Next choice, but twice as expensive, are 110 gallon plastic conicals so i can double batch to fermenter and dump yeast rather than siphon. We're sticking with the uber frugal approach for now. Quality control/sanitation is an issue but when isn't it? I will be pumping from boil/chill to fermenters, pumping to second brutes for dry hopping (or not depending on recipe) and then pumping from fermenter to keg. The brewery is keeping temp. at 65 so I can't cold condition but will have good fermentation temps for our yeasts (primarily wlp001 for now).

Tomorrow I'm supposed to schedule my personal interview with ttb.
 
We made it through the ttb and are now waiting on the virginia abc to process our license.

In the meantime we're testing the equipment at the brewery. To summarize: 275 sq ft building (16X18 inside). Sink, hot water heater, cement floor (no drain). Window and door. First pic is outside shot (nice awning, eh?). Second is shot of our first addition - the hotel/motel hvac unit that keeps the brewery at 65F in the 90 heat. Third shot shows the brewhouse. 30 G blichmann HLT, 41 gallon cooler MLT, 55 gal boil kettle. March pump and therminator. Fermenting in the 44 gal BRUTE rubbish bins.

front of brewery.jpg


100_3424.jpg


100_3423.jpg
 
Some more pics showing the actual brew. First is milled grains using barley crusher and power drill. Not bad, really. 84 lb grist for india brown ale. Second is another of the brewhouse. Third shows heating of strike water. Took about 1 hr to heat 30 gallons from 100 to 170 using an sq14 (will be replaced by natural gas ring soon). Fourth shows vourlafing.

84 lbs milled.jpg


Setup.jpg


Heating up strike water.jpg


more vourlaf.jpg
 
Forgot a pic of doughing in (w/mash hop - why not?). CLose to boil and boil over. Hey, I needed to break in the blichmann. Last brew was an easy no boil over with spray bottle.

Did second brew today, our flagship american pale ale. Went well. This time I didn't use hop bags and got a great hop cone (pellets) after a whirlpool (manual).

I also am taking off all the q/ds from the pump system - they slow it down too much.

More to come. Questions?

Chris

Douging in with mash hop.jpg


nearing boil.jpg


boil over.jpg
 
Freaking awesome! Congrats on the project.

I only have 4 words. The obligatory "you suck" and "foam control". Good luck!
 
carnevoodoo - if you have to ask you'll never know. I have a lot of hard work invested in the biz plan, market research, etc.

Let's just say this is our experiment. My projections show our investment returned within six months. The glass ceiling will actually support my salary and a small return for the investors but the idea is to test the waters and then expand.
 
edcculus - thanks for the post - you've been a big help to me on hbt.

Haven't made the leap to fermcap yet but I may, indeed. It's pretty intimidating to watch 40 come gallons start to come at you.
 
mandoman said:
carnevoodoo - if you have to ask you'll never know. I have a lot of hard work invested in the biz plan, market research, etc.

Let's just say this is our experiment. My projections show our investment returned within six months. The glass ceiling will actually support my salary and a small return for the investors but the idea is to test the waters and then expand.
Click to expand...

Actually, if I feel like asking it is because I am interested in knowing. I haven't done the research at that level, but it is a concept that I want to know more about. So really, I would like to know.

It is good that you have it all worked out though. Good luck.
 
carne - my bad, there are a lot of naysayers out there who will tell you that you can't do this for less than 250K and I've had a lot of discouragement. I can see that side, too. I'm happy to share with y'all hbt'ers what I've learned. It's really been like doing my dissertation all over again. Shoot me a PM or post on this thread. Like I said earlier, it keeps me going when it gets frustrating. I mean, hey, we're homebrewers.

Erie - keg only for now. We can't self-distribute in virginia, so basically we have to pay a 25% markup to an intermediate distributor/wholesaler who is allowed to sell directly to the retailers (restaurants, grocery stores). We have an extra license (or will have) that allows us to fill growlers at the brewery and sell/rent kegs but only to individuals, not to businesses. Craft beer kegs retail around here for around $65 (the restaurant pays the wholesaler) so that means I only get around $50 for it from the wholesaler. The nice thing is I don't have to spend $$ on gas, vehicle, employee, whatever. Bad part is the lost $$. This is also why more sane people do brewPUBS, cuz you're making $4 a pint or closer to $200 for a 5 gallon keg.

Chris
 

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