It's official starting my own brewing business!

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I don't know building codes when it comes to using propane, but my apartment's propane system is all copper tubing, compression fittings, brass elbows, and brass tees. I'm assuming if my apartment is using it, it probably complies with code.

Assuming when it comes to things like building codes can end up costing a lot of extra money when the work has to be re-done. Also residential & commercial building codes can vary, at least they do in my neck of the woods. I don't know how it is in ME, or how similar the building codes are between an appartment and a bar/restaurant.


Akthor - Good luck with this project. If I am ever up your way, I hope to stop in for a beer. Hopefully anything that you have not thought of (and like any project of this size there will be some), doesn't come back to bite you too hard in the wallet.
 
Nice proceedings!

Man, if you need something from Italy just drop me a pm! A sign or something else wishing you a huge good luck, will be my pleasure to ship you there!
 
Ones that I have made that I always get lots of compliments on are a Nut Brown, Irish Stout, Red Ale, Pale Ale, Graff, a blue moon type clone I call Full Moon, a lot of my friends are Corona drinkers (ewww) so I make a corona clone I call Ma ma ma my Sharona, I will also have Apfelwein and Skeeter Pee available. Obviously being in Maine I will work on a Blueberry Ale and I would like to make a Belgian and a Cream Ale right off, two styles I have always wanted to make.

Pricing wise I want to shoot for $3 pints, no more than $3.50 and I will have experimental beers that will allow me to play around with recipes that will be $1, if I get enough positive feedback I would add them to the normal stocked ones.

The reason is I find it ridiculous to pay $4+ for bud light draft and stuff like Sam Adams and the like are $6+ sometimes there is a place in Bangor that has $8 - $12 drafts which is just crazy. Greed is bad like I said I don't wan't to make a lot of $$$ from a few people I want to make a little $$$ from a lot of people.

What are you planning for house beers???

Wishing you the best. :mug:
 
In doing research I guess I need to call the propane company that provides the propane and have them hook it up. I guess that is probably for the best just to be safe.

I will have some plumbing questions for sure though. I need to replace the current utility sink wit a dual sink and hook up a commercial pre-rinse sprayer. Then eventually put in a toilet and a sink on the first floor.

Hi, I was a plumbing contractor for 10 years and would be happy to help. You need to be extremely careful with gas and pressure test all your piping before you hook it up. Also you need to count up your BTU demand and make sure you will have enough gas to supply the furnace and your brewing rig at that point in the system.:rockin:
 
No break and shear just a welder.

Hmmm when I was searching for a stand the local metal fabrication place's prices for non SS was pretty reasonable. I also got the grating for my smoker from them. I will swing by today and see how it would be for them to fab a hood for me or cut it and make the bends and I assemble it. I don't mind screws I am going to paint the thing to make it look ok. I would like a SS hood but I think at this point that is cost prohibitive the money could be better spent on other things. I will haunt ebay though in case something pops up.

If you have access to a welder, sheet metal, a break and shear you could skip the angle iron and just bend the corners over and tack or spot weld them together the hood doesn't have to be air tight just not wide open gaps and it will draw from the path of least resistance (the lower opening)

edit: for that matter you could screw it together with sheet metal screws but thats not as finished looking.
 
I am always on the hunt for beer and advertising related signage and shwag so anything would be great!

I have a ton of this stuff including lots of neon signs I have been going back and forth on how to decorate the tap room? Would it be wrong or illegal to decorate using signage and neon of other beer company's??? See I find the stuff cool looking and art even if its a neon sign for Corona but I am not sure if it would send the wrong messages to customers?

My logo is an antique visible gas pump so I am thinking I could decorate using an automotive theme for signs and neon? ( I love neon )

We have actually talking of getting some rusted out old junkers and gutting the insides out and making some sort of seating inside for people to sit in outside and eat and drink.

I attached a picture of my current living space so you get and idea of what I mean ( I have added more since that pic was taken)

Nice proceedings!

Man, if you need something from Italy just drop me a pm! A sign or something else wishing you a huge good luck, will be my pleasure to ship you there!

