Cellar Configuration & Conditioning Beer Question

[jbakes16]

Hello, I am opening a small craft brewery and would like some opinions on my initial year 1 FV/BBT/ST configuration. Any opinions/thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Some key facts on my projections/operations:

- 10 BBL system
- 2x20 BBL uni-tank FVs (double batches)
- Year 1 production= ~750-1,000 BBLs
- 4 core beers, with 10 other/seasonals
- 100% ales

I will be in an excellent location with a nice, inviting tap room. Thus, I project 60% of sales to be on-site for year 1, with the remainder to be self-distributed to bars/restaurants in the area.

What I am looking for advice on is the use of brites vs. serving tanks. My initial thought is since I will want my 4 core beers on tap at all times, I should have 4 serving vessels in the cold room, feeding the taproom. The other beers which are served on-site will be kegged and fed through the other taps. The equipment manufacturer I am working with recommends single-shell serving vessels since they will be housed in the cold room and therefore won't require glycol and are cheaper than BBTs. I am unsure if I should go with brite tanks or serving tanks, and below are some of the questions/thoughts I have.

Some questions in my mind are the following:
- do uni-tanks alone sufficiently condition beers, or is a BBT or serving tank required to do so?
- Can a BBT/ST be hooked up to the tap lines serving the taproom, and simultaneously have the capability to rack off some into kegs?
- assuming i have some sort of serving tank (whether it's BBT or ST) dedicated to serving the tap room, how will I condition my beer packaged into kegs for external distribution, since they won't also go through the serving vessels? I don't want different consistency between the same beer served on-site vs. external.
- should the size of the serving vessels be 10 BBL or 20 BBL? (thought: if they're 10BBL, I could fill them and then the remainder of the batch can be kegged)

I guess my question really comes down to conditioning of the beer and packaging/serving logistics. Any recommendation on configuration/logistics would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help!!

[beermkr]

Hopefully I can help...

I currently serve out of single wall tanks. I installed a y adapter at the bottom with a valve on one side. This allows the tank to be connected to the taps and for me to rack kegs off at the same time. Works great.

I condition all beers in FV's. I will be adding bright tanks shortly to allow me to transfer out of the FV to a standpipe equiped brite for settlling and conditioning. The main purpose is to free up fermenters faster for the next batch. Brites are usually a few hundred bucks cheaper.

All the beer whether kegged or in serving tas will continue to "condition" as much as it will. The big thing is you will NEVER be able to completely control your off site conditions so worry more about making sure your product is stable.

I would personally always have a brite that was equal to or larger than your fermenter. You can always put less than capacity into a vessel but never more....

The brewery I recently put together used kegs for all serving. Keg space is more flexible and sometimes much cheaper than tank space... an option to thing about.