Need your help with brewery proposal

[ntg84]

I a landscape architecture student at the university of kentucky and I am doing a project based on the development of a local 400 acre site for redevelopment. My idea is to make a completly self sustaining micro brewery (would grow barley, hops, etc) on the site (along with a pub/restraunt, hotel, and tours).

Heres where I'm at. I'm still in the initial phase, where I'm just proposing the idea. But I need to know things like: how much hops and barley does it take to make beer. On average. My results contacting micro breweries have been unsusccesful. I need to know this for planning acreage for each respective crop and developing the other land.

So can anyone out ther help me out. I'm open to any suggestions, besides the ones about the crops. Any thing you all know about breweries, brewing, etc.

Thanks

[HogieWan]

A brewpub will go through a LOT of barley in a year. Also, they will need to malt that barley before using it in beer. Malting is a huge investment in time, space, and education.

[Spicoli]

I can't help you with the crops but I have a title:



HEAVEN

[newportstorm]

Depending on yearly production goals (# of barrels brewed), I'm going to say 400 acres won't be enough space to house all the facilities you want/need and have the farmland to produce enough barley/hops to be completely self sustaining.

Contact Buzzards Bay Brewery in MA. They are built on a beautiful farm (locally known as Costa Farm) and have been contemplating importing and growing their own hops for quite some time now - in particular, Hedgerow hops from England. They have their own water source, via a bubbling spring on the farm and also operate a sister vineyard and winery a few hundred yards down the road. Ask for Bob (owner) or Bill Russell (owner's son who oversees the brewery) or maybe even the head brewer, Kurt Musselman. They're nice people who are really improving things and might be willing to give you a few minutes of time to answer some questions.

Their number: (508)636-2288

Good luck!

[JohanD]

Originally posted by ntg84
My idea is to make a completly self sustaining micro brewery (would grow barley, hops, etc) on the site (along with a pub/restraunt, hotel, and tours).

Wow! I'm looking forward to seeing your report!

[The Beerbellian]

I am in agreement with those that suggest that 400 acres might not quite be enough for the entire proposal, however, you might want to consider going ahead and co-opting certain aspects, such as the raw grain and malting process, perhaps using the acreage not used up on the brewery and restuarant for growing the hops, if you have the gumption and resources behind you, go for it! I have long held the dream of a brew on premise operation but lack the resources, don't let the lack of acreage on hand stop you if you have the other requirements.

[ntg84]

Thank you for the replies. I had no idea that 400 acres wouldn't be enough for everything. If you all are inerested I can post the status of the project as it moves along. The site has good crop growing potential, so the hops can be grown on site. I suppose extra crop land could be used for growing fruits and veggies to make some limited special batches of brew (to make the place more unique).

[corkybstewart]

I'm going to disagree somewhat. 200 acres will grow a lot of barley, but the malting process, kilning of specialty grains, etc will be unfeasible. Hops don't take much room, you could grow them on a trellis adjacent to the outdoor beergarden you'll put in.

[chazwicke]

Originally posted by ntg84
. If you all are inerested I can post the status of the project as it moves along.

Please do!

[mookow]

A quick googling gave me the info that depending on the climate and whether or not you irrigate, an acre should yield something between 20 and 100 bushels of barley. Further googling told me tha you should get about 48# of malted barley per bushel. So, assuming we have 200 acres of good, irrigated land, the maximum amount of malted barley you could produce is 960,000. Assuming your average beer took 2# of barley per gallon (which is roughly an average OG of ~1.060), you could make 480,000 gallons of beer, which translates to ~15,000bbl. Which is quite a healthy amount of beer. Assuming you get a yield of only 10% the maximum quoted above (sub-optimal climate, 2-row rather than 6-row, non-irrigated, etc), you can still make 1,500bbl of brew a year, which I think is pretty respectable.

[ntg84]

Wow thats some great info. Thanks. What about hops though. How many bushels of hops are required per gallon of beer?

The land is pretty good for agriculture. I'm assuming now, before any indepth site analysis that I'll have about 230 acres for growing.

[The Beerbellian]

Amazing, those are impressivefigures, seems like you should pass on those google sites so the young fellow with the acerage could check those numbers.

[mookow]

Originally posted by ntg84
Wow thats some great info. Thanks. What about hops though. How many bushels of hops are required per gallon of beer?

The land is pretty good for agriculture. I'm assuming now, before any indepth site analysis that I'll have about 230 acres for growing.

Check this out. (http://www.probrewer.com/resources/hops/hop_data.php)

Strictly as an example from there, an acre of Centennial should yield between 1500-1750 pounds per acre. I dont know if that is dried hop cones or "wet" hops. I forget what percentage of the mass of fresh hops is water, but I'll be generous and assume it is 90%. Worst case, you should yield something over 150 lbs/acre. Assuming an average hopping rate of 1lb/bbl, you'd need 10 acres of hops to supply your brewery with hops for that 1,500BBL/year output.

[corkybstewart]

200 acres for barley, 30 for hops, you've got it made. I'ld probably put some of that barley acreage in wheat, maybe even a little rye for variety.

[newportstorm]

I'll defer to anyone who farms/grows on a commercial level - I know little about acreage requirements. Keep in mind, you'll need plenty of space for the restaurant/pub, hotel, access roads, parking lots, storage for farm machinery, etc. Not to mention landscaping/open space - if this is a tourist attraction, people want to be visually wowed, as well.

There are several breweries that grow a portion of their own ingredients (mainly hops) on site. I visited one in Sonoma, CA years ago - Sonoma Mountain Brewery (mainly lagers brewed there). Sadly, they didn't make it - nice place smack dab in the middle of wine country.

Wolaver's is aiming for an all "local" beer for their next organic brew. All ingredients would be locally grown by farmers in VT.

As far as environmentally conciousness and sutainability, New Belgium is leading the way:

http://www.newbelgium.com/sustainability.php

Cheers!

[DecoJuicer]

The only problem that I can see with this project is location, location, location. Any place where you can afford to get that much acrage, is going to be really far out of the way. And you want a brewpub to be in a convenient location for your clients, unless of course, you plan to sell the beer at commercial locations and the brewpub is only going to be a bonus for the brewery.

Conversley, anywhere that is conveniently located is going to cost a fortune to buy or lease the property. There is always the exception that proves the rule, but that is just how I see things.

[ntg84]

The site is located in Lexington, KY. Its a site that is 10-15 minutes from the center of the city. Note, this is a fictional proposal. The current site is a nature preserve owned by the county that had a land fill in one of the ravines. The reason my class is doing this is mainly a study in sustainability. The idea is to make the city money back on the site by redeveloping it, but not in a way that hurts the environment. It used to be a farm site 50 years ago. The topsoil has been reconditioned for the majority of the time, so it should be farmable again.

[chazwicke]

You want to grow your grains and hops on a landfill? :eek:

[Vienna Lager]

Well Chaz at least he isn't located in the city (past tense) of Love Canal or 3 Mile Island.

[newportstorm]

Originally posted by chazwicke
You want to grow your grains and hops on a landfill? :eek:

Half the city of Boston in built on landfill. God help them if there is an earthquake.

[ntg84]

Only about 20 acres was used for landfill, in a really steep ravine.