I hear all too often the very same scenario about quickly outgrowing a location and equipment. Makes me think starting off with a 7-10BBL system would be the better idea...
... unless you end up hating commercial brewing and/or making shtty beer... or even awesome beer that no one buys for some reason.
I can't speak for my two partners but I don't think any of us regret going the way we did one bit. We weren't about to take that much cash out of our pockets and just roll the dice with it. We realized from the beginning, "but I LOVE brewing!!" was a tiny slice of the "will this business succeed" pie.
Yeah...I understand completely. I simply hate to sink cash only to have to spend more less than a year later. Cash flows can kill...
Don't get me wrong... going big out of the gate might be the PERFECT answer for some folks. I don't think it was for us, that's all. All I was saying was that FOR US, we didn't want to go that route. We just weren't willing to slap that kind of money on the barrel head and give it a go.
That said, one nice thing about the cash flows is that we now have some revenue to offset the larger bills that are likely coming down the line.
Like I was saying earlier... the total lack of naked boobies CONTINUES to be a nightmare.
I believe in a following post you calculated you would be making about $400 total per month between the three guys on your current setup. Have you met that goal and then some?We're on a 1.5 bbl system and while we ABSOLUTELY knew this going in, at that scale, it is impossible to make any money. We can work around the clock if we want and sell every drop and at the end of the year, each one of us would make a couple grand. If you are brewing on a 15 gallon rig, take that tiny profit and erase it completely.
For burners... we ultimately had to go to a resaurant supply place and buy two four-burner stove tops and those are what we use to heat our HLT and BK... which... in hind sight was a great call. They weren't cheap but they'll heat the *^&$ out of the pots which is nice.
This isn't the exact one we we have extremely similar. We have two, one for the HLT and one for the BK. We bought three small stainless commercial utility tables that fit the stove tops, and then the MT, perfectly.
When we place the pots on these, the pots almost cover all four burners.
How are you getting enough airflow indoors for all those burners? If I had to build a brewery indoors I would almost certainly go electric.
This is exactly what i need...Do you happen to have model or manufacturer info? I had a call from the fire inspector who in short words said that if i did not have UL info on my banjo burners i would need to replace them
In terms of limits.... I don't know.
I think you could get what the true expected BTU output for any burner would be and then do some pretty straight forward math on how long it would take to heat a pot of a given size... and then it becomes more of a question of whether or not you want to wait that long.
paulthenurse said:I have an old main engine off of a Saturn Five rocket that I found on Craigslist for $50 and change. I've been tinkering with a LOX feed system and just about have it dialed in. It brings my five gallon kettle to a full rolling boil in 78 seconds. Unfortunately, my local plumbing inspector cane by my garage because of my big mouthed next door neighbor and he fell over dead. That complicated my plans to do exactly what you're doing a little bit.
tyzippers said:I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. Perhaps a main engine from a Mercury-Redstone would be more in direct order. Couple that with your LOX system, and you should be good to go. YMMV.
I have an old main engine off of a Saturn Five rocket that I found on Craigslist for $50 and change. I've been tinkering with a LOX feed system and just about have it dialed in. It brings my five gallon kettle to a full rolling boil in 78 seconds. Unfortunately, my local plumbing inspector cane by my garage because of my big mouthed next door neighbor and he fell over dead. That complicated my plans to do exactly what you're doing a little bit.
dmiller224 said:Hey cape I was wondering how do you keep all your fermentators at a consistent temperature through out the fermentation process? And how you also keep your mash temperatures consistent?
Another one
We were invited to the American Craft Beer Fest this past weekend and had a blast. To the half dozen or so of you guys who stopped by to say hi, thanks for stopping! The even was a ton of fun for us and it was cool to cool to catch up with some HBT'rs.
Here are two pics...
We were invited to the American Craft Beer Fest this past weekend and had a blast. To the half dozen or so of you guys who stopped by to say hi, thanks for stopping! The even was a ton of fun for us and it was cool to cool to catch up with some HBT'rs.
Here are two pics...
Another one
Hey Bri, did you go through all of your kegs? How long did it take?
Dude, what was at the stall to the left of you guys? You guys look busy as and they are standing there staring at all you punters! Good job!
How are you getting enough airflow indoors for all those burners? If I had to build a brewery indoors I would almost certainly go electric.
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