Making the jump from home brewing to brewing for a living

[Ducatiboy stu]

Another bit of advice....research liquor licence's. It will cost you 2-3k just to get a solicitor to complete an impact statement and if that red tape doesn't stop you its only the tip of the iceberg.

You dont need a solicitor. If you need a solicitor then you prob shouldnt be doing it.

I started the process ( in NSW ) a few years ago, but other things ( divorce ) got in the way

You need to get consent from local council wich involves DA' etc and all the health regs etc.

Then you apply to the Liqour lic board for a producers licence. Its reasonably straight forward as long as you tick all the boxes and have everything sorted with your local council

Then you apply to the ATO for an excise licence. They will require recipies, calibrated equipment and a secure bond store.

Not hard, juat tedious and time consuming.

 

[waggastew]

Check out the Brewing Network podcasts (on their website or iTunes). It's US based but has some great shows on going pro, setting up a nano/micro.

Another thing to consider is timing. Alot of new breweries opening at the moment but there is likely to be some sort of shake-out in the next few years.

Not sure how Oz liquor licences etc work but the nano option (brew on a v.small scale in an industrial unit and sit on tap at local beer bars) may be a cheaper (but certainly not cheap) way to get your kicks.

I am with some of the other posters however, brewing is a great hobby that I wouldn't want to bugger up with BAS forms, excise etc. I have a nice well paid professional job which gives me enough cash to be a part time micro-brewer, chef, drummer in a rock band, fisherman etc. If I owned my own brewery I would have no time or money for any of those things!

Stew

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Regardless of how small you go, you still need a licence for production and exciss. Even pubs need these licences addionally to their retail licence.

 

[Moad]

I HAVE quit my job partly inspired to do something like this. I love beer and love to learn about it too. I've only done homebrewing (AG) for 6+ months and have taken a 6 month hiatus because of said quiting job (I'm in Beijing right now) but I'm completely open to the prospect of at least working in a brewery (scrubbing floors, anything). As for turning a hobby into a job, completely fine by me, my work is IT related which I'm just not enjoying any more. I'm 28 this month by-the-by and completely appreciate my situtation is not like a lot of folks on here, or anywhere I suppose. Anyway nothing solid for me yet but I'm riding the wave of hope, luck and determination to see what happens. Bar work would be fine as long as I was pulling pints of craft and not raft.

Identical situation to me, burnt out by I.T at 28, lost interest. Contacted local breweries but hard to get a look in...

 

[Stormahead]

I think I was probably burned out in IT by about age 30

Certainly a common theme!

I'm also looking to move over to pro brewing shortly

 

[bigmacca]

Good to hear both sides of the coin! I understand that there is a huge amount of red tape to get through, I guess this is the reason there is not more people doing craft brews. But I believe the craft brew movement still has a lot of growth. The more aussies making good quality the better I say!!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I think NSW has relaxed the cost and conditions for microbreweries and now allow brewery door sales. Previously you could only sell beer to wholesalers or retail licenced venues, and these licences are a lot exy than a producers licence.

 

[TimT]

The other interesting job possibility is being a brewer at a restaurant or cafe. I used to pop in every day to a really cool cafe in North Melbourne on my way to work - aside from some of their own sweeties, they made their own sauerkraut, pizza dough, and I think made their own ricotta. In places like that, I reckon brewing would be right up their alley.

 

[Moad]

I think NSW has relaxed the cost and conditions for microbreweries and now allow brewery door sales. Previously you could only sell beer to wholesalers or retail licenced venues, and these licences are a lot exy than a producers licence.

Do you know what type of license this is mate?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Producers licence.

 

[Philthy79]

G'day bigmacca..
Im currently developing my business plan for a micro - even getting that done is a lot of hard work. Ducatiboy Stu is right about ATO, licences etc if you starting up from scratch (which I may be doing).

Good luck!

 

[Moad]

Sorry stu I misread your original post. Thanks for that

 

[Greg.L]

I think NSW has relaxed the cost and conditions for microbreweries and now allow brewery door sales. Previously you could only sell beer to wholesalers or retail licenced venues, and these licences are a lot exy than a producers licence.

NSW has different rules for regional areas and the city. In the regions you can sell bottles retail but in cities you are more restricted, unless you get a full retail licence. City councils are likely to be a lot more strict as well. Liquor licensing is a state responsibility so it depends entirely what state you are in. You need to check the website of the authorities in your state.

 

[///]

Greg - um no. Same rules apply at the state
Level across NSW. A council can put conditions which impact the state license.

O'Henry forgets to mention he not only turned up with a hangover on day 1, and did not learn from that, and kept turning up. Per his example, lots of volunteers but few ever return, it ain't romantic standing on a filling line all day or lifting 120 65 kg manually

A good chef is not like a good cook, same with brewing. Making a day job out of it is all about repeatable process, not the romance of doing what you want when you want

Chefs have hangry people demanding food and equally cranky staff around them yelling at them for 12 hours a day, working crap hours and standing up to your nuts in grease. A home cook may have shitty kids to deal with, but not for 12 hours a day ...

Hb'ing focuses so much in wort, seldom about the downstream. On the flip side, wort is for show, the down stream is all about the dough. Degas 140 over carbonated kegs and see how much fun that is and never make that mistake again. nah, it ain't all bad, the birds chirp in summer when I leave the house at 4.50 am ...

 

[manticle]

And the bling is massive. Giant kettle, giant chiller, giant callouses.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

One of the realities I looked at was filling and capping bottles....

You think doing a batch of 40 bottles on a weekend is a pain. Think about doing 400 every day or even every 2nd day. The romance is great.....but the rest is not.

Lots of hard boring work.

And not to mention that you have to keep production up all year just to make a few bucks.

The analogy to a chef is a good one.

 

[going down a hill]

Check out the Brewing Network podcasts (on their website or iTunes). It's US based but has some great shows on going pro, setting up a nano/micro.

A great episode on the session was with Tom Hennessy, the man has a lot of great tips and tricks for starting your own brewery or brew pub. http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/972

Personally, I'm happy with brewing in my backyard.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

A lot of those shows are great, but the problem is that they dont often relate to what is available here. Both in terms of cost and availability. Sure you can buy a turn-key system, but you are going to need a few $$ to do that.

If you have the ability the think outside the square with regard to equipment, and buy 2nd hand equipment and be able to modify it to suit then you will get closer to your dream.

Either way its not easy, but it is achievable. There are many small brewers who bit the bullet and had a go, and are still going.

They are not millionares, but they are living the dream and happy doing that.

 

[manticle]

My dream involves a tall lady with long hair, glasses and corporate dress driving a forklift. She is quite heavily tattooed but knows a lot about beer, art and football (soccer). She drinks pints, drives front end loaders and loves wearing bikinis at the beach.

When we are alone she ******* with my ***** and then we ******** after I have ***** her ********. That said, I have also dreamed that I am being sucked into an air conditioning system and my mother is at the other end telling me why I died. Cuts both ways.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

When we are alone she cleans my toilet with my toothbrush and then we argue after I have worn her bra. That said, I have also dreamed that I am being sucked into an air conditioning system and my mother is at the other end telling me why I died. Cuts both ways.

Your mum is a smart lady