40 replies to this topic

[chuck_d]

Premier is delivering our cellar tanks tomorrow morning.  Four 7 bbl FVs, four 15 bbl FVs, one 7 bbl bright & one 15 bbl bright.  We lack a proper loading dock (we have a loading dock, but there is about 5' of space before you back into a concrete wall).  So we have built a 32 foot long ramp to wheel these 1200 pound tanks out of the trucks when they arrive.  Should be fun trying to slow down that much mass as it rolls onto the wet asphalt since there is a 60% chance of rain at 10am.  I should hopefully have some photos to share soon.  I'm heading to Detroit to do the water test batch the week of March 14th most likely, verify that our brewhouse is as ordered and working.  Things are moving forward and getting closer to actually having a brewpub open and operating.

[chuck_d]

This week I visited Craftwerk Brewing Systems in Michigan to inspect my brewhouse and do a water batch.  I am very pleased with the work they have done and cannot recommend them enough.  The system is beautiful, and my buddy Mark and I designed an amazing brewery.  We got perhaps the best compliment we could get on this project.  Another client of Craftwerk that is opening a brewpub was visiting the plant and saw my system set up in the back.  He said, "I want exactly that."  And he ordered the system just the way we had designed it, spending his business money on my brewhouse design.

 

So here it is.  Sorry about the strange composition.  I had to shoot at weird angle, both to the system and with the camera in order to fit it all in the frame because my back was against a wall.  So in Photoshop I fixed the perspective by rotating it and fixing the keystone distortion.

 

7 BBL Brewhouse - Boil Kettle/Whirlpool on the left, then the platform, the Mash/Lauter Tun, 20 bbl HLT & a 20 bbl CLT on the end there.

 

 

I've got a hundred photos to sort through, and if I find some others worth sharing I'll post them.  But I wasn't thinking about shooting photos for sharing while I was there.  Mainly I was trying to document how everything fits together so I can reassemble the system after delivery.

 

[cavman]

Sweet!

[SchwanzBrewer]

It's missing something... there's no fat guy making love to it.

[Genesee Ted]

Hell yeah! I have a bunch of pics from the brewery start up I'm working on. I will post a bunch of pics in a couple weeks. That's awesome that you designed your system. I'm stuck with a used DME system. Not stuck in a bad way, it seems a lot nicer than the last 2 systems I brewed on, just that I didn't design it.

[chuck_d]

Yeah, there were a lot of modifications we made to this system.  It's the first time Craftwerk has put some of these features on a system this size.  Steam jacket on the MLT.  Instead of glycol & steam jackets on the CLT & HLT, I have heat exchangers for getting/keeping the liquor to temp.  The rakes & plows in the MLT have never been put in a MLT this size and were specially designed for my system.  It actually created a problem with getting the screens out of the MLT, so they need to modify the design of the screens for easy removal.  Um, what other major changes were there?  Mark and I went through all the piping together, we put in check valves wherever we could.  There is only one way that liquid could gravity feed unintentionally from one vessel to another, because the liquor is supposed to flow in that direction we couldn't put a check valve in the line and so if a specific valve is accidentally left open then cold liquor could potentially gravity feed into the HLT.  However, that valve is a valve that should always be closed unless you're in the middle of knockout.  So it's one of those things where I could notice a problem from the other side of the plant if I see that valve open.  That kind of thing has happened in the past with me.  I walked into my brewery on Monday morning, noticed a specific valve was closed from the other side of the floor, and I knew what I was going to see before I even walked over to the brewhouse... bad news.  So even though there is no way to prevent that, it's ok because that valve should always be closed right at the end of knockout.  And if I see it open when the transfer isn't happening, I know there is a problem in my brewery.  There were other modifications we made, but those are some of the big ones off the top of my head.  It's a beautiful brewhouse.  It is one of the best I've ever worked on, even though it's not the biggest.  I cannot wait to start making beer with this.

 

The Craftwerk guys and I were out at the bar later that night and were talking about how awesome it would be to put everything on a skid.  You could break the system between vessels, and ship them like that.  Then upon delivery you just level the skid, and all the pipes will meet up perfectly when you go to connect everything.  Because leveling everything can make the pipes not meet up properly due to the fact that the floor at the manufacturer isn't the same as the floor in your brewery.  It's a tough sell explaining to clients how useful a turnkey system like that is, a lot of people opening breweries don't see the whole cost, the forest for the trees, when planning something like this.  It is so common that I talk to people and their budget is way below what it required for what they want to do.  Like 50+ percent off.  With so many homebrewers and non-brewers trying to open breweries these days, there is so much to the whole operation that gets overlooked in planning.  Even having done it several times, it is pretty much impossible for me to sit down and write up a spreadsheet that includes everything on the first pass.  Even then, a lot of the costs are estimates until you start talking to contractors, plumbers, electricians, etc. and start getting firm costs for the work and parts.

