Solon Consulting
Brewery Consultant for Operating Pressure
When fermenter chilling stalls, filler interruptions spike every third cycle, or cellar leaks divert your team from moving beer, operating constraints tighten around the entire business. These symptoms indicate the system has outgrown its original design. As your brewery consultant, we step into this reality to identify root causes alongside your production leaders, offering practical support in equipment selection, procurement, installation support, parts, startup, and diagnostic root-cause work. The path forward begins with a single, focused conversation about your most pressing operational pain point; book a brewery project consult today.
consequences
What Happens When the Floor Stays Broken
When brewery output becomes unpredictable, the damage spreads beyond the production report. You miss distributor orders, which forces your sales team into apology mode and opens the door for competitors. Your brewers, hired to create, spend their shifts fighting equipment that should just work. The financial pressure to fix things fast often leads to expensive, short-term patches that fail again in a few months. We have seen this cycle in facilities where the operation design no longer matches its reality. The path out begins with a clear-eyed assessment of your current constraints and a practical plan to address them.
Missed Commitments
When production falls short, distributor orders go unfilled. This strains relationships and can lead to lost shelf space that takes months to recover.
Team Burnout
Skilled brewers and cellar operators get worn down by constant troubleshooting. The work shifts from making great beer to fighting a facility that will not cooperate.
Reactive Spending
Emergency repairs and expedited parts orders drain capital that should go toward planned improvements. The cycle of breakdown and patch-up becomes the norm.
capabilities
Brewery Consultant Capabilities
Our work targets the operating areas where friction most often hides. We can specify and coordinate equipment procurement, installation support, parts, and startup based on your specific constraints. We help breweries assess their cleaning systems to map chemical and water use. Each engagement starts with a close look at your specific production data, your team's daily reality, and your growth targets. The aim is to leave you with a stable, well-documented operation that your team can run.
Process Engineering
We map your actual workflows, identify rate-limiting steps, and redesign sequences to support more consistent output, working from your real production data and batch records.
Facility Layout and Design
We plan equipment placement, utility runs, and material flow for new builds or reconfigurations, making sure the space works for the people in it.
Automation and Controls
We specify control system architectures and instrumentation that give your team visibility and repeatable control over critical processes.
Cleaning System Assessment
We audit your CIP systems and procedures to map chemical and water use, then develop configurations that support consistent cleanliness and more predictable cycle durations.
process
How We Work With Your Team
We begin with a focused conversation about the single biggest operational problem you are facing right now. That discussion leads to a structured assessment where we look at your production data, walk the floor with your team, and identify the root causes behind the symptoms. We then deliver a written summary of findings and a recommended path forward, prioritized by impact and feasibility. If you choose to proceed, we work on-site alongside your people to implement the changes, document new procedures, and train your team. The process is designed to transfer knowledge, not create dependency. Book a brewery project consult to start the conversation.
Targeted Conversation
We start by listening. You describe the problem in your own words, and we ask the questions that help us understand the full context.
On-Site Assessment
We spend time on your floor, reviewing data, observing workflows, and talking with the people who run the equipment every day.
Findings and Plan
We deliver a clear, written summary of what we found and a prioritized set of recommendations you can act on.
Implementation and Handoff
We work alongside your team to make the changes, document the new standards, and make sure your people own the process.
proof
Production Work We Have Done
Real brewery work gives us a practical understanding of what it takes to build a repeatable operation inside existing constraints. Each engagement involved a specific set of limits, and the patterns we observed inform how we approach a new challenge. The following examples represent the range of that work, from a ground-up startup to an international corporate client. We do not share financial details or active project information, and we respect client confidentiality. The approach we build for your situation draws on these experiences but is shaped by your actual floor.
Ground-Up Startup Facility Build
Solon's scope with Balanced Rock Brewing covered a ground-up startup and facility execution: layout and facility systems, chiller and glycol coordination, trench drain and sanitary sewer and plumbing coordination, HVAC and boiler scope, controls, local-permitting advisement as non-prime, commissioning and startup, and operations support.
Related-Party Facility and Controls Engagement
Solon's scope with Old Gregg Brewing, a related-party engagement, included facility, controls, PLC/HMI, procurement, fractional COO and owner-representative work, commissioning, and operations support.
Solon provided consulting services to a related party in this engagement.
International Corporate Process Definition
Solon's scope with Forgtmenot Brewing in Greece, our only confirmed corporate international engagement, included facility engineering, controls, equipment, freight and customs, recipe development, staff training, raw materials, translation, SOPs, and ongoing advisory.
Chiller and Glycol System Assessment
Solon's scope with Pouring With Heart Group and Stay Put Brewing at 73 Rainey included rooftop chiller, glycol loop, controls, equipment, procurement, and umbrella operations support.
faq
Questions Brewery Founders Ask Us
Founders often ask us these questions when they are weighing whether outside help makes sense for their brewery. The answers reflect how we work day to day, not a script. If your question is not listed here, a direct way to get a straight answer is to book a project consult and ask us about your situation. We can support equipment selection, procurement, installation support, parts, and startup. Our recommendations are based on what your brewery needs to operate reliably. We work alongside your team to transfer knowledge and build internal capability. The aim is to train your people on new procedures and document everything so you can run the operation after we leave. Many engagements begin with a single, well-defined issue that we can scope and address effectively.
Do you sell equipment or represent manufacturers?
We can support equipment selection, procurement, installation support, parts, and startup. Our recommendations are based on what your brewery needs to operate reliably. This approach allows us to specify the right path for your facility without being tied to a particular vendor's catalog.
How long does an engagement take?
Duration depends on the scope of the problem you face and the complexity of your facility. A focused assessment might involve a site visit and a written report. Larger implementations, such as facility reconfiguration or process overhaul, follow timelines that are scoped to the specific work required.
Will you work with our existing team or bring in your own people?
We work alongside your team to transfer knowledge and build capability within your brewery. The goal is to train your people on new procedures and document everything so you can run the operation after we leave, rather than creating a dependency on outside consultants.
What if we only need help with one specific problem?
That is often the most practical place to start. Many engagements begin with a single, well-defined issue such as a persistent production constraint or a CIP system that is not performing. We can scope a project to address just that problem and deliver a focused result.
conversion
Start With Your Hardest Problem
The most direct way to understand whether outside perspective can help is to talk about the specific problem that is costing you the most right now. Describe what is happening on your floor, what you have already tried, and what a better outcome would look like for your business. If the situation matches work we have done before, we outline a practical next step. If it does not, we say so plainly. You have been fighting these problems long enough. Book a brewery project consult and start working toward a way through.