guess who's now brewing professionally?

[dantose]

Just got hired to run a small 4 bbl system. It's one of the micro pub electric extract setups, but still, my beer is going to be sold!

 

[passedpawn]

Congrats! Have you operated a large system like that before?

 

[Braufessor]

Congrats!

 

[Corey_SS]

Noice. When's it start?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Rhumbline]

Very cool. I'm sure a lot of us are interested in hearing how it works out for you.

good luck!

 

[Hello]

Very neat. How long have you been brewing?

 

[NewJersey]

4 barrell extract???? what?

 

[dantose]

Noice. When's it start?

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About a week ago. First batch should be ready next week.

Very neat. How long have you been brewing?

7 years or so

4 barrell extract???? what?

electric extract. Bringing 4 barrels to a boil with electric elements is more impressive to me.

 

[jhoneycutt]

What beers are you brewing?

 

[shanecb]

That's great! Details though! Where will you be brewing?

 

[dantose]

There is a light beer that we keep standard, but I've also got a beer using about equal parts centennial (60 min) cascade (30 min) and saaz (finish) 17 IBU, 3.5%. Still trying to come up with a name.

 

[ShadyBrewer]

Congrats, that's awesome. I've never heard of such a big system using extract. Those batches must cost a fortune to make using all that extract. How many pounds of extract does a typical batch use?


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[kombat]

No offense, but ... Extract? What kind of professional brewery just rehydrates wort to ferment and sell?

 

[Hello]

I completely missed the extract part. Is it cost effective to brew with extract?

 

[Rhumbline]

I agree that it seems cost prohibitive to use extract but I guess the end result will prove whether it is a solid model.

As for the product, the result is what matters, not the method.

I'm interested in how this goes.

Edited to correct the stupid auto spell.

 

[Teromous]

It's not uncommon for smaller places to buy these turnkey extract systems. They don't need a HLT or MT so they save on space, and there is no need to crush and dispose of grain. They qualify as a brewpub for owning a system, and I've read that there are some business and legal reasons why people do this such as qualifying for a liquor license. I'm sure others who are in the business have far better insight...

 

[dantose]

Update on the place, was allowed to cut loose and make my own recipe!

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/117316/misfire-2014

This was basically build out of random stuff we had left over in the cooler. It came out really good too! I carbed it to a bit higher than an english ale level and served at 45 degrees it was perfect!

 

[ShadyBrewer]

You're using Coopers yeast on a professional scale? This whole operation you've got there amazes me. I would've never thought you could do extract on such a big scale, let alone use coopers yeast.


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[dantose]

You're using Coopers yeast on a professional scale? This whole operation you've got there amazes me. I would've never thought you could do extract on such a big scale, let alone use coopers yeast.


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Coopers is not my first choice, but it's what was on hand. It actually does make a decent brew if used properly. The previous brewer was getting some isoamyl acetate off flavors (banana type) which I initially blamed on yeast selection, but was probably more pitch rate. upped the pitch rate and dropped fermentation temp a bit and cleaned it right up.

 

[Meadiator]

This is really cool. What an awesome opportunity!

 

[dantose]

This is really cool. What an awesome opportunity!

Yeah, super fun. Not enough hours to quit my day job, but hopefully as I'm making better stuff business will pick up and I'll get more hours.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Congrats!

I'd just like to point out to everyone not every nano brew system is capable of brewing all grain in that volume. When your dealing with a small footprint theres certain hoops you have to jump through. The 200L Braumeister we use has a grain capacity of about 94#. Its just not practical to brew full volume batches without using at least some extracts in most cases. Were constantly tasting to see if we pick up that "twang" but you'd never know we even use extracts unless we told you.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

One of my biases about extract is that it would be tough to replicate a more dry beer, as you don't have control over the mash temp.

Is that bias accurate?

