East Durham Brewery Project

Hi everyone,
Just signed up today as I understand this is the biggest and best homebrew forum out there.

So, 7 days ago I had a thought - Why not open a Micro Brewery?

Seriously.

I love beer, I enjoy making homebrew and I have been looking for an excuse to start a business of my own for 10 years. And if that business makes brilliant beer, then is just perfect.

But first thing is first - Brewing beer kits in my kitchen is a world apart from brewing a range of beers that people would ever think of handing over their money for.

I've secured a indefinite lease on a brewing premise - my mate's garage! From here, I have as long as I need to learn how to make great beer before opening the real brewery.

I have my initial draft plans - is there a correct board to post it and make a start on this thing? 7 days of thinking and planning has me itching to make a start - but the only thing I know for sure right now is that I don't even know enough to understand how much I have to learn.

And so, I come to you for help.

Anyone up for helping me get started?

Thanks in advance,
Peter
:

wow big plans there .. just first to wish you good luck mate..
and id love a visit / tour when your up. I am just up the road in north east...

There's nothing like ambition and aiming high ;-).

Not sure where exactly you are based but it might be worth a trip to the Maxim brewery near Houghton-le-spring which was set up by some ex-Vaux management. Not sure if they do tours but I wouldn't mind a visit myself. I think they are well beyond micro-brewery though.

You'll find lots of people willing to give you advice on here. It's probably worth buying some books to get a good grounding. As you would expect Amazon is a good place to start. I think there is a thread on here about book advice.

Good luck, and like JessTheCat I'm quite close too.

you will need a good salesperson, without one you can brew the best beer in the world and end up with a stockpile, once the mechanics and recipe is sorted its all sales sales sales...

good luck, and i look forward to supping your beers in the boozer..

Thanks for the replies. And thanks to the mod who moved this where it would be seen - much appreciated & I will post my initial plans soon on to this thread.

great enthusiasm.
the north east if full of small scale brewerys and you would have to brew some first class beers and have a great sales pitch before you would persuade any landlord to even try your beers on the bar. its a very difficult market. theres just so much competition.
the newcastle beer festival starts today and is on a few days. (details are online) id advise you to go if you can and then you will get some idea of the standard off beers in the area.
im going in a few hours as its a great festival.

The_East_Durham_Project said:

Thanks for the replies. And thanks to the mod who moved this where it would be seen.

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No problem. :thumb:

mickthetrick said:

great enthusiasm.
the north east if full of small scale brewerys and you would have to brew some first class beers and have a great sales pitch before you would persuade any landlord to even try your beers on the bar. its a very difficult market. theres just so much competition.
the newcastle beer festival starts today and is on a few days. (details are online) id advise you to go if you can and then you will get some idea of the standard off beers in the area.
im going in a few hours as its a great festival.

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I certainly think I need to carve out a niche - something that makes us different.

My understanding is that there are no micros or smaller in EAST Durham, so hopefully I have a small catchment area to work with at first.

And the type of beer I want to make is not standard Real Ale (as much as I like it personally). It will probably be more like American Craft style.

But as per my first post, I have a lot to learn about a number of topics. So the more I read, the more I know.

Twostage said:

There's nothing like ambition and aiming high ;-).

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Indeed. Targets set very high. To quote Top Gear, how hard can it be?

Actually, I think Top Gear might be a bad idea, as they tend to ruin everything, then punch someone over the content of their evening meal. Bad example! :lol:

Twostage said:

It's probably worth buying some books to get a good grounding. As you would expect Amazon is a good place to start. I think there is a thread on here about book advice..

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I'll check that out, thanks.
I'm currently reading one online book - http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

I also looked at the Brew Uni at Sunderland. That might be a plan down the line, when its time to take it up a level beyond what I can tech myself.

http://www.hartingtons.com/courses/...rewing-and-setting-up-a-microbrewery-(7-day)/

Might be worth a look?

