California 250 gallon brew house

[DevildogJn]

I've built a 250 gallon BIAB single vessel brew house to open my brewery. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen. The building I've been working on to use was sold without warning or notice so I'm back to square 1. The pics I have are of the unit I built myself. I recently ordered the material to have a 2nd one built by a professional. I dont need a second one now. It is controlled by an electric control panel running Strange Brew Elsinore by Doug Edey. It runs 4-6000 watt elements giving it 24,000 watts of heating power. It works great and heats water and maintains both mash and boil temps perfectly. I brewed one 3bbl batch on this system as a test run and from start to finish took me 3.5 hours. I use the same control panel to run a single 6000 watt element and brew 15 gallon batches. The control panel has an on/off switch for each element so you can use 1 to 4 depending on batch size. The kettle is all stainless and the frame is aluminum. The whole thing only takes 24 square feet. The all stainless grain basket is 196 gallons. The only thing you need is a hoist to lift the basket in and out of the kettle. Because the unit I'm selling isn't completed yet I can modify the panel to your electrical needs. This is the only unit I plan to ever sell. I need the capital to start my brewery venture all over again and regain what I've already spent on the previous building. Here are just a few pictures and I can send more on request. I have a video of the control panel working on my 30 gallon kettle.

I'm asking $18,000 obo. Shipping will be extra. The material is already at the fabricator and can be completed and ready for shipping within 6 weeks. I ask for half of the total as a non-refundable deposite and the balance before shipping. I will send pics of completed unit before shipping. I'm willing to work out any situation that will make the buyer feel completely comfortable through the whole process. Please feel free to ask any questions and I will answer to the best of my ability. This is going to be a steal for whoever buys it.

 

[DevildogJn]

Once again, I am willing to work with the purchaser to make sure they are completely comfortable through the whole process. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

 

[DevildogJn]

I see this getting a lot of views. Can anyone give feedback on what they think of the unit or if it even appeals to anyone?

 

[mongoose33]

Here are my thoughts:

1. You can't use the building you thought, yet you're selling the system. Why not just move it to a different building? Seems if you put this much thought into it, you'd simply switch it to a different building. Why not?

2. Don't know if the price is fair--I'm not in the market for a microbrewery. Of course, like everyone I can dream....

3. Another red flag is the system isn't completed yet, parts are at the fabricator.....so what would I be buying, actually? An incomplete system, a one-of-a-kind system.....would I put down $9000 on such a thing? Probably not....

4. For someone to be in the market for something like this, they'd need to have figured out all the other elements of opening a brewery....there's an article on the HBT front page right now about someone who tried to figure out how to make it work, and it involves an awful lot, from figuring out code requirements to getting licenses to sources and suppliers, to distribution and customers. Hard to imagine who would commit to an incomplete system without having all the other questions answered.

Just my thoughts....

 

[cherrman]

I'd personally not only be concerned about the efficiency of a giant BIAB system as well as the fact you have to lift so much grain out - I'm no expert but I do have a 100 gallon mash Tun that is extremely efficient when sparging traditionally - however my 15 gallon batches of BIAB are never there. If I was looking to go that big I would not do BIAB but maybe you researched it more

 

[DevildogJn]

I have this one that I'm keeping. I ordered all of the material and parts to build a second one as i was going to have two running in my brewery, cross circulating giving me up to 8bbl batches when it opened. This on is complete. Ive invested money into the upgrades in the building i was in and need to sell the second unit I was going to have built to get the capital to do upgrades in the new building that i find. This is a complete system capable of brewing 3bbl batches with a big grain bill. A lighter grain bill can yield 4 bbl batches. In the building i was in I had an I beam that had an electric hoist that lifted the basket out of the kettle. I didn't design the system to have a moveable hoist. I can design and build one if that is what would be the deal breaker. As for price, similar systems start at around $25,000.00 so i thought this would be a good sale.

As for efficiency I consistently hit %78 when using BIAB.

When this unit arrives at the buyers location, they need to plug it in and its ready to go with wort chiller and pumps and all. The elements are all tri-clamp fittings so they easily remove from the kettle for cleaning. I was searching the market for a long time and priced everything out and know that this is a good system that is extremely user freindly and priced very well. All other equipment providers ask for %50 down until the item ships but they require 12+ weeks before it ships. The fabricator told me it would only take a few weeks to get it all done and ready to ship. The shipping company said shipping can be arranged and the product shouldn't take more two weeks to arrive at it's destination. My cousin owns the logistics company that this will ship with so I will be getting a really good rate on that as well.

Cherman, I have done tons of studying and researching BIAB and still sparge/rinse my grain as it's raised out of the kettle and get a really good consistent brew batch after batch. the pictures dont show it well but the wort is recirculated back into the grain through the whole mash process to a tube that feeds the middle of the grain basket getting a great flow through the grain bed. It works great for me.

I really appreciate both of you taking time to give me feedback. Any other feedback or questions would also be much appreciated.

 

[cherrman]

So how do you get the water up to temperature to sparge the elevated grain? And what kind of device do you use to do this ?

 

[DevildogJn]

With this control panel it adjusts power flow flow to the elements. Once the target temp is reached for the mash i unplug one of the elements from the main kettle and plug in one element on my 30 gallon kettle. It has its own temp probe and setting. The single element is more than enough to raise the sparge water to its target temp. When i raise the grain out of the mash kettle I connect the pump to the sparge water kettle and pump it over the grain to rinse and extract as much from the grain as possible. While this is being done the control panel starts raising the main ketttle to boiling temp. Sparking ends and the grain is done draining just as the boil starts and I add my hops. Before i started rinisg the grain the effientcy was ranging up to %5 from batch to batch. Obviously that isn't going to work in a brewery where you need consistency. Like I said before I consistently hit %78 with all of the automated heating and controls as well as taking notes and making sure i do everything the same batch after batch. I hope this makes sense. I'm not a writer and kind of suck at getting the info in my head on to paper.

 

[IslandLizard]

Although I have no use for such a system, it just looks intriguing.

Is a 250 gallon BIAB system in any way better than conventional? The hoist system alone sounds like a liability, not an asset.

My observation: I am clueless about what is exactly being offered, the system that was already built and used, or the new system that is being assembled and may be ready in 6 weeks. A potential buyer will want to see a detailed list of all equipment included for the $18k, such as pumps, kettles, welded ports, controllers, elements, valves, etc.

If you advertise this on a pro brewers forum you may reach a much more suitable market.

 

[kh54s10]

You mentioned getting a lot of looks. I think most, like me, looked just out of curiosity.

I agree a pro brewers forum would be more likely to get buying interest instead of curiosity interest.