PART_1330410667373.jpg
 
Sorry that was such a bad cell pic above ;)

So painted on Fri and Sat got what will be my HT completely done, one coat on the bedroom and one coat on the living/dining/kitchen. Hope to go down tomorrow before work and get the bedroom and maybe the rest of the big room finished. Then next weekend I will tackle the bathroom and painting the kitchen cabinets. Then I will be ready to start moving crap in and cleaning up in preparation for the big move.

My buddy stopped by with his fancy shmancy camera and took some pics so I will get him to email me and I will post them. In the meantime I have a pic of my keg score so beware keg porn!

P.S. Any of you guys who live close to Bangor I am always looking for new cool people to make new friends with so if you like to drink beer, play poker and Rock Band skills are a plus ;) PM me and the next time we all get together I will shoot you an invite.

Same goes for anyone who is making a trip up here, folks are more than welcome to camp out for free ( my new place is about 35 miles from Acadia National Park ) and once I get to know you and I am sure you are not a crazy or a serial killer you can crash in the house.

Friends and family make life worth living. Best part about friends is that you get to choose them ;)

PART_1330739082609.jpg
 
Best of luck to you sir.

This is what America is about. As a small business owner myself, I appreciate it when people put some skin on the line to make it work for them. America was built on small businesses and will survive on small businesses.

Good luck and will keep track of your progress, want to see you live out your dreams.
 
Good luck to you sir. If I ever back home, I will have to swing by and supprt your business.
 
Nice! Best of luck in the pursuit of your dream. I think we would all love to see you succeed because it gives us hope.

My wife vacations in Standish ME every summer/fall with her best friend and they have been trying to get the guys to join them. If you are close it may give me a good reason to tag along. Slante.
 
I'm down here in Monmouth and just spent the week in Elsworth. I'll have to stop by and check out your setup.
 
Best of Luck. Will be great to see how things develop for you.

My buddy and I keep talking about doing something similar on the brewpub model. I've even checked out a few places that were zoned commerical with restaurant storefronts downstairs and apartments upstairs. I think we have some work to do before we definitely head down that path but I'm confident we'll get there in the near future.
 
Standish is a couple hours away from me.

Nice! Best of luck in the pursuit of your dream. I think we would all love to see you succeed because it gives us hope.

My wife vacations in Standish ME every summer/fall with her best friend and they have been trying to get the guys to join them. If you are close it may give me a good reason to tag along. Slante.
 
Not much happening during the week since I work and sleep mostly. Be heading back down to paint more in preparation to the big move on the weekend of the 31st.

My 3rd keggle for my system and my custom coiled 1/2" SS HERMS coil are on there way here from San Antonio TX, thanks to retrevino and Texan ;)

Now I just gotta finish off the PBR in my other keg but boy it's going down hard :(

My friend took a bunch of pictures during last weeks painting adventure most are useless but here are a couple of my son and I mugging for the camera :)

IMG_2678.jpg


IMG_2687.jpg
 
LOL!!! Sweet pictures, dude! I actually laughed out loud at the second one!

I see the Canadian Club to the right of your son on the first pic - have you ever had the one with a blue label? Been years since I tried any CC, but I do remember that it was noticeably better.

Keep the pictures coming!
 
Keep living the dream man! I'll be sure to stop by when you are open. Im in Maine a few times a year.
 
The landlord moved only a few short miles away and she and her kids left a lot of stuff when they moved which is all the stuff you see in the pictures. She said anything in the kitchen if I didn't want it to just toss it since she was sure she didn't need it. Well we found the liquor and were like score! She stopped by to check out the painting and bring us beer and saw the liquor and was like aww I forgot I left that here and I was like uh uh you said I could keep anything in the kitchen you left behind and she was like yup I did ;)

One of the benefits of moving is being able to have another "fill my bar" housewarming party. I provide beer and food and people who come bring me a bottle of liquor for the bar. I got like 15 5ths and a couple 1/2 gallons of booze the last time I moved which kept me in mixed drinks for about a year ;)

Sold a knife and have some cash in my PP and I'm trying to figure out what to buy for the brewery with it right now :)

LOL!!! Sweet pictures, dude! I actually laughed out loud at the second one!

I see the Canadian Club to the right of your son on the first pic - have you ever had the one with a blue label? Been years since I tried any CC, but I do remember that it was noticeably better.

Keep the pictures coming!
 
