You might have a beer recipe and a building picked out while the budget and permits are still unanswered questions. Opening a brewery means working through those decisions together, with a cash forecast and evidence that customers will buy your beer. Your recipe has to brew consistently on the equipment you buy, and the cash has to last until opening. We’ve worked on brewery projects in Texas and Greece. Here, we go from checking demand to first production, explaining which jobs need to happen before you can move on to the next.

Who will buy your beer, and how much will they buy?

Before you commit to the lease or tanks, work out who’ll buy enough beer to pay the bills. Look at nearby breweries, their output and where they sell it. How much demand comes through taprooms, and how much depends on distribution? What would give customers a reason to choose your beer? Compare the local population and competing businesses with your proposed site costs. Build a sales forecast from comparable operations and local evidence. National averages alone won’t show if your brewery can pay its bills. Keep the numbers tied to the customers you can actually reach.

Can you pay for the build and the bills until first sales?

Rent starts before beer sales do, so work out how long your cash will last while you’re getting the brewery open. Your brewery business plan should explain how production will grow, cost per barrel, taproom and distribution sales, contract production and cash reserves. If you’re considering a brewery SBA loan, check the lender’s requirements before building the forecast. Include rent, power, water and gas, insurance, loan payments and staff costs during the gap between taking the lease and making first sales. Allow for permit or construction delays. Show how you’ll pay those bills from available funds, rather than relying on sales that haven’t happened.

Check brewery building requirements before you sign the lease

A building with cheap rent can get expensive if it needs new drains or more power for the brewhouse. Check brewery building requirements before you commit to the site. Confirm that zoning allows the production and taproom activities you intend. Check the electrical service, water supply and wastewater discharge requirements before estimating upgrade costs. A wastewater surcharge calculator shows what your expected discharge strength could add to the sewer bill. Measure ceiling heights against tank dimensions, and inspect floor slopes and drains for cleaning. Leave room for deliveries, packaging and future tanks. Draw the route beer, people and deliveries will take through the building, with enough room for staff to do the work. Cleaning checks, including CIP validation, need to fit that layout.

Work out your brewhouse, tank and packaging sizes

The brewhouse and tanks you buy will set how much you can brew and what cleaning and maintenance will cost. Size the brewhouse against a realistic production forecast and the space for future growth. Fermentation capacity depends on the beer mix and how long each batch occupies a tank; lager schedules can tie up capacity longer than ale schedules. Size cooling for the tanks that need it at the same time, and match packaging equipment to the formats you expect to sell. Use brewery capacity planning to check the relationship between batch size, tank time and sales. Work through the equipment procurement checklist before ordering. Solon supplies new and used brewery equipment and puts together equipment packages to match your production plan.

Which brewery permits do you need, and when should you apply?

Start asking about brewery permits while you’re choosing the building and equipment, so the paperwork has a place in your opening schedule. Confirm the TTB Brewer’s Notice application requirements, including equipment descriptions, premises diagrams and ownership information. In Texas, check TABC requirements; elsewhere, check the relevant state alcohol authority. Ask the local authorities about building permits, fire approval, health inspections, wastewater discharge and signage. These approvals can follow different schedules, so list each application and what needs to happen before you can submit it in the opening plan. Use a brewery compliance checklist to track what applies to your site. Solon helps with permit applications alongside the design work.

Check power, water, cooling and wastewater before you build

Find out if the building can supply enough power and water when the brewhouse, tanks and packaging equipment are running together. Confirm electrical loads and service availability, water flow and pressure, hot water or steam needs, glycol cooling, CO2 distribution and compressed air. Use the glycol calculator when working out the glycol and water mix for your cooling system. Check ventilation, replacement air and wastewater handling too. Size each supply for the equipment and agree where the pipes and cables will go before contractors install them. Check the connections and cooling before production. Too little power, water or cooling can limit output and mean costly changes after construction. Ask the power, water and gas providers about upgrade lead times and get site-specific costs before signing off the construction budget.

How to build a brewery and check the equipment before brewing

Plan deliveries and contractor work so the tanks and brewhouse can get into the building and reach their final positions. Coordinate the general contractor, plumber, electrician, HVAC contractor, piping installers and control panel builders. Check access before closing walls, confirm when tanks must be set for the piping work, and agree when electrical rough-in needs to happen. The exact order depends on the building and equipment. Commissioning checks that systems operate as intended before you brew. Plan pressure checks, cooling-loop balancing, electrical load checks, cleaning checks and controls calibration. Solon helps with installation and commissions systems to get them running; contractors carry out the installation work.

Get your staff, cleaning procedures and recipes ready to brew

Give your crew written instructions they can follow at the equipment before the first brew. Cover production steps, cleaning, safety and quality checks, with clear instructions for what to do when a result falls outside the agreed limits. Select raw material suppliers and open the accounts before orders become urgent. Decide which quality checks you’ll run, how often you’ll run them and who records the results. Check recipes at production scale, since pilot batches don’t prove the full-size process. Train staff on equipment operation and cleaning before opening. Allow time to correct problems found during preparation. Once you are open, a beverage innovation pipeline applies the same pilot and scale-up gates to each new beer.

Solon helps you plan how to start a brewery, from budget to build

We’ll work with you on the budget, building and equipment, including the schedule for your first brew. Solon helps with business and funding plans, designs the brewing process and the building around it, and helps with permits such as TTB and TABC. We specify and supply new or used equipment packages, build and program control panels, help with installation and commission systems. Our founders own and run a licensed production operation, where purchasing, maintenance and repairs are familiar work. Brewery clients include Balanced Rock Brewing, a ground-up startup in The Colony, Texas, and Forgtmenot Brewing in Greece. Tell us about the brewery you want to open.

You can talk to a brewery consultant before you have the building and equipment figured out. Solon can work with you from those first decisions through commissioning and getting the brewery running. Tell us what you want to brew and what you’ve committed to so far, and we’ll discuss the work you need.