Ep.69 - Why it didn't cost me 50K to build a brewery.

Search the internet for costs to set up a micro brewery or nano brewery and you will be faced with sums of 50K, 100K, 250K or more. It's absolutely possible to do it for much much less and I will share in this video how I did it and exactly what it cost to go from nothing, to our first brewday. This is not a full time job and the brewery does not provide income to sustain a full time employee - but we built a working brewery in 5 months part time, at weekends, and another 5 months later we have sales of 32-40 9 gallon casks each month and generate profits to reinvest in the business. Enjoy! Andy

[@annalamont8708]

Congratulations Andy on getting so far in really such a short time and so economically. I think you under play the level of skill, ingenuity and industrious application needed to bring your brewery to where it is at the one year mark. The costs are fascinating and make clear not just the finance involved but the work required to keep those costs down!

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks Anna. It's been hard graft but I've loved it. I do these things from time to time - "hey I'll do a degree, for no valid reason other than I want to'" being the little project previous to this :) It's made me realise how important a holiday is, that's for sure. If only I had the time.

[@annalamont8708]

😂 As you'll know I'm also equally daft doing an extra degree for not particular reason at all ... maybe one day might maybe just be able to set up a brewery as well! If I manage half as well as you have then I'll be super happy. You are a brilliant and enthusiastic example to us all.

[@glutenfreebrewing]

Wow so many costs involved. No turning back now. Love ya stuff Andy

[@TheGerryj]

Happy anniversary and congratulations on seeing thos through and being as informative as always.Keep up the good work.

[@trippymchippy8586]

Well done chops! Been fun to watch the progress! :)

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

More to come!

[@alidavemason4417]

Firstly, I would like to say 'Many congratulations on completing your 1st year Andy.' Another fantastic & very informative video. You've done an incredible job turning a hobby into a business at such a low cost with all of your hard work & dedication. Also doing the KZbin channel to add to the workload. All the best & long may it continue.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thankyou!

[@tdtm82]

Andy and Sean are awesome people. Good luck with the brewery. I was at Andy's 50th recently.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

It must have been awesome as I don't remember a thing.

[@harrybrew69]

I knew you would find a use for those chairs.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Haha :) Gave 4 away. 20 to go

[@Vfggbvdwfcgjbcsdhjbcdsgjcg]

Great video. And great attitude towards, literally, building your business. This is what builds the following. We’ll done.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks!

[@dbdb8934]

Thanks Andy, very open and honest video, clear, well presented as usual. You deserve a huge pat on the back. Good luck with the bottling and tap room venture when it happens.👍

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks DB. Tap Room - It will happen...I just need to feel confident enough in the numbers and time available in order to do it. Who knows what's coming in the next few months? I finally got a decent test run (8 bottles) of Murgy and this time the aroma stuck around, so that might happen next. One more test to be sure.

[@chrisbardell]

Cracking video, interesting to see how all the elements slotted together. Huge congrats on your success. This has been one of my favourite KZbin channels over the last year, and I've learned a ton about how a small brewery operates, which has been fascinating for a novice homebrewer like me. Wishing you continuing success.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks Chris, really appreciate your comments. Cheers

[@KortechUK]

You've certainly gone down the right route doing most of the work yourself, I would do the same. Great to see the costs laid out in a concise manner. Congratulations on achieving your first year. All the best for the future.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks Andrew!

[@andrewaitchison458]

Congratulations Andy on reaching your first anniversary. I have been following you from day one so it’s scary to think that’s a year past already! Very informative video, all the best. Cheers

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks Andrew, much appreciated !

[@TheGingerBrewers]

Wow, that is a lot less than I had thought. You have done splendid! Next time I'm in Middlewich and visiting Auntie Joyce I'll be sampling a pint of your finest. Dan and I have just upgraded to 70 litres and that seems massive 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I wish you all the best for your second year....

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Cheers mate, keep in touch

[@lewishanger8932]

Thanks Andy. Just what I needed to know.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

You’re welcome!

[@sunbearbrewing]

A great insight Andy, so helpful to the likes of myself where this is certainly the way I will go. Congratulations on your first year, it’s been great to follow along!

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Glad it was helpful!

[@PatsBrewery]

Congrats on the 1 year, such useful information, just a dream at the moment but maybe one day.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks Pat. If I can dream it and do it, anyone can. Cheers!

[@Wild-Boar-Brewing]

Very interesting. Those costs certainly mount up with bits and pieces here and there. Best of luck for the next 12 months

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Sure does add up! And thanks for watching

[@jamesyoung1370]

A real inspiration, thank you for starting the brewery and KZbin channel. As a home brewer who aspires to starting up a brewery some day, this has been a fantastic watch and source of inspiration. Congratulations on the first year and looking forward to seeing how you develop the business. 🎉

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Hi James, plan well! Best of luck.

[@preuc3367]

appreciate the journey you are taking us on

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

My pleasure!

[@jcinsaniac]

It''s so wonderful to see a dream unfold. I have the same dream, but in the USA, it would be impossible to spend only $57,000 and raise a brewery. The minimum spend is typically $250k to 500k for a microbrewery which would be what your operation would have to be classified as here. You do not have a taproom? You plan to have one in the future? Thanks so much for insights into your operation - it is inspirational.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

No tap room yet. Could happen. All our sales are in keg/cask to local pubs. One of them takes all of our beer releases so we kind of have a tap room there :)

[@thomash3716]

Very interesting and well done! 👍

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@alexdent8942]

Amazing, realĺy enjoyed watching your you tube videos. Best of luck with your brewing and maybe one day I'll get to try a four priests beer.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks Alex!

