A new brewery is a beautiful thing to behold. As a new brewer, it is the culmination of everything you have worked towards. It is never to be treated lightly. Nothing is ever to be taken for granted. When you start to set up your craft brewery, you need to exert extreme caution when choosing the elements that will make it function optimally. The right craft brewing equipment will not guarantee success, but choosing the wrong type will definitely lead you a ways down the path of brewery failure.
The Wrong Brewery Equipment: Setting the Stage for Failure
A craft brewery can set the stage for the failure of his or her brewery by simply choosing inappropriate equipment. The equipment, once so pristine and ideal in appearance lose their shine when you find out they are not what you think they are. The characteristics that hinder their proper functioning include:
Incompatibility: The pieces are incompatible – they do not work with each other. This prevents a smooth processing of the brew from start to finish
Over Budget: They are too expensive and result in you cutting corners on other aspects of the brewing process
Space Hogs: They take up too much of the space you have in your facility. This requires preplanning the set-up. This can make it difficult for your brew to proceed in an orderly fashion and for employees to move around safely and efficiently. It can also interfere if you need to purchase other pieces to expand
Inflexibility: Some piece of craft brewing equipment you purchase may not be flexible in purpose or performance. The bottler may only be capable of handling certain sized bottles and no other sized bottles or even other containers
Limitations: The equipment may restrict the capability of the brewery to expand its production levels e.g. the bottle filler may be too slow, the carbonator may not be consistent in its levels of CO2
Maintenance: The equipment you have purchased requires far more maintenance than your capable staff or yourself can deliver
Of course, the worst machinery does not deliver what it promises. No matter how you try to work with it, the result negatively affects the brew. For a brewer that is a complete disaster.
Craft Brewing Equipment: Learn to Avoid Disaster
Choosing the right equipment for your brewery is not an easy task. Some many available options make it daunting. Temptations may be to go too big or too small. With every craft brewery seeking to create its own identity, it is imperative you make the smart choices from the start, including the layout, the budget and the equipment. Failure to carefully research and select proper craft brewing equipment can truly be disastrous – even ending all your highflying brewing dreams.
