NanoBrewery build

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Curious on what "modifications" would have to be made to a wine shop to sell beer. Can you elaborate on that a little if you haven't earlier in the thread?

It has to have a triple sink, or at least access to one, and it has to have the carpeting removed and replaced with a moppable type floor like tile or linoleum.
I wasn't there for the inspection but my brother was and it just sounds like more than they could realistically tackle.

EDIT: There are no restrictions for wine. I guess the wine lobby is stronger than the beer lobby. :(
 
Cold room is finished.

10-21-09 Finished CldRm.jpg

10-21-09 Finished CR.jpg
 
You must have a lot of extra money laying around....first you built your own little brew house, now you are toying with the idea of buying an old brewery...it must be nice...

I wish I were you.
 
You must have a lot of extra money laying around....first you built your own little brew house, now you are toying with the idea of buying an old brewery...it must be nice...

I wish I were you.

I wish it were true. By building the brew house myself it saves a lot of money and the old brewery is actually just a small shop that years ago had a brew pub in it and I'd be renting it with my brother. One thing I don't have, is a lot of extra money. :D
 
Sir, you are indeed living the dream. My first post goes into your thread! I was a home brewer from 1989-1994. I'm thinking about taking up the hobby again. I nearly went into the business professionally, but I could not make the numbers work. I still hope to to some day and have designs on a couple of tourist towns up in the GA or NC mountains. I live in suburban Atlanta and the laws here are ridiculous for brewing. The western states are so much friendlier. The biggest problem here is the three tier system is alive and well. I don't see it ever changing because some politician may lose out on some slush money. The other problem is water...we have a limited amount. The last time I checked brewpubs were limited to 5000 bbls/yr. I was never interested in a brewpub though since there is food involved.

Just for future growth reference, I have a couple of things you may find useful:
There used to be a brewery manufacturer by the name of Cross in Fresno who sold converted/re-conditioned fermenters and brew houses. I visited him to see what he had and he had a great idea for a cold room. He had a refrigerated cargo container that was just perfect. The temp outside that day was 107 and just walking inside that container was amazing. It didn't even have the refer unit connected, but the insulation made a huge difference. I found a place here in GA that sold those containers used with the cooling unit for a few thousand $. That was nearly 20-yrs ago, but probably still cheaper than a custom built walk-in unit. You can chill a lot of beer in one of those.

If someone does make you pour a concrete slab, you can always treat it with the epoxy garage floor paint available at places like Home Depot. That stuff would be perfect for a brewery floor or the floor of your store.

I was in Yosemite back in July and drove right through Mariposa. Maybe next time I'll be able to stop by for a pint or two. But in the meantime, it is legal to ship wine to GA, so I think beer is also probably legal. I'm going to be the first to step and and say I'll by a sixer from you if you are bottling and have a PayPal account.

Good luck and keep this thread updated!
 
High Gravity is a great shop, I used to live in Tulsa OK (where they are located) going in there was what got me started and hooked on brewing beer the owner is great. just thought I'd chime in being that its the first time I've seen this shop mentioned on site ...I also love his house recipes especially his Foolish Pride!
 
have you looked at plastic kegs?? Plastic Kegs of America I know some smaller breweries using these because of the cheaper cost. We have a few, they are not the same height as stainless kegs so if you have a mixture they are a pain in the ass but if you use all plastic they are great.
 
have you looked at plastic kegs?? Plastic Kegs of America I know some smaller breweries using these because of the cheaper cost. We have a few, they are not the same height as stainless kegs so if you have a mixture they are a pain in the ass but if you use all plastic they are great.

I'll have to check into that. Never knew they were out there.
Checked out the new sstore and the cold room in it is about 8 X 20 with a 10 ft ceiling. Two A/C units, one at each end. It used to have floor drains in the main part of the store but they filled in the slope to level the floor for the next owners when the brewery went under. :( Still though, the store looks great and it'll just be my brother and I on the rent agreement which I like.
 
Is leasing kegs from a vendor such as Microstar (http://www.microstarkegs.com/) an option? I don't know how many/few you anticipate nor what their minimum client size is etc etc, but most of the micros around here use a lease system.

Hey,
Microstar is not likely an option for you. I checked them out and they have a minimum of 500 keg fills/month.
 
have you looked at plastic kegs?? Plastic Kegs of America I know some smaller breweries using these because of the cheaper cost. We have a few, they are not the same height as stainless kegs so if you have a mixture they are a pain in the ass but if you use all plastic they are great.

The other nice thing about plastic kegs is you won't have a bunch of homebrewers trying to turn them into keggles! :D
 
Yeah unless your going to get a lot bigger microstar is probably not the way to go. The nice thing about microstar though is that they clean the kegs for you and bring them clean to your door all you have to do is fill them. Hoss maybe your should just step up to 250bbl a month. ;). Seriously I wold look into the plastic kegs if I was you, the brewer at Seven Brides Brewing uses them and he told me that he has put milk and other crap in them to see if they would keep flavors and aromas that he wouldn't want in his beer and he said with a good wash they always came out clean. Jeff told me the only downside to them is that if you let the beer get warm in the keg it takes a lot longer for it to cool down but he also said that if you fill them cold they stay cold longer. He's even looking into their 2.5 gal kegs as a party keg, guess he's working on some sort of CO2 set up to put on top of them so you can dispense out of some sort of sanke tap.
 
