Nano Tasting Room

[DUB Co]

Hey guys.. So planing the tasting room for my nano. Im thinking I would like 8-10 taps. I don't really have room for a cold box or bright tanks. I was looking at the pro line 5 keg kegerator on micro magic which I could switch out the tower to an 8 tap. I could do 2 half barrels for the fast movers and do the rest in sixties..

This would look to run me about $6k. I know this is on the high side but I know it will be reliable and done right. It also has a glass rinser built in.

Does anyone have any experience with these or have you done research on something else? What did you do for your tasting room. Should I be spending 6k in a more efficient way?

Thanks everyone..
Happy Brewing!!

[Crosley]

I think that will get very annoying very soon. The thing is that you will also need some sort of cold room to go along with this in the back. When one keg kicks you need to have another already cold.
I built a tiny reach in cooler run off of a coolbot. It is just over 2 kegs widths wide and just over 5 kegwidths wide. I welded a steel shelf and it stores 20 full kegs. That's 20 kegs in under 30sf for under $1000

[DUB Co]

Hey thanks the response. That is kinda where I'm leaning toward and I'm pretty good with my hands. Any chance you could take a picture of yours so I can get idea of your direction..

Thanks a lot

[Junkyard]

Agreed, it would get super annoying. you are going to need a bigger cooler for a brewery operation so if you can you should design it to have your taproom taps come right through the wall of your brewery cooler into your taproom. Again, not really sure on how much space you have to work with.

If you have really limited space. build a cooler like Crosley was talking about. Although for a beer establishment with 10 taps it's going to be nice to have a walk in cooler, even a Small one. There's also a way to use air conditioners for cooling without buying a coolbot, it involves hot wiring the compressor of the air
Conditioner with an external temp controller and leaving the rest of the air conditioner wired to constant power to run fans 24/7. We used that method for our cooler because I didnt wanna drop $300 on two unecessary coolbots. In the end we got the job done even cheaper with more cooling accuracy but it takes someone with some electrical knowledge to be able to do it.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Check webstaurant http://www.webstaurantstore.com/search/kegerator.html
I have two kegerators because I do not have a room in taproom for the walking cooler. They work quite well but it is pain to change a keg as mentioned above.

[DUB Co]

Thanks so much for the feedback.. many people have advised me to look long term and go with the walk in.. now my only problem is.. Everybody and their mother sells walk ins!! Can anyone recommend a company to look at.. I would be looking for just the panels that I could install myself and would probably cool it with a coolbot

[Crosley]

DUB
I will definitely agree that an actual walk in with commercial doors and all would be way better that a DIY one, but co wider the initial investment and the space constraints. I will post some pics I. A few hours of my cooler.

[Crosley]

Here are two photos of my cooler.
It is 40 x 108 and holds 20 kegs, hops, and yeast.
I am in no way suggesting to go this small, but the DIY route has worked for us.

[DUB Co]

AWESOME!! glad you sent the picture..I was having a tough time picturing it.. Thanks man!!

[tjc27]

Did you run into condensation issues or dampness with your diy cooler? Im entertaining the idea but my biggest fear is the wood holding moisture from an air leak (condensation). Thoughts?

[Crosley]

I have not had any condensation issues. My cooler is 2x4 walls with sprayfoam in between and covered in 1/2" blue drywall. The AC unit runs a lot but it stays down around 36.

[jcmcdowell]

We are a tiny nano with tasting room only in Montana where they limit sales to 48oz on premises and unlimited growler fills. We don't distribute at all. We brew 40 gal and double batch 80 into the fermenter. I yield a little under 5 full kegs per batch. We condition and serve out of kegs.

I live in a town of 733 and we have done no marketing and only been open 6 weeks.

We have 10 taps directly thru the walk in wall and my walk in is 9x18 that I scored from a gas station remodel with a 36" glass door.

That being said- sometimes we pop as many as 5 kegs on a Saturday night! At week 4, we realized my original 30 kegs weren't enough and now I have 75 kegs.

By the way- this is our slow season and I've been warned by others breweries in our valley to expect a 50% increase in business in the summer! So we could be popping 7+ kegs on any busy day!

I just visited another brewery where I bought some used kegs, he has 4 serving tanks and runs two other taps off kegs but his walk in is really tight. He is open 7 days a week and can't run a CIP cycle on the tanks without warming up the serving tanks and foaming the beer on tap.

He wants to add more taps but it's crazy what it will take to retrofit or carb and store his beer with his layout.

So- get as BIG a walk in as you can! Hunt Craigslist and auctions for used walk-in cooler panels. I think you should be able to scrounge the panels for a little as $2,000 for roughly a 8-10' x 16-20' walk-in. It cost about $1,000 to have a HVAC guy to hook up the evap fan (I mounted) and condenser plus the cost of an electrician to wire

I think the walk-in will be your second most important investment next to fermenters with temp control (I use plastic conicals with SS cooling could and a DIY chiller)

Plus you can find unjacketed brite tanks way cheaper to carb in and your carb consistency will be better for the full keg batch..

...now I have to upgrade and build a 3 bbl brew system to shave 5 hours off my brew day...and hire staff...and build an outdoor patio...

Best of luck-

Jc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jcmcdowell]

Keg weight

Here are two photos of my cooler.
It is 40 x 108 and holds 20 kegs, hops, and yeast.
I am in no way suggesting to go this small, but the DIY route has worked for us.

Also- keep in mind those kegs will weight somewhere in the neck of 160-170lbs a piece. Not a one-man job getting them in there. Even in my 9x18 walk-in we are starting to stack kegs 2 up to be able to have enough room to condition the kegs.