Brewery layout, need help!

[Montucky Brew]

Hey Guys,

long time home brewer, first time poster on this site.

Basically I need some help/suggestions as to the layout of the Small Brewery my brother and I are opening. As of right now the building we are going into is a clean slate. It has been completely demoed and is 4 walls and a roof. I already have an equipment list and a basic equipment design from Premier Stainless but I need to figure out the technical side now. (7bbl Direct Fire System btw)

Attached is the layout of the building we are going into. The scribbled out side will be a separate business so ignore that. The red portion obviously is the room that we will have to brew in. As you can see the equipment is modeled in there in the way we think will work the best. The space behind the partial dividing wall will actually be where the mill is located and will be used for grain storage and we would like to put a cooler in for keg storage as well. Now comes the questions I have.

1. Plumbing: So I know where I need the basics for the brewhouse, but besides that, any reason to need hot and cold anywhere else? There is no sink in the rendering but we will be putting one in.

2. Venting: The brewhouse will vent through the ceiling/roof. what about exhaust for the room itself though? size,etc?

3. Anything jump out at you? We have alot of things that Im not going to bore you with that we have already thought of, but does anything jump out at you that is a necessity to have that we may have overlooked?

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Joe Moore

[fernholz]

Not much, but something

Just assuming those numbers are in inches.

Why not put the mill room / grain storage in that empty area behind the brew system? that way you don't need to auger the grain as far. You could then put your cooler where the mill currently is. That would make for a pretty easy area to add taps to for what looks like your tasting room up front.

[Montucky Brew]

Thanks for the reply.

The empty room will actually be the mill room/grain storage and a walk in cooler for keg storage, etc. Where the mill is now will be used for extra tanks should we ever expand.

I guess my main concerns are what am I missing? What else besides the obvious (tanks, mill, drains, etc) is essential in a brewery?

[a10t2]

If those dimensions are in inches, you'll have some pretty long hose runs - 40 feet or so? You should consider opening up some wall space in the fermentation area for access to utilities and to give yourself room to hang the hoses so that they drain properly.

And I agree with putting the cold room up front. No reason to deal with the hassles of a long run to the seating area if you can avoid it.

[Montucky Brew]

Yes, dimensions are in inches.

There wont be a cold room. All tanks will be jacketed for glycol. The bar/tap will be against the black outlined dividing wall in the "seating area" up front. That will be more or less a straight shot from the bright tanks which in the picture are on the right side against the dividing wall.

Explain the utility access please?

[a10t2]

I guess I didn't know there was a difference between a cold room and a walk-in. If you won't need/want the flexibility of being able to tap kegs then it doesn't matter where that is, of course. If you haven't ordered the tanks yet I'd suggest you at least do the math on what a larger walk-in would cost vs. all those jacketed brites. If all you need is to maintain temperature for already-crashed beer it may not even require a bigger compressor.

By utility access I mean that it's a huge hassle to have all your hot and cold water, hot/cold liquor, air/gas, electric services, etc. on one side of the room and spend your entire day dragging excessively long cords and hoses around, getting them tangled and having to move stuff over/under them. Even if the up-front costs don't offset, shorter runs will eventually pay for themselves simply in terms of your brewer's time.

[Montucky Brew]

Sorry, there's not.

We will be selling 95%+ from the tap room. The walk in cooler in the back will be pretty small, sized for 30 kegs or so, It will be mostly to hold extra product should we run low/out and some will be distributed to a bar or two. We have looked at doing a cold room for the bright tanks but decided that glycol would be a better fit for us. Also, we want all the equipment to be easily view able from the seating area.

Ultimately the space is not that large so dragging hoses may be a pain in the ass but is something we can cope with.

Thanks for the input!

[Jos]

Can you run through the proposed list of tanks you're looking to get. At a glance, it seems like you have a huge number of tanks there given the size of the brewhouse. It's what you hear all the time, but you should really push for the max size brewhouse possible, even at the expense of a few tanks which you can always add later on.

[Ton]

some things that you'll need to find a spot for chemicals, keg cleaner, tools , storage for hoses, extra fittings, gaskets, some form of an office for paperwork, janitorial supplies.

[Montucky Brew]

Can you run through the proposed list of tanks you're looking to get. At a glance, it seems like you have a huge number of tanks there given the size of the brewhouse. It's what you hear all the time, but you should really push for the max size brewhouse possible, even at the expense of a few tanks which you can always add later on.

We will have probably six tanks each. Five 7bbl and 1 14bbl. We plan on having 6 beers on tap. The space is actually a little smaller than the rendering shows and the price jump to the 10bbl is substantial. We are ok with having to brew more frequently on the smaller system.

[BrewinLou]

How big a brewhouse? How is your grain leaving the building? Will there be an overhead door in the back?