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Starting a 5BBL or 7BBL Brewery

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  • Starting a 5BBL or 7BBL Brewery

    Hello,

    My partners and I are looking to start either a 5BBL or 7BBL brewery in the next 3-5 months and I'm in need of numbers. Any information on start up costs, cost per brew, material costs, solid manufacturers and any other info on getting started. We own the building but will need to start from the ground up as far as the plumbing and other items along those lines.

    Thank you very much in advance!

    Matt

  • #2
    Originally posted by Mel6721 View Post
    Hello,

    My partners and I are looking to start either a 5BBL or 7BBL brewery in the next 3-5 months and I'm in need of numbers. Any information on start up costs, cost per brew, material costs, solid manufacturers and any other info on getting started. We own the building but will need to start from the ground up as far as the plumbing and other items along those lines.

    Thank you very much in advance!

    Matt
    Out of curiosity, what is you and your partners background? That is always helpful information when one is asking broad questions along these lines. I'm in a similar boat (although I don't own a building), but I have extensive experience in accounting and finance outside the brewing industry that is helpful in doing pro-forma projections and such.

    Are you going to CBC next week? It's only $825 plus travel costs, so probably well worth the spend given how much you need to learn in 3-5 months.

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    • #3
      To put some *very* rough numbers to things, $250k is generally thrown around as a hard minimum, plus construction/real estate. Even if all you have to do is run the utilities for the brewhouse I wouldn't budget less than $50k; when getting numbers from contractors at this preliminary stage I'd triple them.

      The brewhouse itself should run ~$20k-50k, plus at least that for the cellar. Don't forget to budget for your keg float, unless you're leasing. 3-4 shells per handle is what you'll need.

      At your scale I'm hoping/assuming it's a brewpub, so kitchen buildout could be another $20k-200k depending on size and menu.

      COGS could vary massively depending on the packaging mix and what you're actually brewing, figure anywhere from $50-200/bbl.
      Last edited by a10t2; 04-24-2018, 12:39 PM.
      Sent from my Microsoft Bob

      Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
      seanterrill.com/category/brewing | twomilebrewing.com

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      • #4
        Thank you very much for the insight. I have been in the brewing industry for roughly eight years but I just left Breckenridge Brewery as a brewer and barrel-master in Colorado to pursue my own in Tennessee. Scaling down from 400BBL to a 7BBL system in a bit daunting having never paid the bills for material and/or equipment to start up. The build-out will be costly as well as the system itself but I'm more focused on cost per brew/times a week to brew and so forth.

        Thanks again!

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        • #5
          So many options!

          The hard thing when planning a brewery is to know just what scale/level to go for!

          Quotes can range from the 10s to the 100s of thousands of Euros (I'm in France) and the style and techniques vary greatly (3 vessel, 4 vessel, English style with underback and valentine, dish bottom, conical, steam, jacketed etc etc)

          My advice is to go only with what doesn't over extend you. We're all beer geeks and it's tempting to succumb to GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and want the best and biggest shiny tanks but if it makes you cash poor then you're going to be in trouble because you will need reserves when you open! There's so much you didn't know cost money.

          Think how many of our beer heroes started on rickety, homemade systems. If you're a good brewer, you're a good brewer just chill and DON'T OVER EXTEND YOURSELF.

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          • #6
            What ZeDrunkenMaster said. We've been thinking outside the box a lot and asking ourselves whether we really have a problem that needs fixing, or if there are other ways to do something. Something that was really helpful to me was to visit nanos in my area and other areas. Just look around and see what they did to solve problems or make you realize that you don't really have a problem at all!

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