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Brewery Setup Blog

How should I calculate my beer yield

Apr 06, 2016
tiantai

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how to start a brewery

Building a microbrewery

---How should I calculate my beer yield?

Part 1:
Draft beer System Sizing

The sizing and selection of a beer system is critical to the operational efficiency and overall profitability of a brewery. Use this information as a basic guideline to system configuration.
For further information contact the skilled staff (brau@cnbrewery.com) at Specific and they will be pleased to assist you in optimizing your brewery for productivity, performance, aesthetics, and economy.

Part 2:
Calculation of Beer Annual Production

Annual beer production= beer yield per fermenting cycle x No.of cycles per year
beer yield per cycle= Fermenter volume x No. Fermentation tanks

It usually takes several weeks to making beer from a to z. For example:
2-week production cycle for ales, 25 cycles per year
4-week production cycle for lagers, 12.5 cycles per year

Part 3:
Sizing for a Brewpub – Example

Parameters:
1000hl per year; 75% Ales, 25% Lagers”
50 brewing weeks / year

Now let’s do the proposals for building a brewpub:
75% Ales means 750hl ale per year, 25 cycles per year
so we need get 30hl ales per cycle (750hl/25 cycles)

25% lagers means 250hl lagers per year, 12.5 cycles per year
so we need get 20hl lagers per cycle (250hl/12.5 cycles)

No.of fermenters for 30hl ales per cycle	30hlFVX1pc	20hlFVx2pcs	10hlFVx3pcs	6hlFVX5pcs	5hlFVx6pcs	4hlFVX8pcs	3hlx10pcs
No.of fermenters for 20hl lagers per cycle	/	20hlFVX1pc	10hlFVx2pcs	6hlFVx4pcs	5hlFVx4pcs	4hlFVx5pcs	3hlFVx7pcs
Total No.of Fermenters	/	20hlx3pcs	10hlFVx5pcs	6hlFVx9pcs	5hlFVx10pcs	4hlFVx13pcs	3hlFVx17pcs
Brewhouse volume		20hl or 10hl	10hl or 5hl	6hl	5hl	4hl	3hl
Comments		Good The 20hl brewhouse may have been oversized	Good	Ok, may have been initially undersized	Ok,may have been initially undersized	Not good	Not good

Usually, the brewhouse is same or half size of the fermentation tank.
Comment – One must look at the labor component in selecting a system size.
Most properly sized brewpubs equip 3-6 fermentation tanks in first couple of years of operation.
“Brewing less than 3 times a week, the system may have been oversized to start with.”
“Brewing more than 6 times a week, the system may have been initially undersized.”

Part 4:
System Recommendation

Proposal 1: 5hl/brew system with 5x10hl fermentation tanks
(most economical but smallest expansion capacity)
Proposal 2: 10 hl /brew system with 3 x 20hl fermentation tanks
(middle budget, better expansion capacity but less kinds of beers per cycle)
Proposal 3: 10hl /brew system with 5x10hl fermentation tanks.
(Better expansion capacity, 5 kinds of beers per cycle, but higher budget)

Edited by Jana
Sales manager of Tiantai Company
Email: brau@cnbrewery.com

how to start brewery