The_East_Durham_Project said:

I

And the type of beer I want to make is not standard Real Ale (as much as I like it personally). It will probably be more like American Craft style.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

my heart sank at reading this.. OK Smash brewing is my personal crusade atm, but i think there is a real opportunity for someone to brew and sell simple ales based on simple grain and a single hop addition highlighting the simplicity and phenomenal flavour that the good ol british hop can provide..

the shelves of the supermarkets are full of US style complex hoppy beers, with whacky names to appeal to beardy werdies in their 20's with hoop earings and no idea over the top lat addition hopping with challenger or fuggles or east kent goldings etc and stand out
as something different with a spectacular and destinctive british profile to your beers..

just my thoughts....

Fil said:

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

my heart sank at reading this.. OK Smash brewing is my personal crusade atm, but i think there is a real opportunity for someone to brew and sell simple ales based on simple grain and a single hop addition highlighting the simplicity and phenomenal flavour that the good ol british hop can provide..

the shelves of the supermarkets are full of US style complex hoppy beers, with whacky names to appeal to beardy werdies in their 20's with hoop earings and no idea over the top lat addition hopping with challenger or fuggles or east kent goldings etc and stand out
as something different with a spectacular and destinctive british profile to your beers..

just my thoughts....

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Damn, losing customers certainly seems easier than gaining them!

We will see. Still way to far away to be thinking about final product, to be honest.

I'll certainly be starting out with more simple beers to learn the craft.

I personally like malt just as much as the hop. So you never know...

Are Sonnet 43 based in East Durham? Not that it matters, there beers are pretty meh IMO.

Finding a niche has to be the hardest part, there are so many breweries now (with the numbers only increasing) of which many are producing exceptional beers that you really need to do something to stand out. There will always be a place for quality beers tho and the current craft beer revolution is opening up a whole new customer base.

DoctorMick said:

Are Sonnet 43 based in East Durham? Not that it matters, there beers are pretty meh IMO.

Finding a niche has to be the hardest part, there are so many breweries now (with the numbers only increasing) of which many are producing exceptional beers that you really need to do something to stand out. There will always be a place for quality beers tho and the current craft beer revolution is opening up a whole new customer base.

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They're actually very close to Durham itself. Just a few miles south.

East Durham is essentially everywhere in County Durham where you can see the sea !

Don't worry about brew uni.. I've a masters in food and drink, I can distill quite happily for days and days. I made a mean raspberry and cream vodka for my final project but brewing daunts me. I'm new too, my plans are more modest though, supply husband and father/father in law with drink.

brewlab studants were invited to a night last month in Fitzgeralds bar in sunderland. there was student brewers from all over. usa,south america and europe. was an interesting night with the info on yeast etc. but the beers they supplied were very disappointing and one was totaly rank. if id brewed them i would have being unhappy.
sonnet brewery is on the outskirts of coxoe. they brew some overpriced mediocre beers and have a couple of their own bars which is handy to sell their wares.
there a member on jims who brews in chester le st. jam brewery i think he calls himself. one at harelaw just 1/2 a mile from me called the blackhill brewery. he just brews small batches but his equipment is capable of brewing much bigger if needed. there small brewerys all over the north east.
not having brewed a beer and wanting to go professional is a massive task and im afraid brewing them styles of ipa you wont last very long. there is just not the demand to make a living on such a small scale. session beers of 3.5 - 4 % is were your bread and butter is. the average drinker will only try the odd pint of the ipa but will happily have several of a session beer. landlords can buy beer at a very reasonable price and the profit margin for the brewer is small.
you also have the council to deal with and that can be very tricky indeed.
i wish you luck.

To go commercial your garage will need to meet specific guidelines such as separate hot water fed sink dedicated to hand washing. before you do any work on the garage might be worth checking out what these are your local council should be able to inform you of whats needed.. would be a shame to build the brewery only to discover its not upto code and need more work..

Fil said:

To go commercial your garage will need to meet specific guidelines such as separate hot water fed sink dedicated to hand washing. before you do any work on the garage might be worth checking out what these are your local council should be able to inform you of whats needed.. would be a shame to build the brewery only to discover its not upto code and need more work..

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Oh, I have no intention of running a business from the garage. I have capital to move to commercial premises with suitable tooling.

The garage is merely for me to learn and develop. 6months to 1 year, I am thinking.