Production Brewer turned Nano-Brewer

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Bigbre04

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Hey Beer People,

We have been brewing beer in a 2 BBL Nano for almost a year now. I have been brewing professionally since 2009. I am happy to answer questions about nanos if anyone has them. Batch number 57 is tomorrow!

We are down in Savannah, Ga. on Tybee Island.

www.Backriverbrewery.com

Cheers!

Alex
 
Brewer #115119 said:
Hey Beer People,

We have been brewing beer in a 2 BBL Nano for almost a year now. I have been brewing professionally since 2009. I am happy to answer questions about nanos if anyone has them. Batch number 57 is tomorrow!

We are down in Savannah, Ga. on Tybee Island.

www.Backriverbrewery.com

Cheers!

Alex
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Hey, welcome here Alex. I'm just a small-batch guy (5 gal) but with an obsession for repeatability. I try and try to do it just the same each time, once a recipe us dialed in. I have a couple that are pretty good, and several I keep playing with.

I'll drop by - perhaps anonymously - next time I leave ATL for Tybee.
 
Need to have the tap list on that site:)
That is the first thing I look at before going somewhere. We try to visit a lot of the breweries in the Orlando area. There is one that I definitely want to visit tonight as a saw a Grisette online. I have been waiting for a clean one of those for months:)
I haven't been out to Tybee. I did enjoy Moon River when I stopped overnight Savannah a couple of years ago.
 
Sandy Feet said:
Need to have the tap list on that site:)
That is the first thing I look at before going somewhere. We try to visit a lot of the breweries in the Orlando area. There is one that I definitely want to visit tonight as a saw a Grisette online. I have been waiting for a clean one of those for months:)
I haven't been out to Tybee. I did enjoy Moon River when I stopped overnight Savannah a couple of years ago.
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For sure, our website is a work in progress. Untappd is supposed to be duplicated on there, but it obviously is not... That is 100% not my department, but I mentioned it to the people who are in charge of the internet stuff.

We make pretty good beer! Come check us out!
 
Donoroto said:
Hey, welcome here Alex. I'm just a small-batch guy (5 gal) but with an obsession for repeatability. I try and try to do it just the same each time, once a recipe us dialed in. I have a couple that are pretty good, and several I keep playing with.

I'll drop by - perhaps anonymously - next time I leave ATL for Tybee.
Click to expand...


Ya man, just let me know! I spent years making the exact same 4-5 beers, let me know if I can help ya. Just a headsup, homebrewing is not the same as production so any advice needs to be taken with a large dose of Gose.

I have a couple recipes that I have dailed in at this point, but I always seek to make them better(be it faster, cheaper, more consistent, etc.).
 
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Brewer #115119 said:
homebrewing is not the same as production.
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Re-quoted for truth.

I do feel sorry for pro brewers. An automated system is about as fun as watching paint dry. And there is no room for creative experimentation at 100 barrels. Those folks at Budweiser must have the most boring job ever.

But, you know, making a fan fave, more than once (i.e., on purpose!) is kinda rewarding. That's part of the goal. And, getting there.

Thanks for the offer, I'll be taking you up on that.
 
Brewer #115119 said:
For sure, our website is a work in progress. Untappd is supposed to be duplicated on there, but it obviously is not... That is 100% not my department, but I mentioned it to the people who are in charge of the internet stuff.

We make pretty good beer! Come check us out!
Click to expand...
I have respect for anyone that makes good beer. Wish I would have known you were out that way about a month and a half ago. I would have stopped on my way home from Charleston.
If y'all make a good product and want to promote it, make sure you put a menu online. We have a place in town that has some unique offerings for beer geeks like me. I rediscovered it and have been three times in the last month because I liked the crazy selections they have. My wife likes very narrow and specific things. For me to enjoy the billions of other things that are out there I have to make her happy first. I was at a wonderful place last weekend where they probably had 10 beers I could easily drink. The wife was bitching there wasn't anything dark. For real, nag somebody to put a menu online.
 
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Sandy Feet said:
I have respect for anyone that makes good beer. Wish I would have known you were out that way about a month and a half ago. I would have stopped on my way home from Charleston.
If y'all make a good product and want to promote it, make sure you put a menu online. We have a place in town that has some unique offerings for beer geeks like me. I rediscovered it and have been three times in the last month because I liked the crazy selections they have. My wife likes very narrow and specific things. For me to enjoy the billions of other things that are out there I have to make her happy first. I was at a wonderful place last weekend where they probably had 10 beers I could easily drink. The wife was bitching there wasn't anything dark. For real, nag somebody to put a menu online.
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Right now I only have 8 taps, but we have plans for expansion this winter. With only 8 taps that does not leave me a lot of room for fun beers as I have to keep everyone happy(tourists). I have 1. sour, 2. light lager, 3. dark beer, 4. wheat beer(sometimes fruited), 5. Juicy IPA, 6. Session IPA, 7. Amber/red 8. Fun(usually another IPA).

