A lot should be considered when you open your brewery like craft brewing tech, brewery equipment cost and price,find a location for brewery, license and regulation of a brewery. This article column is specially to answer some common question during brewing.You need to consider a lot when you open your brewery like craft brewing tech, brewery equipment cost and price,find a location for brewery, licenseand regulation of a brewery. This article column is specially to answer some common question during brewing.Opening a brewery with a capacity of 20 million liters per year is a major undertaking that requires a significant investment in equipment, infrastructure, and expertise. Such a facility falls into the category of a large or medium-sized brewery and will require high-quality equipment to ensure consistent product quality, scalability, and regulatory compliance. In this article, we’ll discuss the essential equipment needed to open a brewery of this scale, covering everything from brewing equipment to packaging and quality control systems.
The difference between a 2-vessel and 4-vessel brewhouse lies mainly in the number of dedicated process tanks used for the brewing steps, which impacts efficiency, brewing speed, capacity, and cost.
1. 2-Vessel Brewhouse
A 2-vessel brewhouse combines multiple brewing steps into fewer tanks. The most common configurations are:
Mash/Lauter Tun (combined)
Kettle/Whirlpool (combined)
✅ Advantages:
Lower cost (equipment and space)
Suitable for small to medium-sized breweries (e.g., brewpubs)
Simpler operation and automation
❌ Disadvantages:
Slower brewing cycles (one batch must finish before another starts)
Limited daily batch capacity
Less energy-efficient per batch
2. 4-Vessel Brewhouse
A 4-vessel brewhouse separates each major brewing step into its own tank:
Mash Tun
Lauter Tun
Boiling Kettle
Whirlpool
✅ Advantages:
High efficiency and speed — multi-batch brewing per day possible
Overlapping processes (e.g., mashing a new batch while the first is lautering)
Higher yield and consistency
Ideal for medium to large breweries with higher output goals
❌ Disadvantages:
More expensive (equipment, installation, automation)
Requires more space and trained staff
Feature 2-Vessel Brewhouse 4-Vessel Brewhouse
Number of Tanks 2 4
Batch Time Longer Shorter
Throughput per Day Lower Higher (up to 8+ batches/day)
Footprint Smaller Larger
Automation Level Basic to Moderate Moderate to Advanced
Ideal For Brewpubs, small craft breweries Production breweries
If your brewery plans to scale up or brew multiple batches daily, a 4-vessel system is better. If you’re focusing on smaller-scale or one-batch-per-day production, a 2-vessel brewhouse may be sufficient and more cost-effective.
If you are planning to open a brewery. TIANTAI BrewTech could help you answer your questions and supply the brewery equipment system. We supply 1-200HL complete beer brewing brewery equipment system including malt milling equipment, brewhouse equipment, fermenters, brite beer tanks, beer bottling machine,beer canning machine, beer kegging machine, hopping machine, yeast propagation equipment. We also supply all auxiliary brewery systems like steam heating pipe and valves, water treatment, filter, air compressor etc. Everything in brewery are all in our list.
If you are interested in any beer brewery equipment, please feel free to contact us:
Ivy Liang(Sales Director)
Email: [email protected]
