NanoBrewery build

[limulus]

Hey HBH, I know it is tourist season out your way and you now have some nasty fires to deal with. When you have a moment, let us know how things are going. I'm in the bay area every month for a few days, but I just don't ever have the time to drive over your way. I keep trying to find the time to drive up to Russian River for some Pliny, but still have not even made that trip yet.

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

Hey HBH, I know it is tourist season out your way and you now have some nasty fires to deal with. When you have a moment, let us know how things are going. I'm in the bay area every month for a few days, but I just don't ever have the time to drive over your way. I keep trying to find the time to drive up to Russian River for some Pliny, but still have not even made that trip yet.

I wish the fire was closer to him. It is right at our back door threatening to make a run on the 108 with winds today. Going to be a long interesting day.

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

Hey Hoss how is the smoke on your side anyway. I got about 100 yards of visibility now which is actually an improvement over earlier this morning and a huge improvement over yesterday. At the town hall meeting they made it sound like the fire was all but stopped in Groveland/PML. If this thing makes it to the 108 it is going to get really interesting.

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

I wish the fire was closer to him. It is right at our back door threatening to make a run on the 108 with winds today. Going to be a long interesting day.

Well looks like i'm the A-HOLE now. I hope you are not in those new evac's as this thing is scary as hell over here. Good luck Hoss and drop us a line and let me know how it looks in Mariposa.

 

[HBHoss]

The fire is not an issue here. A little bit of smoke in the AM but otherwise it's staying to the north of us. I hope there's no evacs your way.

 

[Renegades_Brew]

Just finished reading from the beginning. Amazingly inspirational! I am related to several other home brewers through extended family connections and there has been talk about going a little more towards nano at some of the family get-togethers.

 

[grupe]

Where did you get the bottle filler and what is the brand? It work okay?

 

[pjcampbell]

Sorry if this has been covered.

What were TTB's concerns as it pertained to having your brewery on your property?

Were there issues with your septic systems capacity... how far the brewery is from your home? Having an official "office" space, locked/secured finished product storage space, etc.?

Did you contact the TTB before doing any building or even spec'ing/planning the building?

 

[brew_ny]

what a read started today at 10 AM est and just got done at 4:04 PM est

thank you for sharing it with all of us

The best of luck with you brewery you are indeed living the dream

S_M

 

[smagic14]

Any updates? Great inspiration and great way to kill time at work.

One question what was your initial cost to start about?

 

[Puddlethumper]

I was passing thru Mariposa today and checked the supermarket for your beer. Couldn't find it on the shelf. I went to the Pioneer Market. Is there another one in town or another area in the Pioneer where your beer is stocked? Maybe just out of stock? (Selling it faster than you can make it?)

I ended up checking out the Prospector's Brewing pub. Their IPA was pretty good. Nice imaginative use of New Zealand hops. I asked the guy in there about you and he had some real nice things to say. He thought your beer was at the market, too.

I would sure like to try your beer and will be back up that way again before too long. So when you get a chance let us know where they are selling it.

Thanks!

 

[HBHoss]

I was passing thru Mariposa today and checked the supermarket for your beer. Couldn't find it on the shelf. I went to the Pioneer Market. Is there another one in town or another area in the Pioneer where your beer is stocked? Maybe just out of stock? (Selling it faster than you can make it?)

I ended up checking out the Prospector's Brewing pub. Their IPA was pretty good. Nice imaginative use of New Zealand hops. I asked the guy in there about you and he had some real nice things to say. He thought your beer was at the market, too.

I would sure like to try your beer and will be back up that way again before too long. So when you get a chance let us know where they are selling it.

Thanks!

Thank you for checking. They have 4 cases of my beer but haven't put it out on the shelf yet. I don't know why but I'm going to call them tomorrow and find out. My Amber is at "The Alley" in 12 oz bottles. They are downtown near the "Gold Coin".

 

[Puddlethumper]

Thank you for checking. They have 4 cases of my beer but haven't put it out on the shelf yet. I don't know why but I'm going to call them tomorrow and find out. My Amber is at "The Alley" in 12 oz bottles. They are downtown near the "Gold Coin".

Thanks! I saw the Gold Coin and thought about trying there but due to time constraints decided to pass. Good thing I did. Will be up that way again in a couple weeks.

Take care!

 

[HBHoss]

Thanks! I saw the Gold Coin and thought about trying there but due to time constraints decided to pass. Good thing I did. Will be up that way again in a couple weeks.

Take care!

Spoke to Pioneer market this morning and they were sorry for the mix up but will have my beer on the shelf right away.

 

[Puddlethumper]

Spoke to Pioneer market this morning and they were sorry for the mix up but will have my beer on the shelf right away.

Cool. I'll be looking forward to trying that amber.