When I have 16 taps(and more tanks) I will be able to put more variety up on the board. It will also allow each batch to stick around a little longer as it will take pressure off of just one IPA for example.

During the same expansion we will be upgrading the brewhouse from 2bbl to 3bbl and from a 1 vessel(braumeister(fuck this garbage brewhouse)) to a 2 vessel system.

More tanks will allow me to use a larger variety of yeasts(instead of all Kviek(sp?) due to time constraints). Plus some longer timeframe beers like lagers and such.

We are working towards bigger and better things, it just takes time.
 
Donoroto said:
And money.
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Lots of that.
I wish y'all the best of luck. I'm starting to learn some patience at home. That has got to be tough when you don't have the time to sit on something.
A couple of places in town have given me a deep appreciation for traditional lagers, and I can usually tell who uses a good yeast and can sit on them for a couple of extra weeks.
I wish I had more time to brew at home.
I'm not a big Kveik fan, but I have seen at least a few people on the forum that like it. The bar at the homebrew store in Sanford uses a lot of it. Members on the forum would probably love to hear some of your experience using it.
Although, I'm not a big fan. I can envision it working in an IPA. For something dark like a Stout or Porter, I love the Guinness strain and could not see how Kviek could compare, but I am here to learn.
 
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Same here!
I do use it often but that is mainly because I don't know any other beer yeast that is happy sitting at 35+ oC
 
Welcome! What's your favourite part of going a little smaller?
 
Sandy Feet said:
Lots of that.
I wish y'all the best of luck. I'm starting to learn some patience at home. That has got to be tough when you don't have the time to sit on something.
A couple of places in town have given me a deep appreciation for traditional lagers, and I can usually tell who uses a good yeast and can sit on them for a couple of extra weeks.
I wish I had more time to brew at home.
I'm not a big Kveik fan, but I have seen at least a few people on the forum that like it. The bar at the homebrew store in Sanford uses a lot of it. Members on the forum would probably love to hear some of your experience using it.
Although, I'm not a big fan. I can envision it working in an IPA. For something dark like a Stout or Porter, I love the Guinness strain and could not see how Kviek could compare, but I am here to learn.
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I love traditional lagers, they are honestly my favorite styles. They are also great since they really show how good a brewery/brewer is. IMO anyone can make a huge juicy ipa. Its the crisp, clean, clear lagers that are the real test of a good brewery. I personally lean towards a kolsch or a real pilsner(urquell).

Nova lager has done really well for its speed and flexibility. I have very few complaints about it. I make a good golden lager with it, but it has also produced a very good black lager as well as IPL that was delish.

Voss has been great, honestly. It is fast and reliable(as long as it does not sit in a brink for more then a week). I have gotten good fermentations with it out to 3 generations(it would have gone longer but i had big gaps between brew days). I have used Voss to make everything from Red Ales, to Juicy 8.2%abv IPAs. It is very neutral and clean IMO.

That being said, I am happy with 76% attenuation. The highest i have gotten with any yeast is 80%. I attribute this to my brewery equipment, not the yeast itself. I am constantly trying to improve my process, but i am currently limited by the stupid one vessel system that i have at the moment.
 
Pricelessbrewing said:
Welcome! What's your favourite part of going a little smaller?
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Honestly, the beer does not leave my control. It rarely lasts longer then a month. I don't have to can anything. I don't have to deal with distributors or bars. My lines are always clean. My bartenders know how to pour a proper beer(mostly). The material costs and overhead are rather small, so the margins are very good.

Example: I under-carbed a few kegs of session IPA. I didn't have to buy them back from the distributor or worry about my taps being taken. I just had to freeze my ass off while shake carbing 3 kegs.

Another example: I brewed a honey brown. threw 10#s of honey into the kettle. It turns out that Voss loves to make honey taste like mead. Im sure that if i had time to wait on it or age it for a few months to clean it up, that it would have been great. I do not have that luxury at this time, so i dumped it. It only cost me about $200 and time. At the old brewery that i worked at, that would have cost at least $2k plus we were running a tight schedule so that would have caused a ripple of pissed off distributors and sales people.
 
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