Compromise...please HELP!

[Frozenapple]

Hello everyone.

I am putting out a plea for advice, opinions, and just general discussion on a compromise issue that I'm having. I am organising a startup brewery operation in Australia, ~15-20bbl, with the aim of bottling my product. I'll be kegging as well, however, in Oz, the bottled product will be more easily distributed than kegs. Now, my problem is all about the money I have, versus the money I need, versus the money I want...
My thoughts are to organise a better bottling line, and sacrifice on the size or style of brewhouse, thus ensuring a better quality product reaches my customers. The downside to this is that my total output will be less than preferred, but I am figuring that if people like my beer & it reaches them in as good a condition as possible i'll be able to upgrade the brewhouse side later.
My belief is that quality control is paramount, and customers only come back if they like the first taste....

Thanks,

Matt

[GlacierBrewing]

Whoa,
Yep, that's a head-scratcher all right!
If it were me, I would put the money into the brewhouse (your core), sell product where and when I could, build capital, improve the bottling line as I went.
It seems to me that it is easier and more cost-effective to upgrade your packaging line than to upgrade your brewhouse. Buy your brewhouse once (okay, maybe twice).
my two cents.....

Luck to ya'
Dave

[Bham Brewer]

Dave/Glacier is right. MUCH easier to expand packaging capacity than brewhouse... Spend more in the brewhouse and work towards increasing packing capacity to keep ahead of need.

[liammckenna]

I would agree with your own thinking.

I've encountered some of the best brewed beers in the world that I wouldn't touch after two weeks in the bottle. There are a tremendous amount of beers on the market like this. Great on draught but muck in a bottle. This has everything to do with bottling technology and very little to do with the brewers skill.

I would blow my wad on the best bottling line I could afford and go with a simple, cheap, functional brewhouse if I were you.

Beer is a low risk product. Consequently, it's easy to get a fickle (many) beer consumer to buy a six pack if they've never tried it. Thing is, if it's muck, you'll have one hell of a struggle getting them to give you a second chance.

Pax.

Liam McKenna

[Enkidu]

I would also aggree with Liam. Most packaging lines have the ability to run at 25% capacity, whereas very few brewhouses can operate at even 50% capicity. In other words, if your production goals increase substantially you will have to replace your brewhouse anyway. I also know of several microbreweries with showpiece brewhouses and poor product stability. Do you think Joe consumer gives a sh@# about your brewhouse when they are spending $8.00 a six pack. However, if you sell them a substanderd product they will most likely never come back. As you might imagine, I have a POS Brewhouse that we are spinning 18 hours a day. We are currenlty in the design stages for a larger Brewhouse and will pull the trigger once we are running 24 hours a day. Good luck.

[jarviw]

the real issue is, if you want a packaging brewery with mostly bottles, YOU NEED MORE CAPITAL!

the fact is, it has much lower gross profit margin per volume with bottling, with the cost of equipment, bottles, and packaging. But the idea is to trade the profit margin for larger sales volume. For a packaging brewery to be profitable, you need larger production and sales, which means more start-up capital.

If you want to expand the packaging slowly, you need to be making good profit with your brewhouse and keg sales. But if keg sales isn't going to make the cut because of your market situation, you won't really be able to expand the packaging line.

Alternatively, depends on the cost of labor... a small/slow double pre-vac may be a viable idea? basically trading fixed cost for variable cost = less capital

[Frozenapple]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Definitely something to mull over. Gotta admit, the idea of being able to brew larger amounts, and then spend more time bottling on say, a meheen, seem like a good idea, however am still torn between a great bottling line & a small brewhouse and spending more time brewing....ah, decisions, decisions.

Cheers everyone!

Matt