Starting brewery

[RichardPryor]

Hello.

I have a friend who has this idea about starting a brewery/restaurant. He approached me because I'm a perfectionist and whenever I put effort into something, something great comes out of it. I recon his idea is good, and he's a business person and has good connections. He wants me to learn about beer making so I can come up with a good beer.

IMO, it's not as simple as that. I have 0 knowledge about beer making and being realistic it would take me at least 1 year to come up with a decent beer. Am I right?

Second question: if one is to start a medium/large scale brewery, should one hire a professional to 'create' a beer for them? How much would this cost?

Thanks!

 

[40watt]

Hello.

I have a friend who has this idea about starting a brewery/restaurant. He approached me because I'm a perfectionist and whenever I put effort into something, something great comes out of it. I recon his idea is good, and he's a business person and has good connections. He wants me to learn about beer making so I can come up with a good beer.

IMO, it's not as simple as that. I have 0 knowledge about beer making and being realistic it would take me at least 1 year to come up with a decent beer. Am I right?

Second question: if one is to start a medium/large scale brewery, should one hire a professional to 'create' a beer for them? How much would this cost?

Thanks!

I would hire a brewer. As a beginner, you may make a good beer. Repeating this consistently is highly unlikely.

It sounds like your friend thinks making beer is like making lemonade.

 

[BendBrewer]

Read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471735124/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery


Twice.

 

[Priemus]

You probably dont need more than 6 brews under your belt before you start making really good beer, but its a learning process, you learn nothing from making 6 beers in one day

Make one tomorrow, make one next month, 6 months from now youll probably know what you did right and wrong and can recreate your brew.

--
....and then you start thinking about perfecting a unique reciupe

 

[BendBrewer]

The professional that you need to hire is one that knows how to build a brewery. The recipes are the easy part.

 

[jtakacs]

that's what we tell everyone... we did the mechanical engineering for RRB's production facility... if you're building a brewery, it is a SERIOUS undertaking. having started businesses in the past, i can tell you i'd never even think about doing a brewery as much as i love it... it has to be an all-consuming passion from what i've seen and a 24/7/365 job.

 

[stubbornman]

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

With a brewery/restaurant you really need an expert on each side of the house; someone to manage brewing and someone to manage the restaurant.

Are either of you in the restaurant business? I think the restaurant end of this will be much more difficult than the beer side. It would be easier for a restaurantuer to start a brewpub than a homebrewer. If neither of you has brewery or restaurant experience then I think your chances of success are pretty poor.

There are quite a few homebrewers who have gone pro, but most are only pico or microbreweries. Then you are really only dealing with licensing, govt regulations, making beer and marketing it.

If you are really going to do this, then I would hire a brewing consultant. This person would design the brewery, the process and your initial recipes. Some of the big brewery equipment companies have someone on staff for this.

Contrary to a previous post, I don't feel you can learn the process well enough in 6-12 months to design commercially viable recipes and brew them on a large scale. I am speaking from more than 10 years of homebrewing experience. You may however, be able to follow a recipe and process that has been laid out for you. There are other things to consider when making beer though, that only experience and a brewing education (not necessarily in a school environment) can tell you. For example, look at the number of threads in the various forums that ask what certain off flavors mean.

So with all that said, I have a few suggestions for you.
1.) learn to brew, moving to All Grain beers as quickly as you are ready.
2.) Talk with other brewpub owners about their experience in opening one, and ask if you can volunteer some time working there to get a feel for the business.
3.) Talk to a couple brewing equipment companies about their equipment and what services they offer as well as ball park pricing.
4.) Start working on a business plan
5.) Be sure that you have enough capital to meet ongoing expenses for at least a year in the bank and enough to operate 3 years without a profit.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Dude if you can make beer from a can of extract it is beyond time to start your own brewery.

Wait, have you figured out how to use hops to lock in the flavor? That is a must.

 

[itsme6582]

Get a job in a restaurant. The easiest way to get a management position in a restaurant is to apply for a management position. Don't expect to wait tables and learn the business.

Read, read, read. Start brewing immediately and then read some more. In a brewpub setting you don't need to reproduce the exact same beer each time. Go right into all grain. You won't be the first person to jump into this with all grain.

You could spend 5 grand and buy a Sabco or any other complete system and be ready to go. You can spend weeks on this site looking at what others have been able to put together. Some cost as much as a car. Other all grain systems could be built for well under $1000. These will not be nearly large enough for the brewpub but they will get you underway to start brewing.

You're already behind