100 gallons...

[Nwcw2001]

Check out these guys. They are called Breaker Brewing Company. They are a commercial brewery brewing on a 3 vessel system all 55 gallon stainless barrels!

Here are some Flikr pictures.

 

[Grimsawyer]

They posted on ProbBrewer.com as well, but pulled the add because they got a bit more time from the landlord.

WTF?!?! Brewing out of a storage unit? Can anyone set up shop in one and sell beer with the right liscenses or is this one of those under the radar things? Never heard of such a thing. HAHA!! Sounds like an awesome idea if ya ask me!

 

[Nwcw2001]

as long as it complies with your state brewery laws and the TBB ok's the site you can brew professionally anywhere. All you have to do is go through all that paperwork.

 

[WortMonger]

Wow, this might be the key to a small "gourmet market" nano-brewery. Oklahoma just changed its laws a while back, allowing a manufacturers license. This license allows for the self distribution at wholesale cost to anyone. However, I'm still thinking the pub is the way to make more money, and this state doesn't allow a pub to brew above 3.2%ABW, so.... I am so thankful you guys posted these links. If anyone has anymore good nano-scale brewery info please post or PM me with links. This mash tun has started a monster in me. Thanks again guys.

 

[ajwillys]

as long as it complies with your state brewery laws and the TBB ok's the site you can brew professionally anywhere. All you have to do is go through all that paperwork.

In general, it has to be not physically attached to a house, it has to have a drain and a hot water source, and the local zoning has to allow for a brewery. If you are in an area that is not properly zoned, you will have to get a variance which can vary from super easy to super hard depending on the town/zoning/neighbors.

 

[camiller]

WTF?!?! Brewing out of a storage unit? Can anyone set up shop in one and sell beer with the right liscenses or is this one of those under the radar things? Never heard of such a thing. HAHA!! Sounds like an awesome idea if ya ask me!

I think it is a "Active Space" type facility rather than a storage unit.

Space FAQs
1. What are the spaces like?
Each space has a private locking entrance and a large window. Inside you'll find heat, power, and phone/DSL outlets.
2. Will I have access to water?
Yes. Many of our spaces include utility sinks.

in fact:

Gilligan's Brewing Company: March 2008
Activspace Online - ActivSpace at Ballard

now what is interesting is that in one place in the faq it says:

1. What activities are not allowed in ActivSpace buildings?
We do not allow any activity that is prohibited by law or city regulations, or that may harm the facility or neighboring customers. These activities include auto repair, welding, or raising fighting roosters.

ANother section of the faq says (emphasis added):

4. What activities are not allowed in ActivSpace buildings?
We do not allow any activity that is prohibited by law or city regulations, or that may harm the facility or neighboring customers. These activities include auto repair, welding, home-brewing/distilling or raising fighting roosters.

However, if these guys got permits and everything they are technically not "Home" brewing.

 

[Grimsawyer]

I love loopholes!

 

[Nwcw2001]

looking at opening a brewery in Washington State and again here in Colorado, every state is different. The TBB tends to bow down to the state's laws. Washington State is 400 ft from school, church, and house. Where here in Colorado, it is a little more lenient. I think it is still away from a house but still more lenient than Washington. Just find out through your state's liquor board what the laws are.

 

[Grimsawyer]

Hey guys. That's me in the pic with the cigar.

We got one of the barrels on Ebay and one from Craigslist if I recall.

The HLT used to be one of those whirlpool deals they use for sports.

The most grain we have mashed at once is about 280lbs.

The pump we are using is a 1/4 HP march pump, it has a bit more oomph that the 1/25 HP motors we use in our regular brewstands.

The burners for the boil kettles have no problem getting to a rolling boil, but with the kettles being so tall it's tough to keep the boil under control. If we only boil about 35 in each kettle we can keep a nice rolling boil.

Efficiency wise, 75-80 is common but we have also had days where we've hit 85 or higher.

How much propane do you go through in a brew day on this rig?

 

[Cold_Steel]

This is why I brought an ale pail for my share.

The MLT is based on the 100gal Rubermaid water trough

which has a drain on the bottom side (this is where we connected the braided drain line)
the unit was then wrapped in wooden boards similar to those that you would wrap a hottub in, and the cavity was filled with spray foam.

the top is made of a sheet of a HDPE sheet (Same material as a cutting board)
NATL HDPE CUTTING BOARD SHEET - InterstatePlastics
one end was cut off so that a hinge could be added and be bolted down to the top of the bin.

Once that was done, a hole was drilled in the anchor section of the lid to feed the sparge arm, which was done just like you would for any MLT but larger.

So I am seriously considering going to buy this but I am not convinced it is food grade.

Does anyone know if this is a food grade product?

 

[Clayton]

dude is for drinking water i think it will be ok

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

I'm amazed that people get so freaked out on plastic ratings, and still have not totally freaked about everything else in life.
I'm even more amazed on this homegrown, geterdone, massive brew.
I can only dream of growing my own livers to enjoy this much capacity.

