From homebrewer to probrewer (Long)

[gointomexico]

I am bootstrapping, I think. I have no loans, so I would be bootstrapping, i think? most of my money came from my retirement, my job and an investment from my family, and one investment in the business from my friend. total family investment is less than 10% the other 90% is my own.

 

[Soldevi]

How are you controlling fermenting temps? This is way over my head, just curious. or did I miss it?

 

[gointomexico]

I don't think I said prior. I am using ambient temperature control. I have a room in the back of the brewery that I will install a window ac unit in. I currently use it in the garage and it keeps the temp at around 60, the fermenters are from 65-69 which is in the range for the yeast that I am using.

 

[jhhicks]

Congrats! I hope all of your hard work (and hard earned money) will payoff for you! Looks like a huge project/goal!

 

[gointomexico]

Thanks, im pretty excited to be brewing for a living, cant wait!

 

[bcryan]

How do you like using the stainless barrels for fermenters?? I don't think there is any valves on the bottom so do you open the top, stick in your hose and pump the beer into kegs?? How about cleaning your barrels. They must be heavy to move around?? Or can you clean in place?? Good luck with your new adventure.

 

[kombat]

What a fantastic adventure! I can only imagine how busy you must be, but more photos/updates when you have a chance would be appreciated!

 

[gointomexico]

"so do you open the top, stick in your hose and pump the beer into kegs?"

This is exactly what I do. I clean them by lugging them around. I also cut a hole in the top of the barrel that fits a corny keg lid so i can stick a modified brush in there to scrub when needed. They are about 40 lb's empty, which isn't too bad to move around, just a little awkward. When I use the lye solution, i put in 5 gallons and roll it around on the ground, and I plan on sanitizing the same way.

Now that i said, "lye" i just want to mention that I don't use it at home. I prefer oxyclean, soap and water. Lye is a pain to work with, lots of safety gear, and I have to balance the ph before getting rid of it. After using lye, I have to do an acid rinse to put the stainless in an acid state and passivate it. Then I can use more familiar stuff like starsan.

At home, I just use water and elbow grease. If that doesn't work (very rare), I use oxyclean. No gloves, no respirator, no face shield, chemical apron, water proof boots, and no goggles. Well, sometimes goggles.

I love using these because they are economical, and stainless. Much better than the plastic i was using before. A cinch to clean. You can even steam clean them, which is awesome. Any reason i can think of to fire up the burner, ill do it.

" but more photos/updates when you have a chance would be appreciated!"
Yea, I will do that tonight. I have a bunch of photos in my phone, but I think its time for an update. Ill run out there tonight and take some pics. I'll also put up a pic in the DIY how i converted the drums into nicer kettles. I just simply cut the top of my BK, but I think the way I did the HLT and MT is better.

 

[gointomexico]

Did some work, fixed up some fermenters and labeled them today. Was thinking of polishing them after a lye soak to get rid of the root beer smell from them.

Did some grinding on the seam to smooth it out. Two of the fermenters I got had a terrible weld.

Here is the corney lid on the fermenter. I had to grind down the legs some so that it would fit on the top of the barrel.

Here is the wheels i roll the fermenters around on. not too hard. To the left is the wort chiller, and the blue tank is my balance tank for storing lye/acid. Have to make sure the ph is arround 7 before sending down the drain.

Here is the lye (2% sol) doing its job

Lye safety gear

Mill stand and a ladder in the back. I wear gloves too.

Pic of brewstand, cus its not in the prev. pics, forgot to post it.

You can see the 16 inch duct for fresh air intake, and the hood for exhaust, mop sink, and 6' trench drain and a little slope. Ill take another one tomorrow showing all the plumbing for the burners, and the stainless kettles once they are done.

 

[bcryan]

Thanks for the pictures. Do you ever wish you had the open head drums?? Might help with cleaning?? The wheels are genius. Great idea.

 

[gointomexico]

Thanks! I thought I might have a problem with sealing the drum and the gaskets holding aromas and flavors. When I was testing last year, i used an open top plastic drum, and it did not seal. This was Hop Haze III, and it came out oxidized. I can't say for sure it was because it didn't seal, but started using closed heads anyways.