 

[FatDragon]

There are quite a few places here in Wuhan, China (and probably around the country) that do in-house beer. The "black beer" always tastes the same from place to place, and I suspect that it's this stuff: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.275.wQF7zT&id=10009902011&_u=lkvecgo0371

Yes, those are 30 kilo jugs of pre-hopped LME, and I suspect there are similar jugs for their other beers if I knew where to look. While it's a bit lame when you know what's going on behind the scenes, they still sell better beer in-house than 99.9% of food establishments in the country. If I end up fulfilling my dream of brewing professionally in China, you can be sure I won't be taking that route, but I've spent many an afternoon emptying $2.50 liters and been glad for the opportunity.

 

[kombat]

I'm still not sure this qualifies as "brewing professionally," as the title suggests. To me, this is akin to someone opening up a bakery where they just buy cases of Duncan Hines cake mixes, add the eggs and water, and call themselves a "professional baker" because they're doing it on a bigger scale than most people and got a permit to sell the resulting cakes.

But hey, as long as you're having fun and making money at it, that's all that really matters. Although it probably helps if the beer turns out good, too.

 

[dantose]

I'm still not sure this qualifies as "brewing professionally," as the title suggests. To me, this is akin to someone opening up a bakery where they just buy cases of Duncan Hines cake mixes, add the eggs and water, and call themselves a "professional baker" because they're doing it on a bigger scale than most people and got a permit to sell the resulting cakes.

But hey, as long as you're having fun and making money at it, that's all that really matters. Although it probably helps if the beer turns out good, too.

Well, there is always going to be a next step that you could also do in house. For example, I know a guy who malts his own grain. Does it make you less of a brewer if you buy premalted? I'd argue no. I don't consider myself less of a homebrewer after leaving my all grain setup back home and just taking an extract system to where we are living now.

I've never really understood the negative attitudes about extract brewing at either a home level or a microbrew level.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

One of my biases about extract is that it would be tough to replicate a more dry beer, as you don't have control over the mash temp.

Is that bias accurate?

I'd say how dry are we talking, % of extract in the recipe, and what kind of extract you use. The extracts we use have generally been plain wheat/pilsner and make up a small portion of the recipe. So we still have control over how most of the grain bill is getting mashed. Other sources of sugar and what grains you use also play into it. When you factor it all in finishing below 1.010 is very doable.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'm still not sure this qualifies as "brewing professionally," as the title suggests. To me, this is akin to someone opening up a bakery where they just buy cases of Duncan Hines cake mixes, add the eggs and water, and call themselves a "professional baker" because they're doing it on a bigger scale than most people and got a permit to sell the resulting cakes.

But hey, as long as you're having fun and making money at it, that's all that really matters. Although it probably helps if the beer turns out good, too.

One of the top cake designers in the Atlanta area used to do just that. My wife worked for her. She'd buy the mix, add I think one or two ingredients not listed on the box, and be done with it. She could have done it from scratch, but it wasn't worth the hassle.

The key to being a cake maker was the design and decorating, not the cake mix. Just like the key to brewing is recipe and execution, not whether you're starting with grain or extract. No need to be elitist over it.

 

[bajaedition]

Well, there is always going to be a next step that you could also do in house. For example, I know a guy who malts his own grain. Does it make you less of a brewer if you buy premalted? I'd argue no. I don't consider myself less of a homebrewer after leaving my all grain setup back home and just taking an extract system to where we are living now.

I've never really understood the negative attitudes about extract brewing at either a home level or a microbrew level.

I see no difference, with all the additives we have now days you can make anything you want with extract.
over 1/2 of my beers are extract and I have been all grain brewing for over 15 years

and as far as the dry comment, just add some amylase enzyme and hold the temp during the steeping, just watch those long strings break down

 

[dantose]

One of my biases about extract is that it would be tough to replicate a more dry beer, as you don't have control over the mash temp.

Is that bias accurate?

There would probably be some specialty beers that required drying in excess of what you could do with normal extract, but I couldn't name a beer, style, or recipe that needed to finish that dry off the top of my head. The bigger factor would almost certainly be yeast selection.

For any specialty cases, I'm sure they have a more fermentable extract available. There wouldn't be anything I can think of that would prevent mashing at that scale or dehydrating the product that would necessarily reduce fermentability levels.