 

[Cold_Steel]

dude is for drinking water i think it will be ok

well so is a cat dish that doesnt mean when im thirst i reach down and pick it up.

I have serious issues with serving my family tainted beers. I DO NOT TRUST major corporations. I dont think when they are designing a horse tank they are saying to themselves "we need to use more expensive materials to make it safe for humans" when its designed for animals.
I think they base it around the cheapest materials they can use that keeps the profit as high as possible for a good return on wall st.. remember it is most likely made in china. Got Lead?

I emailed them to find out.

 

[leboeuf]

Most plastics are inert by chemical structure. It's not like you can cut corners and save money to make some product out of a dangerous plastic substance. I'm not certain of this but I think polyethylene is still one of the cheapest if not the cheapest plastic to bulk manufacture.

Basically it would take more work to make a plastic non food safe.... then again there was that whole bpa thing that we all freaked out about... of course that wasn't in polyethylene anyway.

 

[Cold_Steel]

Most plastics are inert by chemical structure. It's not like you can cut corners and save money to make some product out of a dangerous plastic substance. I'm not certain of this but I think polyethylene is still one of the cheapest if not the cheapest plastic to bulk manufacture.

Basically it would take more work to make a plastic non food safe.... then again there was that whole bpa thing that we all freaked out about... of course that wasn't in polyethylene anyway.

Ok so I just contacted them over the phone. I used the 1800 number on the website and spoke with the commercial division.

It is NOT food grade plastic. It has no FDA approval for human consumption.

This is why I dont like to "think" it is or isnt. I want to know.

I mean my god, think of the childern!!! Oh thats right

believe me when I tell you I am bummed on this news because I thought I had just found my new mash tun.

 

[OMJ]

Just cause they didnt spend the money to get it FDA approved doesnt mean its not safe. If you didnt you should find out what kind of plastic it is cause that would tell a lot.

 

[leboeuf]

Hmmmm yea that stinks... HDPE or #2 plastic is always food safe in it's raw form. But if the added dyes or softening agents are not food safe then you're out of luck.

I'm sure you can find something that will work!

 

[leboeuf]

There are other options. I would check usplastics. This polypro tank is fairly cheap...

Tamco® Polypropylene High Temperature Tanks, 50 Gallon and Up - US Plastic Corporation

Edit: correction it's spendy as hell, but is lab grade

 

[nickpgoodman]

So I am seriously considering going to buy this but I am not convinced it is food grade.

Does anyone know if this is a food grade product?

Well, several thousand gallons of beer have been brewed with this by our club over the last few years and we are still going strong. If it's save for livestock to eat/drink out of then why not us?

 

[Nwcw2001]

This thread has gone from brewery envy to a debate on the safety of plastic? Hmmm

 

[Arkador]

Well, several thousand gallons of beer have been brewed with this by our club over the last few years and we are still going strong. If it's save for livestock to eat/drink out of then why not us?

Agreed, I believe it is not labled "Food Safe" because it is not intended for use for human consumption. I personally would not use anything for my animals that i would be afraid to use for myself.

It is made of HDPE, and good enough for me to have my horse drink from for her whole life.... HDPE is rated in excess of 200 degrees.

 

[Poobah58]

Those 55-gal drums seem thin. No problems with scorching the wort?

 

[gruversm]

That's just naughty

 

[Arkador]

we upgraded from the 2 55gal barrels to a single kettle from stouttanks. This is either 125 or 150gal. We are about to schedule it's first brew!

 

[Otter_Bay_Brewing]

any updates?

 

[lschiavo]

any updates?

Yeah lets hear it Otter. I'm subscribed too for some reason.

 

[Arkador]

We have brewed with the new kettle 6 or 7 times now, and the next one is this upcoming Sunday.

the 55gal drums have been reassigned to heating strike and sparge water.

Mashing in 220# of grain

Here she is about to be fired for the first time. We had a problem with the 23tip burners, it uses 3x 85K burners now (like a banjo burner)
I think the propane tanks are about 15gal, we use 2 of them.

Just going to post a link for the last one
http://www.capandhare.com/forums/album.php?albumid=116&pictureid=1104
it is not cropped, but you can see some of the bling very clearly.

and here is an example of a recipe that was made on this system before we had the big kettle.
Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 85.00 Wort Size (Gal): 85.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 180.63
Anticipated OG: 1.064 Plato: 15.69
Anticipated SRM: 9.4
Anticipated IBU: 34.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
84.7 153.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) Great Britain 1.038 3
7.1 12.75 lbs. Crystal 55L Great Britian 1.034 55
3.5 6.38 lbs. Wheat Malt Germany 1.039 2
4.7 8.50 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.

Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
12.75 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 6.00 20.7 60 min.
8.50 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 6.00 3.7 15 min.
8.50 oz. Goldings - E.K. Pellet 6.00 2.3 2 min.
12.75 oz. Fuggle Pellet 5.00 4.6 15 min.
12.75 oz. Fuggle Pellet 5.00 2.9 2 min.

 

[TonyR]

That's cool!

 

[Arkador]

Today's brew day (Baltic Porter)