Starting a micro brewery

[stuey]

Jeez! That's crazy! To be honest the prices you are saying is what I have heard on here before. We must just have struck lucky? It may all go tits up soon but I can't see why they would pay more now and not want to later. Is it because I only sell to independent freehouses? I'm really inexperienced at this so only have what I'm doing to gauge things by?

I think you have struck lucky, yes.
Having said that there is also an economy of scale thing at work too maybe.

A good number of breweries offer discounts on multiple firkins on the same order. Often only amounting to a couple of quid per cask but enough of an incentive to the publican. I am guessing (no experience of pin price versus firkin price) that a similar thing happens when a publican is offered a firkin instead of a pin... I would imagine they will be looking for a quantity discount and not be so keen to pay double your pin price.

Having said that... I hope I am wrong and they pay you what it is worth!! It sounds fantastic Horatio and truly hope it lasts and spreads across the country a bit more.

I know that some tied houses pay upto £130 for a firkin from their authorised supplier or pubco whilst the freehouse next door will be buying the same firkin of ale for £65 direct from the brewery.

The prices I and others have quoted you previously are the prices paid by freehouses with no ties.

Prices to tied houses are fixed by the brewery or pubco they are tied to and are significantly higher than the normal price to trade.

Another nuts example...

Robinsons tied pub a few doors up from freehouse.

Tied pub £140 a cask for a Robinsons bitter.
Freehouse £70 a cask for the same Robinsons Bitter.

I am told by a tied landlord that it comes down to the fact that the pubco or brewery charge a lower rent for the premises but restrict the landlord to paying a higher price for their beer which they can only get from them. One of the reasons that many tied pubs and pubco pubs are closing down.

[dreadskin69]

Make friends with a welder and build yer own system. We built a 100 gallon system using an old fridge and a milk tank. We recon we can upgrade to 500 gallon using whAt we have learnt, for about 10% the cost of buying one in

[darkonnis]

In the majority of cases the price of breweries is extortionate... but only if you can build one yourself. Realistically it is a business and it isn't every day that they sell one of these so at the very least you're paying the wages of the staff for the duration of the job + workshop fees + material costs + tool breakage (usually a % of the total tool cost)

In short, if you're adventurous you could always learn to weld and build your own or find a tame welder as DS suggests

[asd]

If anyone is thinking about setting up a micro on a budget, they MUST watch the "Frankenbrew" video. It's old and amateurish, but fantastic on how to hack together stuff to do, basically, what is a very simple process. The first 10 minutes is a bit rubbish, but do persist.


http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?t=9407

If the link doesn't still work, look around for it elsewhere.If you find it, you won't regret it.

[thewolf]

Hi - I'm new to the forum and this is a great thread. I'm a brit based in Switzerland looking to move up a scale from homebrewing to selling commercially - the market over here is a bit different with much more bottled beer sold in bars. Does anyone have any experience with counter-pressure bottle filling systems? There are a number of manual systems on the market (such as this one from Vigo: http://www.vigoltd.com/Catalogue/Fillin ... ller-96378) but so far I can't find any user experiences. Ideally I'd put a semi-automatic system in place but they are much more expensive.

Cheers

[darkonnis]

I've seen a few places use em, brewdog started with something like that way back when and magicrock still have one i think.

[critch]

we get 65 quid a firkin for sub 4.5% 75 for up to 6% an more for the strong ones
youll get considerably less from siba although they charge participating landlords a lot more!
most landlords want it for less and winge at that price..... and were organic, have a look at the price of our grain by the ton!

wouldnt mind moving where you are horatio

we make a quid on a 500 ml bottle its way more profitable than cask, its just not a huge market unfortunately, think or entire bottling set up cost less than 500 quid we can do 600 bottles an hour on it(once its set up....)

[killer]

we make a quid on a 500 ml bottle its way more profitable than cask, its just not a huge market unfortunately, think or entire bottling set up cost less than 500 quid we can do 600 bottles an hour on it(once its set up....)

What setup do you have for bottling ? Would you recommend it ?

[critch]

we make a quid on a 500 ml bottle its way more profitable than cask, its just not a huge market unfortunately, think or entire bottling set up cost less than 500 quid we can do 600 bottles an hour on it(once its set up....)

What setup do you have for bottling ? Would you recommend it ?

a 4 head gravity bottler made by fatal(!) sourced from vigo in devon and a 600l ibc that we bought new for £160, its cheap and cheerful but thats about the best i can say about it!

[Patterd Ale]

600 an hour on that!?
I felt pleased to do 800 a day on one of those by myself, how many guys at work?
I must work harder/smarter!

[darkonnis]

600 an hour on that!?
I felt pleased to do 800 a day on one of those by myself, how many guys at work?
I must work harder/smarter!

Suppose it depends on what you define as a day.... Realistically though a 2 man team is multiple times quicker than 1 man. Stopping to cap and then store after each set slows things considerably. You also don't have someone passing and preparing bottles or a 600L tank to draw from (switching tanks takes time too)

800 in one go is pretty good

[Pagibson]

Hi I have been reading all the replies around this topic. I am thinking about starting to sell my homebrew to the public however I brew from my house and I'm not sure what legal/ health and safety regulations I would need to comply to. I know about customs and excise, does anyone know if I need to get someone out to inspect where I am brewing

Thanks
Paul

[50quidsoundboy]

Hi I have been reading all the replies around this topic. I am thinking about starting to sell my homebrew to the public however I brew from my house and I'm not sure what legal/ health and safety regulations I would need to comply to. I know about customs and excise, does anyone know if I need to get someone out to inspect where I am brewing

Thanks
Paul

*stuck record* honestly, invest £8 in The Microbrewer's Handbook, it will tell you far more about this topic than you can get from a forum thread. It's a fascinating book even if you have no intention of going commercial, but if you do, it's a really really good primer (imho). not that this isn't a great thread, it is!

[Belter]

Agree with the above. It's great to hear other opinions but the first stock response should always be 'Microbrewers handbook'
Then lock the thread then after they come back full in the gaps. It's a great read.

[critch]

600 an hour on that!?
I felt pleased to do 800 a day on one of those by myself, how many guys at work?
I must work harder/smarter!

3 people and prepare your boxes before hand! when you get going its hard to keep up with the capping with a bench capper......