It's official starting my own brewing business!

[akthor]

I have actually had a couple friends want to invest but I don't want to do it that way.

Money is the limiting factor but just in that I can't do things as fast as I want to.

In the end I know I will be better off not having to be beholden to anyone but my customers.

You should sell stock/ownership, or at least try to fund raise, some how. Get people to buy into your dream, and then when it pays off buy them out.

That is how I would do it, but you are not me.

 

[akthor]

I actually really like this idea. I will have to think on it and see what I can come up with.

I have always liked the "plank owner" or brick model. Buy a ________ and write your name on it/decorate it however you want...then they become part of the design--sides of the bar, etc.

For buying a brick/plank, they become part of the history of your business but you dont owe them anything...

 

[akthor]

This is pretty cool I am going to check into this and maybe combine it with the plankowner idea.

Thanks a lot fellas!

Have you thought about trying kickstarter.com to raise money? There have been a few breweries/brewpubs that successfully raised money from it. Set realistic goals for what you need and give it a try.

 

[akthor]

Quick update:

Been working a ton of OT at work. Actually made a deal with my landlord for her to pay me to paint the exterior and trim out the windows and paint the trim. So not only will the building get improved I will get $500 to put towards the brewery. Which if the laws and regs check out will mean the materials for construction of the walls, bathroom, and walk in, to be built as planned will be purchased. (I have the flexibilty to move out and LIVE somewhere else if I can't have a residence attached to a brewpub, and just have this be the business location)

Painting the building dark brown and trim and doors will be forest green to match the roof.

This weeked the landlord is coming over to FINALLY clean out the remaining stuff stored here and so after this weekend I will have some better pics of the areas without all the crap cluttered in there. Which is good because I am having a bash for the 4th and I hope to make a deal with a friend who produces videos and web pages for businesses and I hope to get him to help me make a video to put on kickstarter.com

 

[fermentednonsense]

That's awesome!

 

[enthuzed]

This is awesome. I just spent the last serious amount of time catching up on this topic. Good Luck with this adventure!

 

[NewBrewB]

Had another thought on the plank owner idea....might be cool to use barrel slats.

 

[NewTexian]

I have actually had a couple friends want to invest but I don't want to do it that way.

Money is the limiting factor but just in that I can't do things as fast as I want to.

In the end I know I will be better off not having to be beholden to anyone but my customers.

I'm with you on that. Debt = slavery. Investors are bosses and I want to do what I want to do.

When I pull the trigger, I'll be doing everything I can to build it on my own.

Good luck, man! I wish you all the success you can handle, and then a little bit more to push you further.

 

[NewTexian]

Have you thought about trying kickstarter.com to raise money? There have been a few breweries/brewpubs that successfully raised money from it. Set realistic goals for what you need and give it a try.

Rogness did that to help build some momentum.

http://www.rognessbrewing.com/

 

[akthor]

Just a quick update: really not a lot happening right now I had a big party for the 4th (weekend before) had a bunch of friends who had not been to the property before check everything out listen to my ideas and give me their thoughts and opinions. Everyone was really stoked about the brewery and the campground we've actually had a couple who want a seasonal campsite when we open the campground.

I also met with a local entrepreneur, 4 yrs ago he took a huge risk opening a take out food stand type place right next to one that has been a keystone business in the area for like 50yrs. He was actually MY inspiration since he has proved that if you do it right people will come. He gave me a ton of great advice and gave me the contact he used at the Small Business Administration whom he worked with for about a year before he opened. So in the near future here I will be setting up a meeting with that guy and hopefully he can help me navigate thru the rules and regs minefield for the permits and licenses.

Kind of stuck in a heat wave right now so my next big project, painting the exterior of the building and trimming and painting the doors and windows is kind of on hold till it cools off.

 

[nsmills83]

Hey guys sorry I used to do most of my posting from work but they installed some sort of Net Nanny and HBT is now a blocked domain for me at work

Great thread! The above quote sounds like enough of a reason to increase the days of operation, and get rid of the day job

Good luck. I look forward to seeing the continued progress!

 

[wfowlks]

Great thread! The above quote sounds like enough of a reason to increase the days of operation, and get rid of the day job

Good luck. I look forward to seeing the continued progress!

Or use a web proxy to hide the domain:
http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://www.homebrewtalk.com

 

[63belair]

Just stumbled across this thread and have been making my way through the whole thing all weekend.

