12 steps to a prosperous brewery

[brenmurph]

http://www.czechminibreweries.com/12-steps-to-prosperous-brewery/

Sent to me by a Czech based friend who is heavily researching setting up a tourist-trail brewery- restaurant-bar in Ireland, Kildare

[irish_goat]

Get a quality microbrewery – with cheap brewing machine, made by some amateur from the neighborhood, its impossible to brew good beer

This guy obviously hasn't been to any NHC tastings.

[brenmurph]

   to put in context they prob mean consistently they do have a whole section on temp control which needs good equipment, and to be reliable so as not to ruin a whole industrial batch. Any businessperson will tell u the importance of reliable, quality equipment not least reliable laptops and pcs.

[mr hoppy]

This guy is selling breweries! Of course he's dissing the alternatives.

[brenmurph]

and at NHC tastings we get good, bad and in the middle beers!  that wont work in business.

On a slightly more serious note:
As we are all well aware, craft brewers are not consistently supplying great beers at the tap or in bottle. Myself and Kellie tasted a bottle (we wont publish which one) of a red ale by a popular Irish craft brewery and to be quite honest it went down the sink. Bottle was well in date and bought from a busy off licence. We will never ever know if the bottle ( or a keg) leaves the brewery in perfect shape and where it gets oxidised, lightstruck and / or infected, but from a business point of view, the brewery ( to stay in business long term) need to be responsible (however they do it) for the consumer getting a good / perfect bottle of beer to drink (especially at 2.95 for a 330ml)

[brenmurph]

This guy is selling breweries! Of course he's dissing the alternatives.

+1

read around theres some good info, ideas, photos, designs and sound advice. just keep in mind they sell all things brewing; and of course there is actually some terrible rubbish out there! as well as some overpriced great equipment

[irish_goat]

and at NHC tastings we get good, bad and in the middle beers!  that wont work in business.

Of course but there are a few among us who consistently produce great beer i.e. beer I would happily pay money for. In saying that, I've no evidence that they can consistently produce the same beer.

[brenmurph]

In a commercial setting consistency is important not just for the end user but for smooth and efficient production methods, time managment, cost management and energy management and I think that the meaning of the original quote you made, you wont make great commercial success with sub standard gear and the original statement related to microbrewery (multiple 1000-2000ltr vessels) opposed to nano-brewery or home brewery

[Tom]

See, buying beer from a tiny brewery is nice, and the small fluctuations between batches is part of that. Acetic beer is a production flaw, and a weak and watery beer is arguably a recipe or process flaw. THAT is crap.

IMHO, crap beer is crap, off beer is bad, but slightly different beer is more than OK.

And while I'm here, the variation between one pint of Smithwicks and the next is much worse than my home brew consistency.

[Hop Bomb]

Re: flawed beer for sale - 99% of beer drinkers arent actively looking for flaws in beers though. I think this has a big impact on what gets out the door of a brewery. The irish times journo who wrote about that beautiful butterscotch lager they had at the ICBF is a perfect example.

[Tom]

You're kidding! I didn't see that, though I heard plenty about the wether's original overtones, alright!

[Hop Bomb]

Im mistaken. It wasnt the Irish Times at all. http://thejournalist.ie/lifestyle-2/food-drink/food-drink-irish-craft-beer-cider-festival-review/

[Tom]

I didn't attend, so I'm only saying, but if you're referring to "Lager X from Bru in Trim, Co. Meath was another very interesting beer with a lovely buttery quality", then it might not be diacetyl. I've had some ales described as buttery by a couple of half-serious drinkers, without any trace of diacetyl.

However, in the interest of science or somesuch, I'll rebrew the 'buttery' beer (that is how it's asked for) and see if my BJCP-honed nose detects diacetyl and report back. In a couple of months.

[irish_goat]

That's the one, although to be fair, it got good reviews from experienced beer drinkers as well.

[Hop Bomb]

It was diacetyl.

Kudos to the guys at Bru who acknowledged one of their beers had way too much diacetyl. Very refreshing to meet such an honest brewer.

While technically flawed that beer, Lager X I think they called it, wasn't a write off, but he said he was going to give it to a local chipper to make beer batter.

He's a very straightforward guy, despite the fact that he was attacked by another brewer at the show, which he did nothing to warrant. He's also invited us up for a visit when they're all set up.

I just used this as an example of how most beer drinkers arent looking for flaws & probably cant identify them either.