Brewery Ready: Setting the Stage for Seamless Equipment Installation

Much of our writing to date has been focused on Brewery Business Planning and Brewery Equipment Selection, but there is more to do! Once you have planned out your brewery and selected equipment, you have only just begun the process. Today’s article will focus on preparing your space for the arrival and installation of your brewery equipment.

Ensure your building has space to accommodate your Brewery Equipment

Picking up from our previous article on Brewery Design and Layout Planning, the first order of business will be to plan your equipment and floorplan layout and ensure you have all the space needed to place and operate your brewery equipment. This includes floorspace inside your building for the primary items such as Brewhouse, Hot and Cold Liquor (water) tanks, Fermentation and Brite tanks, water filtration, boiler (if applicable – for steam systems), cold box, packaging equipment, Parts and Pumps, and more. It also may include additional space outdoors for CO2, glycol chiller, compressors for refrigeration, compressed air, spent grain storage, and other support equipment. Be sure to consider ceiling heights, door clearances, and other overhead needs for both loading and placing your equipment.

Think of how employees will interact with the equipment they will be working on as well as how the public will view the brewery from the tasting area or restaurant. This is also a good time to envision how you will grow your business beyond your initial equipment order in the coming years, and what equipment can fit in your space at “full capacity”, and how it will be brought in to the building and set in place.  

Create an Equipment Schedule

Often overlooked (until it comes up), one of the most important planning and preparation items is your infrastructure needs for each piece of equipment and the building overall. These needs can vary widely depending on what occupied the building previously and what equipment you will be bringing into the space to brew on. The best way to approach this is with an equipment schedule. An Equipment Schedule will list every piece of equipment you will be installing in your brewery permanently as well as non-permanent equipment that will be used. The equipment schedule will also list all infrastructure and utility needs for each piece of equipment and any associated details so that the proper infrastructure and utilities can be identified and run to the correct places. Finally, it will include links to the documentation of each piece of equipment in case questions about its needs arise or contractors need guidance for installation later on. This will also help you get an accurate bid for construction and installation of said equipment. Knowing your full equipment list will also help determine if a space you are viewing is a viable option for your brewery or if the cost to upgrade the space is outside of your budget.

Physically Prepare the Building for Equipment Arrival and Installation

So, you have selected your equipment, chosen a viable building, and identified all of your utility needs. The next part is where you really begin the physical construction of your brewery! While your equipment is being manufactured and delivered, you should use this time to get to work on demoing the space, infrastructure and utility upgrades before everything arrives. The general order of operations to construction and infrastructure prep will be as follows (assuming you have gotten all the correct permitting and city/state/local approvals):

• Major Water, Gas, or Electrical upgrades that require city planning/approval

• Demolition of previous space (if needed)

• Slab and Structural improvements (if needed)

• Roof Improvements

• Ventilation Needs

• Floor Drain Installation – Brewery, Bar, Kitchen, Restaurant areas

• Wall/Framing installation – includes roof framing for equipment

• Brewery and Building Plumbing, Water, and Piping needs – including Gas piping

• Sloped Flooring Installation

• Electrical runs to equipment and use areas

• Glycol Piping Installation – up to where drops will connect to tanks

• CO2, Air, Hard piped Transfer Line Installation

• HVAC Installation

• Outdoor or Loading area improvements (if needed – this may also be done at beginning if inaccessible for construction)

In a perfect world, you can have your construction team rough in all these installation needs prior to equipment arriving and in this order. This can rarely happen without some exceptional planning and some luck in timing. With that said, this list of installation priority can still serve as a template for the order in which you can install your infrastructure.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are many items to complete before you even accept and hook up your brewery equipment! This is a good time to mention the importance of a good Brewery Consultant, Architect, MEP Consultant, and an experienced General Contractor/Construction Management company who can orchestrate your brewery installation as seamlessly as possible. Ideally, your architect and general contractor are also very familiar with local city and state code and have a good working relationship with the city you will be building in as to avoid delays or designs that are not to code.

It bears repeating that the best way to ensure your construction process goes as smoothly as possible is to plan ahead and plan in detail. This can help you avoid costly surprises and delays throughout the process. Rest assured that all the equipment planning and details will put you and your brewery in an excellent position to complete your construction on time, within budget, and in a great position to succeed as a business!