Equipment Needed to Start a Microbrewery
The good news is, you don’t have to splash out on the highest quality equipment in this list when you’re starting out. Search online and you’ll find lots of these items used and at cheaper prices than new.
Malt mill: These are used to crush grains. The finer the grain, the more efficient the mashing.
Mash tun: An insulated container that’s used for mashing.
Filtration technology: Equipment used to remove yeast and debris, e.g., plate filters.
Heat exchanger: Raises and lowers the wort temperature. Important in preventing contamination.
Beer fermenter:Does exactly what it says on the tin, in a temperature-controlled environment.
Hydrometer:Measures the amount of sugar in the wort.
Brite tank:Temperature-controlled container, used to speed up the carbonation process.
Pumps: Transfers the liquid between containers.
Valves: Important for controlling the flow of liquids, gases and mixtures during brewing.
Cellar equipment: Obviously, cellars need to be kept cool, so we suggest a python system, which continuously cools liquids. You’ll also need equipment including cleaning sockets for your kegs.
Dispensing equipment: Includes beer taps (for testing yourself before anyone else) and carbon dioxide regulators.
Kegs: An integral part of the packaging of your product to transport beer to be served from taps. Stainless steel kegs are the best to use. You’ll also need keg washers and fillers.
Brewhouse: You can’t open a microbrewery without a location to create and produce your beer. Everything in the list above needs to be housed here!
Find a location
Breweries traditionally set up in areas where they can enjoy the most space for the production process, the same is not true for microbreweries. In fact, the closer you are to the crowd, the better off you’ll be. If you intend to have a bar as part of your brewery, you’ll need to draw in the numbers, but even if you intend to be a closed brewery, you’ll still want to be close to the pubs that will be your suppliers, and most of the craft-beer-championing pubs are in the trendiest areas.
You’ll also need to keep planning permission in mind, even if you find a perfect base near a bustling hub of bars if you don’t have permission to open a brewery there, it’s off limits. For a city microbrewery, London has proven that areas like Shoreditch and Brixton, once mostly residential areas that now have rapidly growing shopping and dining areas, attract the right sort of crowd, so if you can’t afford a city centre location, maybe a carefully selected student-friendly area may be a good alternative.
Take payments
You have the product, success comes with selling it, and you’ll need to have the right technology to do that. For selling to suppliers you want payments to be as quick and easy as possible. Invoices are the best way to manage these types of payments and can be settled in a few clicks.
If you open to the public, then remember, while they may be happy to go back to basics with carefully handcrafted beer, chances are they’re not willing to do the same when it comes to paying for it. Make sure you are equipped for taking every possible payment method your customers come at you with, whether its chip & PIN, mobile payments or contactless. The Square Reader accepts all three, so you’ll never miss out on a sale on your path to success!
For tableside payments, you need Square Terminal. This portable card machine also accepts all three payments and was designed and tested to withstand the hustle and bustle of a busy day in your micro-brewery.
Don’t worry about the battery suddenly running out in the middle of a sale – the Square Terminal’s powerful battery will last all day.
Have you considered your till system? Square Register is a fully integrated point-of-sale system that manages card and contactless payments, online sales, click and collect and delivery. All this, from one POS and two touchscreens, one for you and one for customers.
It’s really easy to set up. Simply plug in, turn on, choose your display setup and connect to your Square account or sign in from the device. There’s no hidden fees and transfers are as fast as the next business day.
TAKE YOUR MICROBREWERY ONLINE
Like every industry, the COVID-19 pandemic had a large impact on beer drinking. The closure of pubs for much of 2020-21 had a devastating effect. According to the British Beer & Pub Association, publicans ditched 70 million pints of beer when the first lockdown happened.
The upshot of the pandemic was that beer drinkers were forced to shop online. IBISWorld forecast that revenue for the online alcohol industry was expected to grow by 39.3%. Although the vaccine programme has helped speed up the lifting of restrictions, many will continue to shop online for beer. Which means you need to seriously consider having an online presence for your microbrewery.
Fortunately, setting up an online store is free and easy with Square. There’s no monthly fee and you only pay when you make a sale, though you can unlock advanced features on a paid plan.
With a Square online store, you can easily sell online and ship beer, offer click and collect and local delivery. All major credit and debit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay can be used by customers and Square payment processing keeps transactions secure. And you can bring in more business with online marketing tools too.
Don’t worry about the technical side of building a site – Square have that covered. With the help of our site builder, you don’t need to know how to code. And we ensure your site works with any device, laptop or mobile.