Liquor bonus! Score! :)

I envy your position of having to decide on what to buy. Don't overlook the good old basics like Star San and PBW!
 
Money's a bit tight right now but I used my knife money to buy a refractometer. I am tired of trying to read those tiny numbers on my crappy hydrometer. Also got the mash recirculation tube that bobbym sells. A precision scale for weighing out hops and specialty grains. And 30' of 1/2" silicone tubing.

My son works in a restaurant and is also dropping off 8 - 5 gallon pickle buckets with lids. That will give me about 20 of them so far. I will use some for Apfelwein an Skeeter Pee but most will be for grain storage.

Liquor bonus! Score! :)

I envy your position of having to decide on what to buy. Don't overlook the good old basics like Star San and PBW!
 
Money's a bit tight right now but I used my knife money to buy a refractometer. I am tired of trying to read those tiny numbers on my crappy hydrometer. Also got the mash recirculation tube that bobbym sells. A precision scale for weighing out hops and specialty grains. And 30' of 1/2" silicone tubing.

My son works in a restaurant and is also dropping off 8 - 5 gallon pickle buckets with lids. That will give me about 20 of them so far. I will use some for Apfelwein an Skeeter Pee but most will be for grain storage.

tiny numbers no the hydrometer... wait till you get the refractometer
 
Lucky_Chicken said:
tiny numbers no the hydrometer... wait till you get the refractometer

Dual scale or single scale refractometer? I went with the one with brix / Plato only. Not too bad. The ones with the SG scale looked almost unreadable!
 
I would love too be where your at.
just take it one small step/project at a time is the way to get there. and if things start to get to you "Relax Don't Worry Have a Homebrew"

and just a thought on your walk in cooler i built one using steal roofing and 2" Gatorfoam board. the roffing is 36" put on both sides and if you cut the gatorfoam just a little nerrower so the ribs on the roofing will lock it togather it will hold with just a few screws and make a good seal . . . is almost like the ones they make for restaurants . . and can be moved with out too much work if need be. .

Good luck i will be rooting for ya
 
That's the plan one step at a time. Shooting to be open by fall but I am not going to kill myself or over extend myself to make that deadline. Could be Spring 2013.

Do you have more info/pictures about your walk in? I would like to learn more.
 
sorry no pics. but i used a peace of 2" foam Board sandwitched between two pices of steel roofing so that the ribs mach up as a lock.

/\----/\----/\----/\ roofing . . .glued and screwed together panels are 36" wide and
|||||||||||||||||| foam . . . . what length you cut them. foam is cut a few inches
\/----\/----\/----\/ roofing . . .shorter

the first set of ribs lock over the last set on the next panel to form the seal
sorry about the graphics not at my Home computer right now but hope you get the idea
 
I am extremely jealous!! But I have to stop reading for now and get back to work :/
Lol I'm looking forward to reading the other 11 pages!! Good luck with everything!!
 
Dual scale or single scale refractometer? I went with the one with brix / Plato only. Not too bad. The ones with the SG scale looked almost unreadable!

Nice thing about refractometers is you can take a digital picture down the lens and then blow it up to read it easier if needed, can also print or save the image for record keeping.
 
GL with this man, I am contemplating the same thing here in NC.

I work 50hrs a week +, and this would be a side venture unless it really took off.

Ive looked into holding the name I am interested in, but I need to research more on the NC business laws.

Keep us posted! Ill be keeping tabs no pun intended :).
 
What do you do for the floor? What is cost wise compared to wood framing and insulating and sheathing in a more traditional manner?

I'm a bit annoyed USPS wonders why they are going belly up? According to the tracking # they were supposed to deliver my 3rd keggle with my HERMS coil inside it to me on the 10th. Of course no delivery yesterday.

Ok give this a try
View attachment 51896
a quick sketch
 
I made a cranberry belgian for thanksgiving and it turned out great, I called it cranberry sauce. Blueberrys sound like a great substitute. When I get back home to n.y. I'd be happy to upload the recipe if anyones interested
 
LiBrewshed said:
I made a cranberry belgian for thanksgiving and it turned out great, I called it cranberry sauce. Blueberrys sound like a great substitute. When I get back home to n.y. I'd be happy to upload the recipe if anyones interested

Id love to get a copy
 
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