Buying a micro brewery????

[RobJ]

Hi all
I'm thinking of buying a micro brewery, has anyone any thoughts on theses, do u really need the 3 pots? I was going to go for the 70l but it's only £30 difference for the 100l, I don't know whether to go for 1 mash tun and 1 pot with a burner, it does look cool with the 3 set up on a stand!!!!

 

[Hello]

Well, what kind of output do you want and how quickly do you want it? I assume there's a business plan in this decision. I'm thinking more pots the better but it's hard to say without lots more details. At least for me it is.

It sounds exciting though. I envy you.

 

[emjay]

You talking about a business, or just about brewing equipment? The term "microbrewery" usually refers to a licensed brewery operating as a business, so your terminology may be confusing.

 

[RobJ]

Sorry....... No this is 3x 100lt pots and it's for a hobby, the love of beer and the dream of perfection, in the add it's called a micro brewery, the guy who is selling them obviously wants to sell the 3 pots and 2 burners so I didn't no if I'd still manage fine with 2 pots and 1 burner and just swap them over

 

[grathan]

You'd probably manage, but it would be very convenient to have all 3 pots. How much does it add to the asking price?

 

[RobJ]

Think it's about £100 because if you buy the whole kit it works out cheaper, think I'll go for the 3 mate

 

[ajdelange]

At least 3: HLT, Mashtun and Lauter tun. This assumes you will clean out the mash tun during vorlauf and use it a the kettle. A fourth vessel can be used for decoctions or as a separate kettle.

 

[k_mcarthur]

At least 3: HLT, Mashtun and Lauter tun. This assumes you will clean out the mash tun during vorlauf and use it a the kettle. A fourth vessel can be used for decoctions or as a separate kettle.

Huh? I'm confused. I have a three kettle system: HLT, Mash/Lauter tun, and boil kettle. Why would you mash in one and sparge in another?

 

[ajdelange]

Shouldn't be. You have HLT, Mash/Lauter tun, and boil kettle. I have HLT, mash/kettle and lauter (plus decoction/second kettle). Different system designs with 3 vessels each (plus the decoction vessel in my case). The mash/kettle has a steam coil but no false bottom. The lauter tun has a false bottom but no steam coil. The decoction vessel has a false bottom and a steam coil. I could rearrange things in various ways and I do often use the decoction vessel as the kettle using the false bottom as a built in hop back. IOW there are more configurations out there than the one you happen to have.

 

[k_mcarthur]

Shouldn't be. You have HLT, Mash/Lauter tun, and boil kettle. I have HLT, mash/kettle and lauter (plus decoction/second kettle). Different system designs with 3 vessels each (plus the decoction vessel in my case). The mash/kettle has a steam coil but no false bottom. The lauter tun has a false bottom but no steam coil. The decoction vessel has a false bottom and a steam coil. I could rearrange things in various ways and I do often use the decoction vessel as the kettle using the false bottom as a built in hop back. IOW there are more configurations out there than the one you happen to have.

Sure, of course there are hundreds of different set-ups that use 1-5 different kettles. But the OP was wondering if he could get away with only two kettles, why would we jump right to a four kettle set up? I use to get by with a 8 gallon turkey fryer, 40 qt cooler mash tun, and buckets. I would lauter into the buckets and re purpose HLT for boil kettle. Doesn't make sense to me to mash in one kettle then dump into another with a false bottom to lauter, why not just mash in the kettle with the false bottom? I am always open to learning a new method, so please don't take this the wrong way. I am genuinely trying to understand the logic here.

 

[ajdelange]

But the OP was wondering if he could get away with only two kettles, why would we jump right to a four kettle set up?

The intention was not to push him to a 4 vessel system but rather to 3. The 4th was mentioned because it makes decoctions easier though one can do decoctions with fewer (decoct in the kettle). One can get by with two I suppose but it certainly seems to be easier to have at least three unless one has another source of hot water (e.g. hot water heater).

Doesn't make sense to me to mash in one kettle then dump into another with a false bottom to lauter, why not just mash in the kettle with the false bottom?

The false bottom in a lauter tun is usually raised a couple of inches above the bottom in order to allow for under letting before the commencement of vorluaf - the mash 'floats' on this. If one tries to mash in a tun set up for lautering there are problems with even heat distribution between the two sides of the false bottom. There shouldn't be grain below but fine particles always make it through - there is no filter bed formed during the mashing phase as it is constantly stirred. I guess RIMS systems might be an exception to that.

There are, and they seem to be quite popular these days for small breweries because of the small footprint, systems that incorporate HLT (below) and mash/lauter tun (above) into a single piece of equipment. Thus the brewery has but two vessels: the HLT/mash/lauter and the kettle.

I am always open to learning a new method, so please don't take this the wrong way. I am genuinely trying to understand the logic here.

Probably much of the 'logic' stems from the fact that this is the way a brewery is traditionally laid out. The lauter tun is often of bigger diameter than the mash tun because one doesn't want the grain bed in the lauter tun to be too deep (leads to stuck mashes). Lauter tuns are often equipped with knives (rakes) which cut the grain bed without disturbing it. Mash tuns would have paddles or propellers designed to mix the mash thoroughly. Mash tuns are often heated, lauter tuns usually are not. As noted above there are systems that manage to do both mashing and lautering in the same vessel. It's been a while since I've looked into one so I don't remember how the rake and mixing functions are handled.

 

[RobJ]

I see what everyone is say and I'm glad I've asked the questions and made my mind up on the 3 x 100l pot system, just hope it's not too big as it's for a hoppy and not business, as the options are 50, 70 and 100l setups, the price isn't much difference so that doesn't bother me, it's whether I need 100l pots when I've been brewing out of 25l buckets using the coopers kits. Then on the other hand I don't want to get the smaller ones and wish if gone big. Any of yous got any suggestions on this, space isn't really an issue, cheers.