Wanting to start a nano brewery (3bbl minimum)

[devoidelk]

So I have been brewing for over a year now and have been milling on the idea to go professional but on a small scale to start. My beginning setup would be a 3 to 5bbl kettle/mash with 2 fermenters same and 4 bright tanks doubling as serving stations.

A little about the demographics of my town:

1.Only about 5,342 people during off season but alot of out of town traffic during the summer because of a local theme park.​

2.I think there are 6 bars that are pack full on weekends so the market is there for alcohol.​

3.Closest brewery is 45 minutes away.​

With that in mind i'm looking for some input/tips on where I should start. I have a lot of people try my homebrew and they all keep asking for more and letting me know what they did and didn't like about it.

 

[Brew-Jay]

There's a good "Brew Strong" series on going pro (They called it the progasm series) where you will hear Jamil and John Palmer talk about what it takes. Several hours of good info. Go to the brewing network web site http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/ and look up the archived episodes. There about a dozen on going pro.

 

[Phunhog]

One piece of advice is to start entering your beers into competitions. It will let you know if your beers are really that good. If they are and you start winning then that could be great PR.

 

[CA_Mouse]

There's a good "Brew Strong" series on going pro (They called it the progasm series) where you will hear Jamil and John Palmer talk about what it takes. Several hours of good info. Go to the brewing network web site http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/ and look up the archived episodes. There about a dozen on going pro.

Also listen to the ones where they are talking to Ken at Device Brewing. He started off with a 1.5 bbl brewery.

One piece of advice is to start entering your beers into competitions. It will let you know if your beers are really that good. If they are and you start winning then that could be great PR.

This is great advice too! I started entering mine earlier this year. So far I've gotten a 3rd and a 2nd. I plan on entering as many as I can before I'm ready to start thinking about open my doors.

 

[devoidelk]

Ty all for the advice I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before I proceed to looking at financing so I hit as few snags as possible. Glad my sister is an accountant so she can help make the business plan and such..

 

[devoidelk]

..

 

[Brew-Jay]

Cool logo. Also, if you haven't already, start a spreadsheet of every start-up cost you can think of (estimate high) and another sheet of all the monthly expenses. And another of inventory cost and revenue. It's a real eye opener, believe me. You will understand the feasibility when you can visualize the costs involved. Plus, as you will hear in the podcasts, having a brewery is more about running a business than brewing a good beer.

 

[devoidelk]

Yes, Luckily I have an accountant for a sister so she can help with a lot of that stuff. We will be starting those sheets soon enough to make sure it is even feasible around here to make a profit.

 

[Gitmoe]

Don't use an image that comes up in the first 5 results for a google search of "hops" as a logo. That's my first piece of advice to you. If you're serious about opening a brewery then hire a professional to do your business image. As a graphic designer nothing bothers me more than new breweries with terrible branding including logo, labels, and web design. It's not expensive in the grand scheme of things to pay somebody and your branding is the first impression you make to a consumer. If I saw your logo on a bottle I'd think, "another tiny new brewery that doesn't have their s#&% together..." and I'd grab the bottle next to it. It's a terrible way to think but that's how consumers operate. I'm particularly sensitive to it being a designer. And don't give me the old "don't judge a book by it's cover". We all do it. Unless I knew your beer was great by word of mouth, terrible design will make me pass usually. It's an uphill fight to start a brewery and every detail you can execute at a high quality professional level will make the battle a little easier. I've been re-branding a local brewery close to me that started with awful art. They are now seeing the benefit of better design. There's always a student or new designer who will help you out for a surprisingly small amount of money if you don't want to use a design studio...

 

[Mongrel]

There's always a student or new designer who will help you out for a surprisingly small amount of money if you don't want to use a design studio...

Yeah, students all want to start building their portfolios, and you can find some really talented ones. OP, you should be able to easily find one at your nearest Arts Institute. Go to one of their open houses.

 

[PDX_T]

Ty all for the advice I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before I proceed to looking at financing so I hit as few snags as possible. Glad my sister is an accountant so she can help make the business plan and such..

This is quite useful!

I've given the nano or brewpub a thought many times, even started working in commercial brewing to cut my teeth. What always stops me is start-up capital; I'm relatively young and have very little in the way of personal assets with which to gain investor confidence.

Be prepared for start-up costs of around $100,000, and if you haven't started looking into zoning and available real estate, do that now.

Yes, you will need the money first, but you may need lots of special permits or permissions from your city planners or whoever, and that cost could stop you in your tracks.

Good luck on your adventure!

 

[devoidelk]

Don't use an image that comes up in the first 5 results for a google search of "hops" as a logo.

It was just a rough idea of what I think I would want it to look like. I have a few of friends that do graphic design and can help create something professional and original.

This is quite useful!

I've given the nano or brewpub a thought many times, even started working in commercial brewing to cut my teeth. What always stops me is start-up capital; I'm relatively young and have very little in the way of personal assets with which to gain investor confidence.

