So, you all know we switched to a smaller more agile system.
We've brewed on it twice now. The first time was... a bit of a challenge. It was our first run and the system is completely different from our former system. The manufacturer advertises that you can push our a 4 bbl batch in 4 to 4.5 hours. This was very attractive to us as our old system, even after a year of experience took us better than 3 times that to make a 10 bbl batch of beer. (You all should know by now the "underpowered" issues we've had.) I called several references from the company to determine if this claim was true and everyone who was using the system was in fact very pleased with it. They were most pleased with the efficiency and the consistency of the beers they were making. That was what I was most interested in. Of course the 4 to 5 hour time for brewing a batch is also very important.
So, we decided to "scale down" in order to brew smaller batches at a quicker rate. The new system would allow us to double batch on a give day giving us nearly the same amount we generally do with our full sized system. (We truly normally pushed out around 8.5 to 9 bbls in a given batch) or it would allow us to do 4 bbl batches 4 to 5 times a week using 1/2 the day for brewing and the rest of the day for cleaning and other brewery tasks with a couple people at the brewhaus working to manage different brewery chores.
Well, the first day took 13 hours and we produced about 80 gallons of wort. It was a rough day. We didn't panic. It was our first day on the new system. We were just happy we made some beer. And as that beer has now finished fermenting and is ready to carb up, I'm happy to say it's really looking good. We actually chose a really tough beer for our first run. (Probably not our best move, but we had a bit of a pinch and had to brew that particular product.)
Last weekend we brewed our 2nd beer on the system. We held of a couple days and made sure we were well prepared. Things went better. The system itself did fine. Other brewhaus stuff gave us some grief. (Our sump pump is being a pesky little devil and our other brewer had to literally take it completely apart twice and partially apart once during the brew day. This slowed us down a bit.) We also have a bit more work to do finalizing the system in terms of installing the flow meter so we are currently still moving some hoses around that we would ideally have fixed. That takes a bit of time. More frustratingly, our tankless hot water line is attached to the flow meter on the brewing system which means it can't be used for other cleaning needs until the brewing is finished which ALSO slows us down.
Short story, we still have quite a bit of optimization but the days are getting better.
What I CAN tell you definitively, is that our efficiency is up from 70% on the old system to at least 80% to 85% on this one. Over time that will definitely help out on the bottom line. I believe once we get our processes worked out on the new system things will go more smoothly, but since the deal is full disclosure and honesty - I have to admit, it's kinda been a ***** getting things organized with the new system. We're a bit backed up and fighting the good fight to catch up. This is particularly frustrating given the fact that Storm the Door is so darn popular right now. We can't necessarily capitalize as we don't have ANY extra on hand.
I suppose when it rains, it pours.
But that's not exactly what I came to tell you today.
I have noticed that there's a thread on the Colorado Brewing System personal home brew systems. I see quite a few of you are looking at them. It happens we bought one of those for the brewery as a pilot system. We got it because we wanted an exact replica of our 4 bbl system. Yes, that's correct. We purchased the largest available model from Colorado Brewing. We still have our 10 bbl system. We're holding on to that while we learn the new system. I have to say I'm very pleased with the efficiency and if the first batch of Storm the Door (admittedly very small) is any indication, I think we'll be alright. We merely need to get more efficient in terms of our in house processes as to how we USE the system.
Tim of Colorado has been very helpful. He's a tremendous resource. I will keep you abridged on the system and the beer. I promise to faithfully report the value of the system as I see it. Honestly the jury is still out. Our fastest brew day has been somewhere in the zone of 10 hours or so. (A very far cry from 4.5), and our biggest output so far is precisely 4 bbls. However, we've ONLY done 2 batches so far. We'll see how it goes as we move forward. Batch #3 is forthcoming. (Another batch of Storm the Door, hopefully with a bigger yield.)