The soaking with the lye seems to be cleaning well, if a little slow. The solution is about 1.2% (6.9 lb lye with 55 ish gallons). After fermentation, I may have a little trouble removing the krausen ring but I got that hole in the top and I can stick my arm in there if I need to.

The thing I'm most worried about is that bad seam on two of the fermenters. I ground it down, and sanded it with 80 grit, gonna work my way up to wet sand it and polish it. I know one person used the old glacier tank water storage barrel as a fermenter and had a few infections.

So, IMHO if you were going to use the open head, i would say go for it. Just be careful of the seam. 3 of the drums I got had that bad seam, the other 5 did not. I will post pictures on how you can tell the difference a little later.

And if you really want to ferment some beer, consider one of these:
http://www.coloradotankandbarrel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=37:

 

[Brew-ta-sauraus]

Great post thanks for all the pics good luck to you.

 

[gointomexico]

Thanks! Working on a clogged plate chiller, and debating on putting it in the oven on a cleaning cycle.... Here are some pics of the first brew day. I had my buddy Thomas come out on Saturday to mill and help out. Sunday I brewed.

My family was a little busy with other things.

So I called on Thomas my friend of 30 years to help out.

Pumping lye through the chiller

Thomas milling

Boulder CO uses chlorine, so I boil the day prior and let it stand over night.

Simcoe!

Sanitizing a fermenter for the yeast starter. Made two, one for Hop Haze, one for Chocolate Milk Stout

Mashing. Using the funnel to distribute the water so I wont get too much channeling.

I lauterd into a bucket, then dumped it back. Here's the mash runoff, started the kettle about half way full.

Came to boil in about an hour. Talking with the landlord about increasing the gas pressure to 11" wc. Were at 7 now.

Hops I got out of the kettle, what was left. My ss scrubbie got clogged, so, I just removed it and ran everything through the plate chiller. That was a terrible idea btw. Looking back I should have ran home and used my keggle as a grant, or got my hop spider and pumped everything into that, then run it through the chiller. Hop spider pumping idea I got from bmbigda's post after the fact.

Only two boilover events. First one was when I thought, "eh, were good" and started shoveling out the MT. Unwatched pot always boils over? Second time, I dumped in the 60 min hops, bam! malt explosion!

The starter worked great, was fermenting the next morning just fine. Going to make some more starters tonight.

 

[tservice]

Wow, everything looks perfect. Good luck to you!

 

[bcryan]

how are you filtering?

 

[gointomexico]

I cut the dip tube on the Cornelius kegs by 1/4 inch or so. It goes pretty clear into the kegs, and clarifies a bit more in the cooler. If something needs to be fined, i would use gelatin. I have not had to use it yet.

 

[gointomexico]

Here is a pic of Hop Haze, I-IPA and Chocolate Milk Stout.


Hop Haze is cloudy because of the 5lb's of late hopping.

 

[mcwilcr]

everything is looking good! I'll have to check you after you open up when I'm in the area.

 

[bcryan]

i'm so jealous. ive been following you on facebook and on hbt. thanks for taking the time to share your experience. another question for you. how do clean all your corny kegs? i'm guessing you have dozens of them. any special tricks for cleaning that many? thanks

 

[gointomexico]

I clean them by hand using hd caustic and acid no 6 with a big brush. I clean the outside with a ss scrubbie or a brilo pad. Ill take some pics today and post them of my procedure.

 

[gointomexico]

Here is the keg cleaning procedure:
1. fill with water
2. Scrub with brush:

3. use mr. sponge to get under the top and check to see if something is missed

4. rinse
5. sanitize

The few i have cleaned came out sparkling. I leave em sealed till its time to clean them.

Couple more pics of the brewery itself, all done up and a few upgrades. Some tables and chairs coming later this week, or next. I am a little worried about keeping up with production, gone through about 4bbls last month.

Here is the main taproom today:

well, that pic didn't have the pong table. What brewery is complete without beer pong?

And the dart room


Here is where I store kegs, so when I kick one I can replace it cold.


all and all, its been great! I have managed to pay my bills, and get a few upgrades along the way. Its allot of fun owning a brewery and chatting about beer all day.

 

[BraapBeer]

awesome set up! I like it

 

[gointomexico]

thanks!