Be prepared for start-up costs of around $100,000, and if you haven't started looking into zoning and available real estate, do that now.

Yes, you will need the money first, but you may need lots of special permits or permissions from your city planners or whoever, and that cost could stop you in your tracks.

Good luck on your adventure!

I have a brewery about 45 min away that I can drive to that gives tours. A lot of my research for start-up will come from hanging around there. That is the figure I thought of for start-up. I have found a old restaurant that has since moved it has 2926 sq feet including a restaurant, office warehouse. plus there is a building outside that can be rented out as an apartment. (leverage for some work around the business perhaps?) It also has a small building set off to the side that can be modified to use as storage of some kind. They want $200,000 to buy the whole building but I figure 12% down would atleast get me making monthly rental payments.

 

[rklinck]

You need to do the Excel work yourself because it is enlightening. You can create it so that you can simply adjust your production volume to see how it will affect your bottom line.

I think you need to be careful about counting on seasonal tourist who are coming to an amusement park for your business. Aside from being seasonal, I doubt these are the target demographic for craft brewers.

Also, two fermenters is not enough. That would mean you would be brewing no more than once a week. You are almost certainly going to be losing money at that production level. The successful breweries using 5bbl or less systems are brewing multiple times per week.

 

[devoidelk]

I would not want to put the bulk of my bottom line on the seasonal tourist group but it would help to bump up sales during that period for the slower winter months.

 

[firestem4]

Continuing on what Gitmoe said. You'll want to make sure that you are using images that you can legally use for commercial purposes. Creative Commons has a lot of artwork and photographs that can be used for commercial purposes (Most require "attribution", or you can buy or make your own stock imagery from a number of sources.

I'm not sure how using CC artwork in a Logo where attribution is required, Maybe someone can comment in about that.

Otherwise, GOOD LUCK!

 

[devoidelk]

Something random came across this nice burner.
http://www.sharpteksupply.com/servlet/the-6197/Burner-Jet-11-NAT/Detail?zmam=25112989&zmas=1&zmac=8&zmap=6197&gclid=CNyixe_HobsCFcVFMgodRnQA6A

 

[JuanMoore]

Something random came across this nice burner.
http://www.sharpteksupply.com/servlet/the-6197/Burner-Jet-11-NAT/Detail?zmam=25112989&zmas=1&zmac=8&zmap=6197&gclid=CNyixe_HobsCFcVFMgodRnQA6A

That's an insanely high price. The same burner is ~$40 at my local restaurant supply, and I've seen it cheaper than that at many places online.

It's also a little underpowered for the size of system you're talking about.

 

[devoidelk]

I did my math wrong. Glad it was just research and not actual buying.

 

[Nightshade]

Also, two fermenters is not enough. That would mean you would be brewing no more than once a week. You are almost certainly going to be losing money at that production level. The successful breweries using 5bbl or less systems are brewing multiple times per week.

I agree...and am also stuck behind this issue currently.

3bbl system with three 6bbl fermenters and we carry 4 house brews with 3 seasonal (rotationals) slots.

3 of the house brews are brewed in double batches, our Hefe gets brewed in a single 3bbl batch. Keeping up can be a real juggling act at times due to lack of fermenter space.

We also have four 6bbl serving vessels and 3 keg stations. Three of the serving vessels hold house beers and one is a seasonal, two keg stations are seasonal and one holds our Hefe. Two of those keg stations also can hold 6 kegs, but the third can only hold 2 at a time due to space limitations.

So that being said, it is most definitely a juggling act on many fronts and at minimum if I were to open my own setup I would have 4-5 6bbl fermenters (depending on speed of sales) or if space allowed I would consider another 3 bright tanks instead or even the three 6bbl fermenters and another two 3bbl fermenters.

So many things I would change about capacity if it were my money, but I tend to brew on average between 5-8 times a month, so the math is there and I manage, but it could be a lot easier to manage and less stress with a bit more room to move beer around in.

 

[devoidelk]

So regardless of actual brewing hardware size (HLT,Mash,Kettle). Fermentors should be in high quantity. That I know is going to drive up costs alone. I would prefer jacketed as to allow independent temperature control. Waste of time or worth the extra cost?

 

[Nightshade]

So regardless of actual brewing hardware size (HLT,Mash,Kettle). Fermentors should be in high quantity. That I know is going to drive up costs alone. I would prefer jacketed as to allow independent temperature control. Waste of time or worth the extra cost?

Glycol jacketed is worth every penny you invest, if you can only afford three then by all means get three jacketed vessels but also look to add at least one more down the road.

A lot of this has to do with how many taps you plan to keep at all times as far as number of fermentors. We keep 7 taps total and in the close to two years now I have been here have only had an empty tap twice (I think) because of "fermentor jams" so it is doable with a lower number of fermentors...it just isn't as convenient and adds stress to the brewer trying to manage them.