Congrats on taking your dream and making a reality! Looks like you've done a great job thus far, and I can't wait to see more updates as you progress. Unfortunately I'm in Alberta for the next 2 years, but when I return to MA / the new England area, I look forward to stopping by for some hb & BBQ!

Cheers!

 

[akthor]

Hey guys live posting during my first brew session in the new place on the new rig. Course having a lot of bugs to work thru this first time.

First not really brewing but made a 5 gallon batch of Apfelwein and a 5 gallon batch of hard cider and got them into the fermentation room.

Next it was onto making my first brew with this gear a Red Ale.

Then first thing off discovered the electric motor I used for my grain mill is not powerful enough to do more than a cup or so of grain at a time so doing the near 19 lb grain bill sucked a little bit.

Then when i went to fire up the burners on my stand I couldn't get much of flame after messing around for an hour trying to get it to work I had to give up. I think it's a bad regulator.

So out came the old turkey frier and moving the keggles as needed on and off it sucked big time.

Was some good news. Chugger pumps work awesome! My vent fan and hood work great better than I thought they would even with the turkey burner not right under it.

Need some gloves for disconnecting the hot camlocks. Need to learn also how to do it without spilling whats left in the hose.

So find a bigger motor for my mill. Get my burners working. Hope to try again this weekend.

Finishing the boil on the Red Ale right now another 40 mins or so. Smells like beer so thats a good sign.

I will post a couple of pics tomorrow.

 

[60sd]

I got blitzed while reading the 29 pages on this thread (so far). One point occurred to me early on on reading this thread: F**k the man, start selling your brew to friends and supporters now. You clearly have a following and a base of customers who are willing to travel out of their way to support you... Even if your establishment isn't ready to open to the public, you could make up some of your initial start up costs by opening for "Private parties" as soon as you have brews that are ready to drink. Couple that with some killer BBQ, and you could pay for this venture one weekend at a time.

My Uncle started an automotive repair shop when he was relatively young. My brother went to work for him when he was 15. My Uncle got past some of the overly restrictive laws and regulations (in CA) by telling the inspectors "Sorry, I had no idea..." My brother now has his own shop and he often wishes he had the balls to do the same thing: he has spent tens of thousands of dollars in local fees for the opportunity to do business. I say brew up some good beer, put it out on this forum, and the money can start rollin in now. If anyone asks, they are your friends and houseguests. You have tons of potential customers, don't keep them waiting too long!

We're pullin for you!

 

[QsnotPs]

congrats, I hope you're ready to work though, I ran the kitchen in a BBQ restaurant a while back.....not easy, and long hours.

 

[Dr1nkBeer]

Alot of people say its hard work.. And it is.. However any work is hard.. I rather work hard at something i love to do than work hard at something I have to do... Long as you can stay afloat you'll enjoy it!

Congrats man... I think most people on this forum want to do the same... If not all of them. I know i would. I have been approached many times by investors that would put money up for a place especially for my ribs and chicken smokes... Beer would be the icing. I work 80hr weeks now and pay the bills, cant seem to get the nerve to take them up on the offers and leave my job!! Im chicken.

 

[JeepDiver]

I got blitzed while

I say brew up some good beer, put it out on this forum, and the money can start rollin in now. If anyone asks, they are your friends and houseguests. You have tons of potential customers, don't keep them waiting too long!

We're pullin for you!

Your either drunk, or an idiot. If you get caught selling alcohol without a license, after you spend a little time in jail, you can forget about every getting a license. Why would anyone that wants to do this for a profession even think about risking it for a few bucks.

 

[tre9er]

Your either drunk, or an idiot. If you get caught selling alcohol without a license, after you spend a little time in jail, you can forget about every getting a license. Why would anyone that wants to do this for a profession even think about risking it for a few bucks.

or he's ATF trolling.

 

[snpr13]

sub

 

[Elisha8685]

It's final than, I am quitting my job to come drink your beer and eat your BBQ. When do we start?

 

[SFbrewdoc]

subscribed, interested to hear how it turns out!

 

[QsnotPs]

To an extent 60sd is right.
When he says tell the law "Sorry, I didn't know" That is correct.
I have been placed in bad situations in manufacturing medical devices when the owner says, "O, ya, we have that." When in reality he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. he did that twice to me, which means i had to back log all kinds of records, and work my ass off, all the while, if he said "Sorry, I didn't know I needed that," the law would have said, "OK, lets get you what you need, if you need help, here is the small business division's number."
The law really isn't as bad as they're made out to be.....as long as you are paying the fines/fees/taxes/etc.

