[foodhacking] beer brewing 200-500 l equipment recommendations

[Frantisek Apfelbeck]

Hi to all,
I've a question to ask about beer brewing. It is about set up allowing to brew 200-500 l batches of beer, malt and hops (granulates) being used. 


We are finishing up a list of equipment for a brewing facility and it looks like that I'll have some extra cash to dedicate to specific beer brewing which I want to experiment with next year. I'm thinking about dark beer and some lighter beer for the summer, both I would aim to be higher quality beers so rather keeping the customer from a long term perspective. I plan to use malt, not syrups. However I'm a beginner with beer brewing so I'll have to go easy first, I'll have some time to experiment.


I would like to know what type of equipment would be optimal for brewing lets say 200-500 l batches of beer to start with. That would be our commercial size, experimental one would be between 20-50 l max. The fermentation process could be done in floating lid vessels so adjustable to the amount which we will need at the time.  I've seen the three vessel systems for beer brewing online like here

https://www.google.com/search?q=three+vessel+beer+brewing&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=SsOQUqTwJOeZiQeD2oDwAg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=847#facrc=_&imgrc=sB1a0bI0pdj8IM%3A%3BUhfk-y9EXFTE_M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fdrinks.seriouseats.com%252Fimages%252F2012%252F08%252F20120809-217995-Homebrew-three-vessel-brewing.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fdrinks.seriouseats.com%252F2012%252F08%252Fhomebrewing-3-vessel-brewing-setup-process-step-by-step-all-grain-beer-at-home.html%3B610%3B458


which seems to me reasonable but I do not know too much about the technology behind - I did some reading but have another projects to focus on lately so I'm not confident what to really look for and what to be careful about.

Another part which I'm not sure of is the cooling system - chiller to cool down the batch after the boiling.  I've seen the copper based tube systems which circulate the cold water inside but I'm not sure if this is suitable for brews over 200 l or so. Any idea?

I think it would be also wise to have a draft system so we can go for events, at least two or three taps, two for beer maybe one for non alcoholic, plus casks for transportation and storage.


Concerning bottling it looks like I'll have to use a manual approach, gravitation flow I'm afraid based, bottling machine will be too expensive I think ...


Anyway if you would have some advice that would be nice. I think that if we cut on variety of things we may have around $7 000 to invest just to the brewing equipment for beer. Note that we will have all the rest like tables, stoves, cold room, fermentation room too (the later being however for multiple types of fermentation) etc. from another part of the budget.  The prices are likely to be higher in Korea and that is where we have to get our equipment from.

Thanks for any info,

Sincerely,
 
Frantisek Algoldor Apfelbeck


biotechnologist&kvasir and hacker


http://www.frantisekapfelbeck.org


"There is no way to peace, peace is the way." Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
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