[@craigkinney853]

Thanks buddy. These questions have been ratting around my brain recently. Have an urge to open a tap room. The ones in America are amazing.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Yes they are. I visited Jonny at Rivers and Rails in Minnesota this year, there's a video about it - episode 53. Cheers!

[@gunder3]

Thanks for the info, I am glad you didn't say how much you make on the beer. That's no one's business, cheers.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

You bet

[@White_Rose_Al]

Brilliant 👏

[@khalidmoussa7859]

Hi I really appreciate your time to explain in details. How much cost you to start your own business I’m very happy for you, I would like to start my own too. Can you help me please thank you for your time.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Hi, sure ask any questions and I will try to help.

[@matthewbrown5677]

Well done Andy.... May l come to you for help in 2024.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

sure, look me up.

[@martincrossley3196]

Just fab - hats off to you mate

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

thanks Martin

[@justhomebrew]

Very cool insight and experience. Thank for sharing! Cheers!

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@karldenning1893]

Sweat equity’s a lot more than that😅, congratulations on your first year of KZbin. Great informative piece.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thank you! 😁

[@georgecompton-180brewing5]

Thanks for the great content and information. Can you tell me the manufacture of your brew house.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Apparently it was custom made for the original owner. But it looks very similar to PBC Brewery Solutions kits. I once asked then to check if it was one of theirs and they said it wasn’t. The smaller fermenters and kettle/copper are made from 400L Grundy tanks. cheers

[@TheGrimbarianBrewer]

Great video and great insight on to what it could potentially cost to go down that route. Cheers mate 🍺 🍻

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

No worries mate, thanks for the comment.

[@siscokid8512]

Well that is fan-bleeding-tastic! well done! Really informative! I like the way you have just get on with it, wit a positive attitude through all the ups and downs, punctuated with a healthy smattering of good humour! I guess you're doing what you're doing now at capacity, while it is a weekend gig it cant really increase in size much. (Unless Elliott does the Herriot watt degree and pulls the mon-fri brewing shift!) Well done, keep up the good work love the videos. Just hope you are turning a profit and continue to in the uncertain permacrisis / environment we seem to find ourselves in. you certainly deserve to. PS, cant wait till you get the bottles on the webshop!

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Cheers mate.

[@lerrigatto]

I blindly subscribed just because your beard and tone of voice is awesome.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Hi Enrico, glad you like the beard :) And I subscribed back to you as you might find your missing keyboard parts at my day job www.digikey.fr or www.digikey.it

[@johnyalowica8423]

Hello Andy! Amazing video! I'm John from Canada! My wife Diana and I are stepping up from home brewers to opening a nano brewery in the Canadian Rockies of canmore Alberta. I saw found your video's on KZbin they are amazing. We are on a strict budget as well. The steam condenser! How did you build it? Cheers John Yalowica

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Hi John, prepare for hard work ahead! Good luck. The steam condenser is 4” stainless log burner ducting. The downward length contains 4 stainless pressure washer nozzles (Amazon) that mist water into the duct. This condenses the steam into a bucket below, which in turn is run to a drain. I have a video in the past that shows how it works. Will try to find it for you!

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Episode 18 from 14min 30sec !

[@BrewabitRick]

Super super interesting thanks for that cheers 👍🍻

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@AceTeale]

Well done on staying here for a year, such an interesting video, at some point with growth will you leave main job, to be full-time or bring in staff ? When my wife is properly on the mend I plan to get up to your neck of the woods to sample the beers... Great video.

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks! Doubtful I will quit the day job for a while. Maybe Elliott can brew one day a week? Let me know if you’re coming over. Cheers!

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Thanks! Doubtful I will quit the day job for a while. Maybe Elliott can brew one day a week? Let me know if you’re coming over. Cheers!

[@robertschonfelder2162]

Fascinating insight, thanks. How easy was it to work out your equipment profile; ie boil off, efficiencies etc??

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

First brewday was an educated guess based on tank measurements and homebrew experience . After that I had real world data and used that to configure the profile. I was way under on maximum tank capacity, mash efficiency and yeast attenuation, and way over with boil off expectations. But now we know!

[@ruanmuller3577]

Sir why did you choose this size? Why not bigger?

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

It chose me.:)

[@mannerlycow3981]

how much do you sell a cask for?

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Never ask a lady her age.

[@MadeByMartyn]

How long before you're upping to a 10bbl kit? ;-)

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

When I upgrade to a 9 day week

[@martinu2725]

Not sure if I missed it but did you include the costs for buying/renting casks/kegs? Also would be interested in how long approx you think it will take to get a return on your investment?

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

Hi, I didn't include casks/kegs as we consider these as monthly overhead. The cask cost is factored into the cost of the beer. We rent them, so other than a small deposit once we started brewing there was no upfront cost. If we stopped upgrading things we could recover all of the initial investment in about 10 months at current sales and production level. Cheers!

[@BobGreenOnline]

Cost of casks?

[@FourPriestsBrewery]

I build the rental cost into the monthly overhead as they weren’t an outright asset purchase, £ 1.60 per cask per month via keg logistics.

[@BobGreenOnline]

@@FourPriestsBrewery Cask rental? I never knew such a thing existed. When I costed this up (many moons ago) It was a major stumbling block to a start up, not any more by the sounds of it. Great video, not sure I've seen a brewery breakdown with so much detail before. Thank you.