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  • New Brewpub Blank Slate

    Hi all

    Planning a new brew pub in a yet to be constructed 5,500 box in the historic downtown district of a 30,000 population suburb with no other breweries/brewpubs. Will not be a HopHead establishment but will have Pale Ales, IPAs and DIPAs in addition to lagers, Belgians, stouts, etc. Looking to have a 1000L/8.5bbl system built in China to my specifications and sell 600-700 bbl onsite and 200-300 offsite (keg only).

    I was going to serve off 6-8 jacketed brights with kegs rounding out the lineup, but after reading a lot of experiences on here, wondering if keg only is way to go. I could then put the cold room off the back of the bar and run all tap lines from the wall negating the need to cool draft lines and saving space under bar for other uses.

    If you were designing such a business from the ground up, which way would you go? Cost is always a consideration but I prefer to buy once/cry once and replace labor with capital.

    TIA
    Joe

  • #2
    This is something I've wondered, too – my gut instinct is that the flexibility the kegs offer is worth the labor, but, you're looking at a lot of labor.

    Place I work now, we do about the volume you're looking at – ~800 bbl/year on an 8 barrel system – and we end up spending two person-days a week cleaning, filling, and warehousing. I suspect this is on high side, half our beer goes into UK-style casks, and most of the rest into sixtels rather than half-barrels, any other keg-happy brewers who do mostly half-barrels have numbers to share? Even if you cut the time in half, one person-day a week is the kind of figure you need to take account of.

    On the other hand, what is the cost of a bright tank sitting only a quarter full of a beer that's moving steadily but slowly, taking up space you could be using on a beer you know you'll sell out of in a week or two? Very interesting question, looking forward to hearing other folks' thoughts.

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    • #3
      have you considered using non-jacketed brites in you serving cold room? in my opinion its a great way to go if you have an efficient cold room. of curse you will need a small fleet of kegs so you can empty/flip the brites when they are almost empty. ( I use Y's at the shank so I don't have to have my beers off tap at any time.) if you time it right you can pull off the last 1-2bbl into kegs, tap it, and have the next batch transferred, carbed and pouring as so as the last keg blows.

      I'm only about 5hr from you, I would be happy to show you my system if you are in the area.
      Last edited by Richard Pivo; 04-15-2018, 07:19 PM.

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      • #4
        +1 to what Richard suggested. That's precisely what I do at the brewpub I'm at. It's nice to not have to have extra storage space for kegs and also, a lot less time spent washing kegs.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Richard Pivo View Post
          have you considered using non-jacketed brites in you serving cold room? in my opinion its a great way to go if you have an efficient cold room. of curse you will need a small fleet of kegs so you can empty/flip the brites when they are almost empty. ( I use Y's at the shank so I don't have to have my beers off tap at any time.) if you time it right you can pull off the last 1-2bbl into kegs, tap it, and have the next batch transferred, carbed and pouring as so as the last keg blows.

          I'm only about 5hr from you, I would be happy to show you my system if you are in the area.
          I've considered it, but have been scared off by folks on here who said cleaning them is a beeeyatch and it stresses the compressor with all the heat generated. I also don't want to lose any cooler space. It's great having all the knowledge on here, but I think it sometimes leads to decision indecision and information overload.[/I]

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          • #6
            I put my 7bbl non-jacketed brites on big locking castors, I would never try to move them while they are full, but it is pretty easy for one man to pull them out of the cold room for cleaning and sani loops so as to not stress the chiller.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Richard Pivo View Post
              I put my 7bbl non-jacketed brites on big locking castors, I would never try to move them while they are full, but it is pretty easy for one man to pull them out of the cold room for cleaning and sani loops so as to not stress the chiller.
              I like it!! Also makes your footprint that much more flexible.

              Maybe a combination with kegs with the feed through the wall of the cold room which doubles as the bar back. Would that eliminate needing a separate glycol system to cool the lines????

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