My adventure of opening a brewery in Chicago

[SandstoneCityBrew]

The 3.5bbl system was sold within an hour of deciding to let it go. It's staying in Chicago and is going to Bucket List Brewing.

I mean on the Pyschobrew site. I don't see them selling a 3.5bbl system. That's currently the size I'm looking into.

 

[Demon]

They consider it a 4bbl system, but most brew 3.5bbl batches on it.
http://www.psychobrewllc.com/nano-brewing-systems/complete-systems/psycho-system-33.html

In a production setup it's far more efficient on time and fermenter capacity to do 2-3 batches a day. Two batches of 4bbl each would give 8bbl, a very uncommon fermenter size. 3.5bbl would double batch to 7bbl, very easy fermenters to source.

 

[Joon75]

Tried Honey your blonde and 1926 at my local brew shop, Chicago Brew Werks. Excellent beers!

 

[johns]

bump

 

[Demon]

Tried Honey your blonde and 1926 at my local brew shop, Chicago Brew Werks. Excellent beers!

Thank you. With the response we've gotten from 1926 it will stay in the lineup year round.

 

[Joon75]

Going to buy the extract kit this weekend

 

[mnags]

Do you self distribute or do you use/plan to use a distributor in the future? Is it difficult to acquire accounts in a market like Chicago? Thanks for posting this thread, it has been interesting to follow. Lots of good info!

 

[Demon]

We'll be self distributing until end of first quarter of 2014. Acquiring accounts has been fairly easy. There are a ton of bars in Chicago that specialize in craft beer and love local beer. As we increase production it will surely be more difficult, but right now we are sold out as soon as it's kegged.

 

[h-bar]

I hope these questions aren't too prying. Did you have to get a business loan, or did you already have enough money for startup? Also, how long did it take before you started generating a profit?

 

[Demon]

No loans, I hated the idea of starting a small business with debt. As far as profit, we'll be cash flow positive in January and paying two full time salaries in March. If we didn't have plans to buy more equipment, most of the original investment could be repaid at the end of 2014, but I'd rather buy more tanks and continue to grow.

 

[h-bar]

Did you take any classes or read any books on large scale brewing? Or did you have experience working in a brewery?

 

[Demon]

Classes, no. Books, yes. Experience, no.

Here's the thing…

There are two ways to get into the brewing business with no experience. One way is to work as an apprentice for months with no pay and get promoted to cellar man and barely above no pay. The other way is to open your own brewery. I chose the latter. Is this a bad business decision? Maybe. We'll find out, won't we?

With that said, 'experience' can be found quite easily in Chicago. Not a day goes by that I am not at another Chicago brewery learning something new. It truly is an incredible group that we are. Any one of us needs help with learning a process or borrowing ingredients and it's done, no questions asked. Without that network of support, I would not be able to make this happen. Classes and books can only teach you so much. Being there, in your boots, clamping hoses is what builds knowledge.

7bbl brewing on my system is essentially the same as home brewing, just much bigger. The equipment is similar, just larger. The biggest difference is the cleaning regiment and setting strict SOP for every task in the brewery. As a bonus you get all the Chicago brewers stopping by and filling our fridge, which is nice.

Cheers!

 

[Flakk]

Congrats on doing what many of us only dream of! I will definitely be trying some of your brews the next time I visit the Beer Bistro.

 

[mnags]

When you first made the decision to go ahead with the brewery, what was your first step in the plan to go forward?

 

[Demon]

When you first made the decision to go ahead with the brewery, what was your first step in the plan to go forward?

Inform my wife we're going to be poor for awhile.

Seriously though, I spent the next two months putting together a business plan and pro forma to see if it was financially possible to do. That included researching equipment, calculating material costs, utility costs etc.

 

[Jcmccoy]

I just found this post today and wanted to tell you that our brewpub in southern Illinois Du Quoin St. Nickals bought this psycho system from Bucket List and it just got delivered to the brew house. We plan on getting a 5bbl fermenter from same Psycho brew and kegging our beer to start and get some 7bbl FV and BBT and double brew like you. I am going to be the brewer and have a few questions on brewing on this system. I will post soon or send a PM.

 

[Jcmccoy]

Can you tell me about your tankless hot water heater? Could you digitally control the temp coming out? Could you get it to 170~ for sparge water?

Did you mill your own grain?

