20 barrel brewery batch cost. Mine too High?

[zachj9292]

My ingredients supplier i am considering is Country malt group. My twenty bbl batch costs are between 1000 and 1300 dollars when I get all of my ingredients from them.

I plan to sell these for 70 to 80 dollars per half barrel keg. That puts me at a profit margin(when only taking into account the cost of raw ingredients) between 40 and 50 bucks per keg. And yes I have to go through a distributor.

I seen some other peoples batch cost and they are doing much better than me. My recipes dont have anything extremely expensive in them though.

Whats the problem?

I was guessing one problem would be my yeast cost. I don't know how to figure this because I will obviously have to buy some at first but then I can grow it up. How do you figure a per batch cost with yeast?

FYI

I have two beers. one is 1.042 og and the other is 1.054 og

[yap]

My ingredients supplier i am considering is Country malt group. My twenty bbl batch costs are between 1000 and 1300 dollars when I get all of my ingredients from them.

I plan to sell these for 70 to 80 dollars per half barrel keg. That puts me at a profit margin(when only taking into account the cost of raw ingredients) between 40 and 50 bucks per keg. And yes I have to go through a distributor.

I seen some other peoples batch cost and they are doing much better than me. My recipes dont have anything extremely expensive in them though.

Whats the problem?

I was guessing one problem would be my yeast cost. I don't know how to figure this because I will obviously have to buy some at first but then I can grow it up. How do you figure a per batch cost with yeast?

FYI

I have two beers. one is 1.042 og and the other is 1.054 og

make sure you're getting the most for shipping on your malt. If you have one major base malt that goes into everything, only buy it in full pallet quantities. this will save .05-.10 per pound. as for hops, you might be seeing higher costs because you are (most likely) spot buying. you mentioned centennial which (if you can find it) is somewhat expensive right now. make sure you are factoring in water treatment chemicals (if any), yeast nutrient, fermcap, etc. I even add cleaning chemicals onto the cost of each batch. I'm only 7 BBL and my cost is a touch higher than yours, but that's for beers pushing 1.060 gravity.

as for yeast, i am assuming (at the low end) to repitch 4 times so I take the yeast cost/4 per batch. i know this is on the low end for repitching, but for now i would rather overestimate costs than underestimate. yeast is f^&%ing expensive and if getting a liquid pitch, expect to pay handsomely for overnight delivery...

as for the other costs, it depends on how much you plan to make. you should have a good idea of what your fixed costs will be for the year. divide that by how much you intend to sell in that year and it'll give you a good approximation of fixed cost per keg. add a nickel on for yourself and there you go (simplistically).

obviously the more you make the lower the fixed cost /bbl will be... i guess thats why they call this a volume business.....

[zachj9292]

Thanks for the info. I am going to do some recalculating.

About the yeast...I did a calculation in mr.malty yeast pitching rate calculator and for a twenty barrel batch of my light pale ale, I need 2 liters with a starter. So I just need to divide the cost of two liters of cal ale yeast by 4? (or however many times I repitch). and the thing is my supplier i may go with sells the yeast in only 1.6 liters containers. If I get extra to make two liters I will have some leftover, and I'm not as familiar with yeast as I should be but I know that liquid yeast sit around like that for a long time.

I guess white labs might just always sell their yeast in 1.6 liter quantitys. I don't know. theres way too many questions in my head

[Bierkoenig]

Damn. That's a cheap keg of beer. Is that the going rate in KY?

[obvance]

White Labs also sales 2-3 bbl pitches I believe.

[yap]

White Labs also sales 2-3 bbl pitches I believe.

white labs can sell a pitch for a 1,2,3,7,10,15,21,30 bbl batch (and on up from there). not sure about other suppliers, but that's what you can get from them. call them to get prices for what you're looking for and make sure to include the shipping cost....

[poltz]

Yes. Contact them directly. You're obviously looking to keep costs down. Go directly to White Labs and save the markup. Do the same with hops if you can. AND, be sure you aren't underpricing your Kegs! Get beer pricing from your ABC. Everyone must report their prices. It is public info! Just have to ask.

[callmetim]

$70 for a 1/2bbl is way to cheap. the absolute low point is around $120.

[chaser]

Seems a bit high to me. I've only researched into using Briess malt from Country, and I found it to be pretty expensive. I get malt from BSG and have hops contracted out from HopUnion and HopsDirect many years in advance. It obviously depends on the beer, but for a 20 bbl batch of our blonde ale (cheap to brew), I'm spending about 800 a brew. Our IPA is more in the 1100 range. I also self distribute our kegs for 125-150 (dependent on style/bar).

[brewmaster 2011]

Have you tried Brewing Science Institute for your yeast? They are half the price of white Labs and Wyeast and higher quality and cell count.

[zachj9292]

Yeah it would obviously be better to go directly to white labs, and I will check out the other supplier that is supposedly half the price. I don't have time to work on things for a few days though.

thanks again

[obvance]

I would love to see a higher cell count than White Labs. 100% at half the price? Been looking for miracle yeast.