I'm getting ready to retire this winter and have some good farmland outside of Fresno. I'm thinking of putting in some hop plants. I'll be doing this with an eye toward possibly going commercial (small time) if things go well. What varieties do you use the most? And would you have any interest in buying some locally grown hops if they were available?

Like I said, this is still in the discussion stage. I'm just trying to get a feel for the market. And, of course, it will be at least late summer 2015 before anything I plant next spring will be producing enough to even talk about.

 

[HBHoss]

Cool. I'll be looking forward to trying that amber.

I'm getting ready to retire this winter and have some good farmland outside of Fresno. I'm thinking of putting in some hop plants. I'll be doing this with an eye toward possibly going commercial (small time) if things go well. What varieties do you use the most? And would you have any interest in buying some locally grown hops if they were available?

Like I said, this is still in the discussion stage. I'm just trying to get a feel for the market. And, of course, it will be at least late summer 2015 before anything I plant next spring will be producing enough to even talk about.

Cascade, Willamette and Northern Brewer would be my top 3. I prefer pellet hops for consistency but there are a lot of brewers who like whole cone hops.
Good luck with it!

 

[Puddlethumper]

Cascade, Willamette and Northern Brewer would be my top 3. I prefer pellet hops for consistency but there are a lot of brewers who like whole cone hops.
Good luck with it!

Thanks for the recommendations. I know Cascade will be in my initial planting. And I agree about the consistency of pellet hops. I'll be playing with the hops from the first year's harvest myself. It'll be interesting to see how they work out.

Thanks again.

 

[CervezaMaLa]

Reading 4 years worth of Hoss' story over two days has been like power-watching Breaking Bad on Netflix before the last 1/2 season aired...incredibly enjoyable and sad that I got to the 'end'...good thing it really isn't the end, just a temporary pause. What a great thread. Thanks so much. Looking forward to the rest of the story in real time.

 

[blacksmith]

Inspirational! A truely epic story, my congratulations on your current and no doubt future success!

 

[sparky2284]

first off, congrats on your dream and wish big things for you. i have the same dream and similar plan as you. you think its possible to post the links to the licenses required to do all this? or at least the names of the licenses i would need? i would like to check this out. thank you!

 

[levtbeas]

Three days...amazing story. You're truly an inspiration, and I'm really happy for your success. I haven't seen your beer over in New York yet, but I'm anxiously awaiting it.

How about a quick update? It has been a couple of months!

 

[pjcampbell]

Do you know if the TTB requires the brewery to be some certain number of feet away from your (or other) residences?

 

[HBHoss]

Do you know if the TTB requires the brewery to be some certain number of feet away from your (or other) residences?

I'm not sure about the distance, just that it has to be not connected to a residence.

 

[eaglerisingbrew]

This is a great post! I need to start from the beginning and read the whole thing. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[pjcampbell]

How do you like the size building you have?
How big are your batches these days?

I'm trying to figure out how to start out both in building size and brew size. I was also thinking of a roughly 200 sq ft building but don't want to really expand the actual building size later . It's hard to fathom this could be a full time gig at some point down the line but at the same time it makes more sense to size appropriately now versus later worrying about additions., etc.

 

[KepowOb]

Found this thread a little late, but I've made my way through the entire thing... very cool story, thanks for sharing it, and keeping this thread going for so many years! Do you have any recent updates? Things still clicking along like they were, or still some small growth going on?

 

[brian4508]

subscribed!

 

[limulus]

I was in No Cal a couple of months ago and looked him up. I found this on his facebook page:

"Because of problems with my well, which may or may not be related to the drought we are in, Chappell Brewery is closed until further notice.
I will keep you all updated."

 

[HBHoss]

It has been awhile since I've updated this post. First off, thank you all for following along with my journey. It has been an interesting one. As you see from the above post I had to stop operations because of well problems. Most likely drought related. It was a tough decision but I've decided to close the brewery permanently. Water is very important in the brewing process and I'm not sure how much it's going to cost to finally have a consistent supply of water. I was at a point of "do I invest more money into the brewery or cut my losses and stop?" So I decided to stop.
I enjoyed being a part of the Microbrewery community and going to events. I really enjoyed having the tasting room downtown and once that was gone it hurt my exposure and sales. It really helps to be in the public eye at all times and the easier people have access to your brew the better the business. It can be done at the small level like this it just requires a lot of time and energy but for those of you out there that want to give it a go I say go for it. Be careful about your overhead and keep the debt to a minimum. Get involved in your community and help out at local events. People can be very supportive out there.
Cheers and best of luck to you all!!!

 

[max384]

Oh damn. I just read through this whole thread. What a disappointing ending...

But, you did what few of us will ever get to do, then got out when it made sense for you. My hats off to you.