Equipment and tips for 7 BBL startup brewpub

[jsvarney5]

Hi all,

Three friends and I are in the planning stages of starting up a brewpub in Jacksonville, FL. I am preparing the business plan and trying to figure all of the needed equipment for a brewpub of that size so I can start putting costs to paper. I have only been brewing for about 6 months. Two of our friends live in CT and have been brewing for the better part of a decade. So I am certainly not the brains behind the recipes, but I have been brewing just about every other week since the summer and recently switched to all grain batches. Since I havent brewed on equipment of this size before, I am really in the dark on everything needed. I know the basics (mash tun, kettle, hot liquor, tank, fermenters, etc.) What else should I be thinking of? How many fermenters should we have for a 7 bbl system? What size? Should we try to cut costs with used equipment or go with new equipment? What kind of costs can I realistically expect to be looking at for all of the brewing equipment on a 7 bbl? Also, we are not going full kitchen. We are going to be doing a small kitchen with good sandwiches to rival a thriving local sandwich shop here. So kitchen equipment will be minimal.

I really appreciate the input. Any other tips from those who have started a brewpub would be greatly appreciated as well. Trying to soak in as much info as we can right now.

[darkonnis]

Nothing wrong with used equipment provided it's stainless. If its plastic, you need to be very careful what you use it for. A cold liquor tank or something like that can be used plastic, but all your FVs etc need to be used stainless or new.

How many FV's you need depends greatly on your process throughput and how much you intend to make.
For example, if you wanted to brew just once a week, and had a residence time of (7 ferment, 7 condition) then you would need 2 tanks and it would be all hands on deck to get the tanks empty and turned round ready for the fresh wort while its on the boil. So ideally 3 tanks. Twice a week, and you need to double that, or alternatively reconsider batch sized FVs and look at double size conditioning tanks.

You can get a pretty solid idea just by writing it out on paper and see where your overlaps are.

As an idea for equipment,
HLT, MT (potentially a lauter tun if you go that route), grain hopper, copper, FV, conditioning tank, cooling system, serving tank (if you go that route), cold room....

I'm no pro brewer yet, so please don't take this as an exhaustive list as there are other, far more knowledgable people on here

[jsvarney5]

RE: Equipment and tips for 7 BBL startup brewpub

Awesome stuff, thanks for the info. Off the bat, it probably seems beneficial to go double size on the FV's. Is that what many brewpubs do to maximize the beer they can produce? Ideally, I'd like to brew 3 times per week, going for around 1,000 bbls/year.

Nothing wrong with used equipment provided it's stainless. If its plastic, you need to be very careful what you use it for. A cold liquor tank or something like that can be used plastic, but all your FVs etc need to be used stainless or new.

How many FV's you need depends greatly on your process throughput and how much you intend to make.
For example, if you wanted to brew just once a week, and had a residence time of (7 ferment, 7 condition) then you would need 2 tanks and it would be all hands on deck to get the tanks empty and turned round ready for the fresh wort while its on the boil. So ideally 3 tanks. Twice a week, and you need to double that, or alternatively reconsider batch sized FVs and look at double size conditioning tanks.

You can get a pretty solid idea just by writing it out on paper and see where your overlaps are.

As an idea for equipment,
HLT, MT (potentially a lauter tun if you go that route), grain hopper, copper, FV, conditioning tank, cooling system, serving tank (if you go that route), cold room....

I'm no pro brewer yet, so please don't take this as an exhaustive list as there are other, far more knowledgable people on here