New brewery set up

Hi All,

I have recently decided that I would like a change in lifestyle, moving away from high paced London corporate environment. Brewing was an easy choice combining love of beer, business, and more hands on product rather than sitting at a desk. Saying that I recognize long journey before me with big gaps in knowledge bringing me to the question that I have been researching for the last few months and hoping to ask today, namely: what equipment set up to buy? What is a must / good to have / luxury? Which manufacturer?

The parameters I'm working with are:
1.) EUR450,000 (GBP300,000) budget
2.) 150m2 space for brewery + 50m2 for storage with just over 4m in ceiling height (can be increased slightly)
3.) initial weekly production target of 60hl with full capacity of ~150hl per week
4.) considering local demand key style will be bright Czech / German style beer from which i would like to move towards IPA, Porter and other specialty beer
5.) will be brewing on my own until things are well on the way hence certain degree of automation would be preferable
6.) scale-able to some degree (if things do go well)

Having done some research, talking to a number of suppliers across EU and china, I do have a rough idea but would be more interested in what the community thinks.

Best,
Peter

Alibaba website is a start if your looking at a commercial set up,most of the products you buy in the uk comes from here.Im setting up a 3 pot system 98ltr tanks,building myself its far cheaper,but import cost from china can outweigh the cost of the Euro zone,i got my pots 304 stainless from Bergland Germany about �£50 a pot delivered.Powell brewing do 100ltr systems if you looking for ideas.

My local brewery, Charnwood Brewery, cost Andrew Reed £250,000 for the complete set up and premises. He used to work for big beer in sales and marketing (anyone can make good beer, it's the sales and marketing that will need the most work). It's a 10bbl and he bought the hardware from Malrex Fabrications. Good quality stuff if you have the budget and you seen to.

I've always found Andrew an amiable sort and I would think would be very willing to give you loads of advice as long as you're not around these parts and in competition.

He has a very good set up and his facebook page gives a good insight to the process from page one.

What brewing experience do you have? Done any courses etc. Where are you starting up?

I just looked at the origional post must have had one too many £450,000 not £4,500 i need glasses,preferably not beer ones!!!

1.) EUR450,000 (GBP300,000) budget
This could be enough just to get setup but is close with the volumes you have in mind. to get to just under 150hl a week you need a 45BBL setup which would fill 360 casks per week and need at very least 5 times that no of casks, so to get to that capacity you would need over £100K in just casks, at very least another £100K for the 3 main brew vessels and 2 fermenters, plus a fork lift and the cost of kitting everything out and loads of bits and pieces.
2.) 150m2 space for brewery + 50m2 for storage with just over 4m in ceiling height (can be increased slightly)
The height is low for the volumes, I saw a 10BBL brewery last week and 4m would be comfortable for that
3.) initial weekly production target of 60hl with full capacity of ~150hl per week
You are looking for a 45BBL setup to give you just under 150hl a week from 2 brew days
4.) considering local demand key style will be bright Czech / German style beer from which i would like to move towards IPA, Porter and other specialty beer
5.) will be brewing on my own until things are well on the way hence certain degree of automation would be preferable
For those volumes you need to move over a tonne of grain into the mash tun (thats for the full 45BBl 150hl)and out again every brew day, that on its own is an ask on your own and on a racking day even your starting 60hl you need to clean rinse and sanitise 72 casks twice a week. No matter how much automation there is I think you would be working over 24 hours a day no including any time selling or delivering anything.
6.) scale-able to some degree (if things do go well)
Thats already big to start with, if you can sell these kinds of quantities at a good price you can look to scale up to a multi million pound place.

Your main issue starting up will be finding customers that are not ties to what beers they can buy. As for were to get equipment China has started over producing the kind of stuff you want so theres bargains to be had but quality can be hit and miss, Italy has a heavily subsidised stainless steel industry so theres bargains there to, the Germans make the best quality stuff but you pay for it and theres guys with all sorts of different quality setups made to order in the UK where you can get the best support and come back if theres any issues.

I own a tiny pilot brewery near Gatwick and will be looking to scale up in a new premises later in the year, if you may want to be involved or have any questions please PM me for contact details.

thanks for the responses. when i said 150HL I meant per week not a day while this would also be only later down the line (probably 2 years). I was thinking about 10HL / 15HL / 20HL system to brew anywhere between twice a day to potentially as little as 3 times a week on the bigger system to start with.

to add further details, the brewery will be in Slovakia hence no competition to anyone here in the UK. This is both a challenge and opportunity due to no craft / independent beer culture to speak of where all beers are of very similar style that I would like to gradually move away from to provide something different.

my thinking at the moment is to go with a 20HL, 3 vessel system, however, wondering whether its not too big considering that volume will really be in the 60-100HL weekly production region beyond which i will struggle to expand any time soon. I could easily hit this type of production on a smaller 10-15HL system which however would be more difficult to scale up if needed. Also, I will be managing a pub attached to the brewery hence can not dedicate all my time to the brewery with my budget not stretching to cover additional headcount.

My timeline is early 2017 building works start with doors open mid 2017. My experience with actual brewing is very limited hence using the next year on education and experimentation..

other than few Chinese suppliers, that seem to be providing a good value for money, I quite like the offering and transparency of this Czech supplier.
http://www.czechminibreweries.com/
and the following Italian company has an interesting design, although no idea what the cost is
http://www.easybrau.it/en/shop/sistemi-modulari-en/flex-brau-da-5-a-50-hl-3-4-o-piu-tini/

The size of the brewery is my main issue at the moment as do not want to burden myself with additional finance if not needed.

I based the 45BBL = 150Hl a week on brewing twice a week like most breweries do. Brewing twice a day can be done but it is a seriously long day and would not give you any time to cask the beer or do anything else that day at all. If you don't need to produce anything until 2017 I suggest you get a 200L setup now just so you can see whats involved then decide what size is realistic for you, in the UK the resale value of it is still good when you order the full size, no idea in Slovakia though.

Just running the brewery without the pub you will find it hard to brew three times a week. Are you getting staff?

simon12 said:

I own a tiny pilot brewery near Gatwick and will be looking to scale up in a new premises later in the year, if you may want to be involved or have any questions please PM me for contact details.

Click to expand...

Gatwick isn't far from me, if you're ever after a volunteer and want an extra set of hands let me know:grin:

In the beginning I'm planning to get an experienced brewer on a contract which will help me with learning as well as free up time to deal with set up and marketing. After initial 3 months would look to brew myself with staff running the tap room, kegging and deliveries. I will also have some help from family with my sister being an accountant and father owning an existing pub in the same town. Ideally would look to brew 3 times a week to start with increasing to 4/5 over time. If things do become too much would look to hire additional help.