 

[kombat]

Any new photos? How are things running? Any new insights you've learned as you've gotten the brewery off the ground?

 

[MuddyCreek]

Totally impressed with your startup. Of course we're all thrilled when people succeed with the nano model.

I do have a couple of questions regarding the accounting side of things. If you aren't comfortable answering these or would rather talk about it privately I understand. I am wondering what your weekly production and sale-rate is. What is ballpark profit margin per bbl? You said you had gone through 4 bbls in a month earlier in the thread, I have looked at a potential startup but can't really make all the numbers work for less than 3 or 4 bbls a week.

Anyway, I really appreciate your discussion of those unpleasant details like cleaning processes and nuts and bolts. Do you have somebody on hand to serve in the tap room or do you just do it yourself? Has this become a 'full-time' gig or do you still work a day-job?

You said you trimmed your corny lines about 1/4 inch to keep the sediment out, how long do you let them sit and age before you serve? Do you have a rotation schedule to accomodate that?

Ya, I know... lots of questions. It's because I'm really thrilled that you're living the dream. Very happy for you and like everyone else, I love to daydream about the day when I can finally make the leap myself...

 

[cuda6pak]

Totally impressed with your startup. Of course we're all thrilled when people succeed with the nano model.

I do have a couple of questions regarding the accounting side of things. If you aren't comfortable answering these or would rather talk about it privately I understand. I am wondering what your weekly production and sale-rate is. What is ballpark profit margin per bbl? You said you had gone through 4 bbls in a month earlier in the thread, I have looked at a potential startup but can't really make all the numbers work for less than 3 or 4 bbls a week.

Anyway, I really appreciate your discussion of those unpleasant details like cleaning processes and nuts and bolts. Do you have somebody on hand to serve in the tap room or do you just do it yourself? Has this become a 'full-time' gig or do you still work a day-job?

You said you trimmed your corny lines about 1/4 inch to keep the sediment out, how long do you let them sit and age before you serve? Do you have a rotation schedule to accomodate that?

Ya, I know... lots of questions. It's because I'm really thrilled that you're living the dream. Very happy for you and like everyone else, I love to daydream about the day when I can finally make the leap myself...

Interested in all these same questions

 

[gointomexico]

So, about the corny lines, I fill them and shake to force carbonate. After they are chilled they are ready to go. So, about a day after force carbonating I will serve them. Some of the others age cus I can only fit 8 Cornelius kegs in my keezer.

I am the only person in the brewery, but I get occasional help from friends with running the taps while i pick up furniture. The local homebrew guys helped me brew a batch. Nothing planned usually, just hanging out and having a good time.

I have a FT contract position but as of March 4th I'm looking for another position. I am a jboss administrator by trade. The brewery does not make enough money for me to work full time there an support myself.

Yes, it appears that I am selling about 4bbl's a month. I can tell you I have sold about 8bbls so far. My maximum capacity is a little more than 7.5bbls/month (5 1.5 bbl fermenters). The brewery volume is increasing as were moving into spring. Jan-Mar are slow months for everyone in my area from what I understand. Also, the brewery is brand new (January 10th), and i did 0 marketing when I opened.

 

[slcdawg]

Funny, I read this thread a month or so ago and didn't realize you were in Boulder. We stopped by J Wells last night for the first time. Really enjoyed your beer! Really cool little taproom and my buddy and I (both homebrewers) enjoyed talking to you about your beers.

As I mentioned last night, I think you should take advantage of free advertising through social media. Try to post something on Facebook and Twitter frequently. Its crazy how some of the new CO breweries have built momentum through social media.

Good luck with your venture! I will definitely be coming back for some of those great beers and conversation...

 

[SavoryChef]

He posts on facebook several times a week.

 

[slcdawg]

He posts on facebook several times a week.

Thats great! I hope my post didn't come across as critical - I was just offering a helpful suggestion. With such great beer, I'd love to see H Wells be successful.

We've had a dozen or more breweries open in Denver/Boulder in the last year. Some of them are really agressive, pushing that Pavlovian response with pics of beer and such on FB, Twitter, etc. Some of them (i.e. Cannonball, Fate and Mountain Toad) built a ton of momentum before opening.