Great info guys, thanks for that. :mug:
For right now I'll be corney kegging it in my 4 tap Keezer. I'll do 36 bottles from each keg to sell and leave the rest for tasting. The Keezer can hold up to 8 kegs should the need to carry more flavors arise.
The Sanke keg situation will be if I happen to get the local restaurants to carry my brew. That would be the next phase of operation.
 
Bottling and kegging are fun because you get to see your product out there, but to support the brewery you need retail sales. For example you sell a keg to a draft account for $100, you also have to provide a tap handle, and keep the lines clean plus deliver. If you have your own tap room, you will be grossing over $400 per keg with no delivery. That cash can really support you. So I would think about a retail location. If you are interested in a spreadsheet to play with numbers, drop me a PM from our web site coloradoboy.com. Good for you, the more breweries the better!
 
Bottling and kegging are fun because you get to see your product out there, but to support the brewery you need retail sales. For example you sell a keg to a draft account for $100, you also have to provide a tap handle, and keep the lines clean plus deliver. If you have your own tap room, you will be grossing over $400 per keg with no delivery. That cash can really support you. So I would think about a retail location. If you are interested in a spreadsheet to play with numbers, drop me a PM from our web site coloradoboy.com. Good for you, the more breweries the better!

I am selling from a retail location, just not by the glass. I can only sell by the bottle and tastings. I suppose I could sell a pint sized taster. ;)
I'll have 4 taps to start with.
 
Anyone else considering, or already is, going pro join the new group created by ajwillys. Just click on Groups in the title bar above then go to Going Pro. The more the merrier.
 
Hey Tom,

I hope you're not trying to stay low profile, cause I'm going to blow your cover. I just wanted to say that the Il Vicino on Central (circa 1994-1995) is one of my all time favorite restaurants.

HBHoss, take Tom up on his offer for the spreadsheet and any other advice he might offer. Then go and get the Frankenbrew video. It might still be available from the BrewCrazy podcast (Why you are there, listen to the Tom Hennessy interview). Very, Very interesting.
 
I'd love to hear the ball-park pricing for the plastic kegs (1/6th and 1/12th). It'd be tempting to get a group-buy together for some custom "I Brewed It" engraved ones!
 
I'd love to hear the ball-park pricing for the plastic kegs (1/6th and 1/12th). It'd be tempting to get a group-buy together for some custom "I Brewed It" engraved ones!

This is what I was quoted:

Just for your FYI, we give price breaks for every full pallet you buy of any of the keg sizes, 27 fit on a full pallet for the 1/2's; 60 for the 1/6's; 120 for the 1/12's. 1/2 barrels =$86.50;1/6 barrels = $65.50;1/12 barrels = $56 a unit.

These prices seemed on par with the prices of used stainless kegs. We still haven't decided if we'd rather have used stainless or new plastic, but leaning towards used stainless.
 
Used stainless is the way to go as long as you can find them, you also have to consider the value of stainless versus plastic. You aren't going to have homebrewers and crazy meth addicts stealing plastic kegs. I also like the idea that the plastic kegs have rfid chips in them so if you had a scanner you could easily track your kegs. Eventually if your getting big enough your more than likely going to have to buy new stuff and your going to have to stick with what you have because like I said plastic and stainless kegs don't stack together.
 
It's a crap shoot though I mean as long as you get back your stainless kegs they will last for ever and more than likely the plastic ones will need to be replaced I'm assuming. You know I feel like we're hijacking Hoss's thread as the new Pro-Brewer advice thread. Maybe we need to start something new.
 
It's a crap shoot though I mean as long as you get back your stainless kegs they will last for ever and more than likely the plastic ones will need to be replaced I'm assuming. You know I feel like we're hijacking Hoss's thread as the new Pro-Brewer advice thread. Maybe we need to start something new.

Hijack away guys, this is great information. The Nanobrewery portion of this adventure is pretty much done so now it's on to the Going Pro segment of our tour. :D
 
Are there any recent pictures of the nanobrewery I have missed? The last I've seen were when you finished the cold room. I'd like to see it full of kegs and maybe something boiling or mashing...
 
Are there any recent pictures of the nanobrewery I have missed? The last I've seen were when you finished the cold room. I'd like to see it full of kegs and maybe something boiling or mashing...

That'll be soon. I just ordered 50 lbs of 2-Row, among other things, then it will be time to utilize the new stuff.
 
I'd have to recommend used SS sanke kegs. Big benefit in that they will pretty much keep their value over time. The plastic kegs have some fans and a few more detractors but check them out and see if you think they'll work for you. I bought a van-load from Sierra Nevada last year. (edit: van load of SS kegs...)
 
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