1 bbl system - bottle? keg? carbing? filtration?

[Kulprit]

Hey guys I am putting together a 1bbl system with future purpose of selling our beers. We are currently in licensing etc and so that's why I am coming up with the production line.

This is basically a pilot program (think market research/feasibility study) for a large brewpub in the next 2-3 years.

I have the actual brewing process down and am rather happy with the results and the price.

I am hitting a bit of a roadblock now on what exactly to do with the beer. The idea of bottling that much beer and then storing it is not attractive, add the consideration of buying on our scale of bottles/labels/crowns and the price per beer starts to shoot up. At the same time apparently finding sankey kegs to deliver to restaurants/bars is really really hard.

Also have worries about bottle conditioning and selling to market. I think customers will be put off by any sediment in a bottle so I would think that has to be avoided as much as possible.

So I am basically looking for advice for this end of the production. We plan to use this system to learn and experiment, but at the same time we don't want to waste money.

Anyone with any experience or ideas I would love to hear them. Any websites or books with good reliable info would also be appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[warriorpoet]

Join the group Going Pro on this site.

 

[Clonefarmer]

Pro Brewer might be what you are looking for.

 

[Kulprit]

Thanks guys - have already done both.

Problem is I am sort of in between homebrewer and pro at this point.

This forum is much more active - and I think has a lot more ingenuity then probrewer so I figured I would post it here.

 

[greatsouthbay]

Hey man, I know EXACTLY how you feel, I was in your position not too long ago. I Just left a sweet spot at a major production brewery to go with a startup, we are now brewing 1 bbl pilot batches strictly for recipe tinkering and giving away to people we do business with. Like you, we are in the middle of snatching up licenses/permits... and like you, we want to produce beer RIGHT ****ING NOW that is very similar to what we will be producing by this time next year on a 30 bbl system. Thats not easy.

Its a wierd spot to be in, a batch size in the homebrewing realm, and a demand for it to be filtered/presentable (read "crystal ****ing clear") to clients. Combined with shelf stability demands comparable to commercial beer. This calls for a chapter out of my newest published work, titled "Advanced Cold-Side Beer Processing Optimized for the 1 bbl Brewer". Thats right, I wrote the book on this ****! Heres my system, which I am still screwing with and tweaking here and there to optimize.

I am fermenting and conditioning in temperature controlled 1 bbl blichmann FVs, Lowes has upright freezers (21 cu ft) that fit these babies LIKE A GLOVE. Gotta be frost free models.

Filtration is a *****, I am using the Buon Vino Super Jet (the big one, not the ***** one), learn as much as you can about commercial beer filtration, learn as much as you can about plate and frame filters, (Looks like your familiar with probrewer) then buy that sucker. I modified the hell out of that system with: a more sanitary inlet pressure gauge plumbing (the original setup has a gauge stuck right into the first plate), a back pressure gauge, plumbing for a quick backflush, a CO2 hookup to purge oxygen from the pads, sample cock, and a valve just about everywhere I can think of.

Filter into pressurized/purged corny kegs, and use a bleeder valve on the corny kegs' gas out post. Our beer is BRIGHT AS **** with the Buon Vino #2 pads (Fine). Truely comparable to what used to come out of the Della Toffola 5 Meter DE filter at the last job. depending on your conditioning period/yeast floc you can rip through 1 bbl in about 1 backflush give or take. Its all about draining your yeast off the cone nice and slow. Go too fast and you just rip a hole in the yeast cone and hit beer too soon.
Carb in the keg, Bottle from the keg, I use a plastic picnic tap with a piece of plastic cane stuck into it as a fill tube (learned that from this website years ago when I first started homebrewing, thanks HomeBrewTalk) pull your head pressure down, chill your beer to about 29.6367 *F (if you can) and let her rip, wide open with the valve. cap fast, oxygen absorbing caps, get those brews back in the fridge, then out to your buddies, prospective accounts, lawer, ect.
Sure you can use one of those jango-fangled blichmann beer guns but they look intimidating to me, never gave them a shot. Heres the killer tip to cut down on O2 in package: Use another of those Picnic tap/plastic cane rigs with a line coming off your CO2 regulator and use as a little purge apparatus knocker job for purging your bottles just before filling. Its not double Pre evacuation, but its better than nothing. its all about keeping your dissolved oxygen down on these little batches.

Message me if you have any questions, especially with that bastard Super Jet.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Greg

 

[Jaybird]

Loads of 1 BBL systems poping up.

Greg
Great first post! I would love to chat w/ you about the O2 purging of the pads. Can you post some picts of the filter system you built, back flush and sample valves you installed to the super jet?
Cheers
Jay

 

[Kulprit]

Hey man, I know EXACTLY how you feel, I was in your position not too long ago. I Just left a sweet spot at a major production brewery to go with a startup, .......

Message me if you have any questions, especially with that bastard Super Jet.
Hope this helps. Good Luck!
Greg

Hey man I will definitely be in touch. We are also located on Long Island, though out east. Would love to pick your brain some more.

 

[greatsouthbay]

Hey jaybird, I will definately post some pics, as far as the purging of the pads, its more of a purge of the entire system including the pads as well. I'll have some pics on here for you in a day or two.

Long Island! alright Kulprit! Brewing on Long Island is blowing up, 1 bbl production brewers UNITE!

 

[Sawdustguy]

Where is your book published? I have looked high and low and can't find it anywhere.

 

[rycov]

Pro Brewer might be what you are looking for.

i just registered at pro brewer and couldn't post anything. anybody know what the deal is? do i have to pay for it? do i have to wait an hour? they sent me an email and i "activated " my account or whatever, but it won't let me post.