 

[60sd]

Your either drunk, or an idiot. If you get caught selling alcohol without a license, after you spend a little time in jail, you can forget about every getting a license. Why would anyone that wants to do this for a profession even think about risking it for a few bucks.

I was drunk when I wrote that, but I'm not an idiot. (and I'm not ATF!) I should clarify that I was talking about local regulations, permitting, inspections, etc. I certainly wouldn't endorse selling alcohol without the proper ATF or ABC licensing. On the other hand, if the local building inspector shows up and says you need 5 more fire extinguishers and a no smoking sign, as well as an $800 permit, you may be able to slide by pleading ignorance and promising to correct the situation as soon as possible. Here in California, the business environment is so restrictive that it seems like the only way to open your doors is to have 500,000 ready to spend, and good luck getting a loan without full collateral. I apologize if in my stupor I gave the wrong impression!

 

[akthor]

I don't sell my beer right now but I do leave a tip jar out. Course it don't do me much good since my friends tend to "forget" to put money in it but if I am lucky I get enough to cover the cost of what they drink which isn't very often.

Ended up that it was the regulator on my stand afterall I just wasn't operating the new regulator right. Spent three hours taking the burners off and apart checking orifices. Blowing air through the part of the stand that serves as the manifold looking for blockages. Finally while on the phone with the builder of my stand I discovered that the on off knob on the new regulator has to turned 3 or 4 times to be on and not just a 1/2 turn. So with that WOOOSH we were cooking with gas finally!

Still on the hunt for a new electric motor to power my mill I got a cheap plug in drill to power it in the meantime (mistake)

Crap posting this with an Ipad so I can't seem to attach pics. I will post the pics when I get home after work in the morning.

So after the first brew day fiasco I was ready for a 2nd go. Did another batch of Apfelwein and Hard Cider. Beers were a Nut Brown Ale and what I call Full Moon Ale, since it tastes similiar to Blue Moon Ale.

Nut Brown first, ground the grain, drill managed to do it with not too much trouble.

What a joy being able to use the burners on the stand and the pumps and the everything went great. Using the SS coil in my HLT filled with ice worked perfect as a chiller. Bonus was that it also warmed the water up in the HLT making it take less time to heat up for the 2nd batch.

On the second batch things didn't go so smoothly. First I pushed the drill too hard and it caught on fire. Had to grind most of the second batch by hand. During brewing I got a stuck sparge (been researching and I am leaning towards switching to batch sparging instead of fly sparging, I think the loss of efficiency is worth not having to constantly fiddle with everything) then I had some friends show up during the boil. I was showing them around and not paying attention and have a massive boil over I managed to salvage the brew but added about 3 hours to my clean up

So it gets better everytime and I am learning more too.

I know down the road when money allows I will be going all electric. Man those LP burners throw out some heat. I think electric would make for more comfortable brew days and be a lot easier to maintain temps with.

So here are some pics. I also got about 3/4 of the exterior of the building painted. My brother is coming down to help this weekend and so I fully expect the house and trim to be finished. We are also gooing to rip the white vinyl sidibg off of the shed and use the same sheathing as on the house and paint it to match right now it looks weird being white. So after the weekend I will post up pics of the finished exterior. My landlord will then pay me for the work in materials to be used for the brewery so I expect very soon to be ordering the flooring (green rubber type flooring) and to be framing in at least the walk in cooler but I hope also the wall seperating the utilty/laundry room from the brewery.

Also this weekend I will be doing more Apfelwein and hard cider and I am brewing a batch of wheat beer that I am going to divide into 5 gallon batches and use on to make a black rasberry wheat with rasberries picked on the property and the other 5 gallons will be a blueberry wheat with blueberries from a guy who sells them off of his property on my way to work.

 

[akthor]

Crap I am posting this from an Ipad and I can't seem to attach pics. Will will post them in the morning when I get home from work.

 

[ahaley]

Crap I am posting this from an Ipad and I can't seem to attach pics. Will will post them in the morning when I get home from work.

Sounds great! I can't wait to see them! And for my iPhone I have to use the advanced setting, upload a picture then add a line of text for it to post, good luck on your business!!

 

[akthor]

Pics! I will have more after the weekend showing the exterior work.

 

[emjay]

How's the licensing and other bureaucratic nonsense coming along?

 

[awarner322]

Good luck!