 

But, yeah, this whole brewery is built to my specifications.  From the slope of the floor, where the doors go and what kind of doors.  That is one benefit of the brewery space not fitting inside the existing building.  I of course had to make compromises and work within the budget, there are some parts of the plant that are less than ideal, or not what I wanted (kegging every beer instead of having some serving tanks, no useful loading dock), but given my constraints everything is being done according to my wishes.  Constraints of the space and budget are just problems for you to solve and allow you to exercise creativity in engineering.

 

Can you tell I'm excited about this project?

 

[Genesee Ted]

Definitely

All kegs, tho...

I have 5 15 bbl serving tanks, servicing 8 taps, so hopefully that should keep the kegging to a minimum at first.

[chuck_d]

Definitely

All kegs, tho...

I have 5 15 bbl serving tanks, servicing 8 taps, so hopefully that should keep the kegging to a minimum at first.

 

At my previous job I was kegging off 60 barrels at a time, so I know what I'm in for.  It's not ideal, but it's not unheard of either.  There is another brewpub in the city opening with a 10 bbl brewhouse, I'm not certain of their cellar configuration, but they are going all kegs as well.  It adds to the labor of course, but cleaning kegs is something that you can let anyone who wants to help out in the brewpub do.  They can't screw too much up with that task.  It's not like milling grain, which is another task that takes a chunk of time and is requires a lot of lifting/exertion that you'd like to pawn off to someone else.  But you can screw up a whole batch if you mess up the milling.  All of sudden they mill 10 sacks of roasted malt instead of 10 pounds.  The keg washer takes care of all the details, they just need to connect the couplers and lift the kegs up and press the button.  As long as they don't get confused as to which kegs are clean and which are dirty you should be ok.  Unless of course a valve fails or the pressure is too low and kegs aren't purging the liquid out between cycles (seen that one happen, and I'll never buy a keg washer or any other equipment from that company).

Edited by chuck_d, 21 March 2016 - 08:57 PM.

[SchwanzBrewer]

If you are reusing kegs fast you can probably get away with only an acid clean and rinse. Colorado Boy doesn't have serving tanks. Beer is in a keg for about 3 days max before it's cycled. Not a whole lot of chance for contamination to set in.

[chuck_d]

If you are reusing kegs fast you can probably get away with only an acid clean and rinse. Colorado Boy doesn't have serving tanks. Beer is in a keg for about 3 days max before it's cycled. Not a whole lot of chance for contamination to set in.

 

With the cycles being automated I see no reason to skip the caustic wash.  Plus, I can wash kegs during a brew day, there is enough down time during brewing that I could get a few pallets of kegs cleaned and ready for filling.  Also, with 12 different beers on tap, I'm probably not going to be cycling kegs that quickly, at least not all of them.

[SchwanzBrewer]

 

With the cycles being automated I see no reason to skip the caustic wash.  Plus, I can wash kegs during a brew day, there is enough down time during brewing that I could get a few pallets of kegs cleaned and ready for filling.  Also, with 12 different beers on tap, I'm probably not going to be cycling kegs that quickly, at least not all of them.

 

 

You know better than I, be ready for success.

[armagh]

Let us know when it's up a running.  Can always find a reason to head up to Atlanta.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Let us know when it's up a running.  Can always find a reason to head up to Atlanta.

 

This.

[chuck_d]

Let us know when it's up a running.  Can always find a reason to head up to Atlanta.

 

 

This.

 

Of course.  I'm just going to keep using this thread to keep y'all up-to-date on our progress as we build it out and get it up and running.  More photos to come…

[neddles]

Chuck, I am nowhere near Atlanta and have no interest in opening a brewery. That said your posts and progress are a very interesting read, and a cool prospective to have around here. Keep 'em coming.

[Genesee Ted]

 

With the cycles being automated I see no reason to skip the caustic wash.  Plus, I can wash kegs during a brew day, there is enough down time during brewing that I could get a few pallets of kegs cleaned and ready for filling.  Also, with 12 different beers on tap, I'm probably not going to be cycling kegs that quickly, at least not all of them.

 

Honestly, I would prefer to do a caustic cycle if I was to only do one, acid or caustic.  That being said, as a rule, I never skip steps. 

[gnef]

I know it has been over a year now. I've been watching the evolution of the space whenever I get out of church. It is looking good! I've seen the control panel lit up, though I don't know how much activity there has been inside, as it still doesn't look like you've opened yet.

 

Is there a date set for the opening? 

[Darterboy]

https://www.decaturi...ns-in-oakhurst/

[positiveContact]

https://www.decaturi...ns-in-oakhurst/

 

sounds like they are having some issues getting opened up.  am I reading that right?

[gnef]

Ah, so they just aren't opened when I am over there. Haha. Well, I hope they start expanding their hours and that business grows for them!