Starting your own brewery can be a demanding and significant investment, so it’s important to set goals and have a clear idea before purchasing equipment.
Do you want to open a profitable brewery and take your hobby to the next level? Will the brewery be solely for beer production or do you plan to have your own tap room? Do you already own a food service establishment and want to add your own beer to the menu?
The Amount of Wort Produced in One Batch
Determine how much wort can be produced in a single batch. Each system takes approximately 7 to 8 hours to complete one batch. The design of the brewhouse doesn’t significantly affect this timeframe. It includes all the processes that occur inside the brewhouse: water heating, mashing, lautering, hop addition, and wort transfer to the fermentation tank.
Beer requires time and space to properly mature and succeed.
Number of Batches in 24 Hours
However, the amount of wort produced in one batch doesn’t solely determine the brewery’s capacity. Why?
You can complete more than one batch per day.
Some brewhouse designs allow simultaneous execution of processes in separate tanks. This means you can start mashing a new batch of malt even before transferring the wort from the kettle to the fermentation tank (knock-out). As a result, the total time required to complete two batches is significantly reduced. Therefore, find out how many batches per day can be made with a brewhouse when multiple brewing processes are carried out simultaneously.
Number of Fermentation and Maturation Tanks Available
There’s a significant difference between brewhouse capacity and brewery capacity. A large brewhouse capacity is useless if you don’t have enough storage units, as they ultimately determine the brewery’s capacity. You can only produce as much wort as you’re able to transfer into fermentation and maturation tanks. Beer typically takes around 3 to 4 weeks to mature, depending on the type.