What hop utilization did you use when doing caculations?

Any tips on mashing in and cleaning out the mash tun?

Hops Pellet or whole? Did you make your own Whirlpool or did you use the pump?

How did the Heat exchanger fair?

Did you have a different pump to transfer the wort to the heat exchange then to the FV? If so what was it?

Tell me how you handled your yeast did you store any? How did you pitch and harvest?

Thanks for any help! and if you have any other tips and brewing on this system or a scale like this.

 

[kcmobrewer]

I wish you all the success in the world man. I can only dream of doing something like this someday.

 

[Demon]

Can you tell me about your tankless hot water heater? Could you digitally control the temp coming out? Could you get it to 170~ for sparge water?
I can get 185* out of it. Adding a second one inline to increase the flow rate.

Did you mill your own grain?
Usually, no. We have a mill, but our grain gets delivered a day or two before brew days and its much easier to open the bag and dump it in the mash tun.

What hop utilization did you use when doing calculations?
120%

Any tips on mashing in and cleaning out the mash tun?
We have one guy stirring and one guy dumping for mash in. Mash out involves a shovel and a lot of sweat.

Hops Pellet or whole? Did you make your own Whirlpool or did you use the pump?
Pellets. We whirlpool by hand with a big paddle.

How did the Heat exchanger fair?
It works well. Last batch it accidentally worked too well due to me not watching the thermometer. We ended up at 59* into the tank.

Did you have a different pump to transfer the wort to the heat exchange then to the FV? If so what was it?
We have a 3/4hp pump with VFD. Bought from CPE in Canada. Was $1600 and worth every penny. A quality pump is the best piece of equipment in a brewery.

Tell me how you handled your yeast did you store any? How did you pitch and harvest?
Depends on timing. If it's perfect, we transfer yeast from one fermenter to another. If it is within a couple days we put it in a corny keg and shoot it in through the racking arm. Anything more than a two day gap and we use a fresh pitch.

 

[Demon]

Here is a new picture of the brewery. Nothing glamorous, just a brewery.

 

[Rockn_M]

Here is a new picture of the brewery. Nothing glamorous, just a brewery.

I like the reclining chair in the middle...sometimes you just need to sit down!

 

[Demon]

The two luxury items in our brewery... a lazy boy and a TV with netflix.

 

[BrewFry22]

What was you total estimated initial investment?

Do you wish you would have gone with the 7BBL from the get go?

 

[kcmobrewer]

I'm super jealous! I'm moving back to KC soon, maybe one of these days I will drive up and come see it!

 

[Normis]

What was you total estimated initial investment?

Do you wish you would have gone with the 7BBL from the get go?

I would be interested in knowing this as well. We're also in the startup phase, and also thinking about going with the 4 bbl from Psychobrew, but are having a difficult time ballparking the buildout costs.

 

[geer537]

We're in the planning stages and thinking about this one:

http://www.bru-gear.com/store/p3/3BBL_Brewery.html

 

[Demon]

Around $100k went into getting us up and running. As far as the 7bbl vs 4bbl, best idea ever. I built our 7bbl brewhouse for under 10k with "off the shelf" components from GW Kent and Brewmation.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Normis]

Around $100k went into getting us up and running. As far as the 7bbl vs 4bbl, best idea ever. I built our 7bbl brewhouse for under 10k with "off the shelf" components from GW Kent and Brewmation.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Thanks Demon! If you don't mind me asking, and if it's not too much of a hassle, could you give us an idea of what you used to piece together the 7 bbl? I've been struggling to get a 4 bbl together for less than 30K, and I would definitely love to be at 7.

Thanks again,

Aaron

 

[Demon]

Kettle - http://www.gwkent.com/1500-l-396-gal-flat-bottom-primo-tank.html

Mash Tun - http://www.gwkent.com/350-gallon-open-top-tank.html

On Demand water heater in place of HLT - http://www.tanklessking.com/rheem-t...t-vent-natural-gas-tankless-water-heater.html

Heating Elements 3x15k watt - http://www.brewmation.com/Heating_Elements.html


I had a welder add additional ferrules for the elements in the kettle and built a copper manifold for the mash tun.

 

[Mojzis]

Steve this is a great thread. Congrats on your brewery and hard work paying off.

I have a question though, how do you maintain mash temp? Herms?