I really appreciate the pics… Thank you for taking the time to do that, it helps me a lot. Those certainly look a lot bigger next to a tape measure! That is the ONE thing (so far anyway!) I don’t like about Stout, they are way too light on pictures on their website. Had to piece this together in my head from folks like yourself who were kind enough to share.
Yeah, it looks like I’d be pushing it trying to get 10 gallons in. Maybe I shouldn’t be selling my current system after all… going to want a home pilot brewery next.
Again, thank you very much for your time and insight… My mind is swimmmming with having a blank slate to start fresh with again and I need to start getting some decisions made!
;D my system isn’t quite as elaborate as yours, and i cringe when even my nonbrewing friends say “damn, how much did all this cost?!” at least its less than what most car guys spend on rebuilds!
Lets put it this way, for what I paid for this system I could have had a professionally built STI boxer motor with all the bells. 1BBL brewing can be done for considerably less but when I’m done with this it will be fast, consistent and repeatable. Which is what I wanted.
I brewed a Red last weekend on the new set up and the brewing part was cake. The heaters are touchy and you have watch the boil very closely but everything else was smooth and by the numbers. My friend Jim loading grain into the tun.
Mostly finished the first brite beer tank today. Cleaned, sanitized, figured out where all the bits went. I’m still waiting on the clamps and a couple fittings but this is just about ready for the Red which I hope to transfer next weekend. It’s pretty cloudy yet and on a brewer friends advice I’m temperature crashing it today. Fingers crossed.
So here’s the result of batch number two. A mostly trouble free batch and I would score the result at a 7, taking points for appearance as cooling issues led to some cloudiness and head retention isn’t great. Tastes great though
The growlers are done finally. I picked them up yesterday and have handed out a couple cases of samples so far with good feedback.
Have you thought about hooking up with a local Pub? There are a lot of Brew Pubs popping up around here. As long as they are serving food and being inspected there is no other licensing required. Not sure what they are doing to retail as some are selling growlers. Personally I think there is a market for 5 gal kegs. Could sell premium beer and still be aforadable
At this size there really isn’t any money in it. You don’t break even till you hit 7BBL and only if you serve food which means kitchen equipment and staff. Bottling or kegging the break even happens at 17 BBL. Tight now it’s a hobby and I have a small but devoted following and all the beer I can drink. Life is good.
My wife and I are fully licensed by the feds and state for our brewery. Right now, we are only brewing ten gallon batches, and the hobby makes us money. Next month we’ll be moving a 1bbl system, but still pretty manual. And all our profits go right back into brewing toys. We jsut recently build a walk in fermentation room with cooling and heating for good temperature control.
Here is a samll brewery in Portlan, OR that brews on a 1bbl system and they’ve been in business for 20 years. They must be doing something right.
Depending on the salary of day your job, and your market, you’ve got everything you need to do it. (except you can’t brew commercially in your garage unless you block the door to the house, if connected. if that’s a seperate building, you are golden)
Seems like overhead would play into it. Say a guy inherits his grandfather’s old bakery, which is next door to great western malt, and his cousin manages Haas in Yakima. … odds are it would be easier to show a profit than a guy you starts with nothing but a big loan.
In any event I will never make money brewing. That’s a certainty.
No doubt you are correct. We already had a 40X60 shop that we converted tot he brewery. While not next door to Great Western or Haas, we are only about 100 miles away from either. (for us, Puterbaugh Farms in Yakima is a better way to go) And, a friend owns another brewery in town with a tap room, that has given us two “guest” taps. (as long as we can keep them full)
Sweet! Washington rocks the beer world. I’m an hour and a half drive from both, but no daddy war bucks to support such a venture. Which is fine cuz I have no dream of turning my fun into work. Glad it works out for some folks though.
I hear ya. I’m brewing tonight, and cleaning 5-6 cornies. Oh Joy.
LOL. It’s all worth when I see those two tap handles more active than the other guest taps, and those are full of Ninkasi, Langunitas, Stone, and Fremont.
If my day job was retirement, and I lived close, and someone wanted me to help out? That would be cool. But me personally, I have a big huge reality check when it comes to the fantasy of going pro. Not for me.
I should add that I like my beer and everyone who tries it says I should go for it. But, like auditions on American Idol, most of which are there because their grandmother continually praised their singing. Yet they never sought an unbiased pro opinion until Simon ripped them a new one.
I will soak up the friendly biased praise and leave it at that. King brewer of my garage!
Yes the garage thing is a problem and because I’m not commercially zoned I couldn’t get a license from the city. The day job is also a factor an I live away from the brewery 4 days a week sometimes 5. Also a challenge as the commute is brutal. To seriously consider this it would have to replace my current income and it would take a big system to do that. Believe me I have considered it and maybe someday I will take that route but timing is everything.
