Onsite Brewing - An Alternative?

[Stinky Nightgown]

Hi All..........Just had a brain wave/fart.......

As a keen brewer (like most) we are proud of our brews and would like to make a quid from selling our beer to the world........
BUT......current laws and regs make things very difficult and or expensive to do so at the home brewer level from home.

My revelation is/was to brew onsite.........ie at the pub where you would like your beer served.......
my line of thought came from the track of that most pubs have
1) A license to serve alcohol (but not to brew....yes i know....read on)
2) A kitchen or registered food prep area (sanitary?)
3) Cold storage

I realise that an additional licence would be required (possibly easier to get with an existing licence that on its own)......but would it / could it work out that the small volume of local beverage you brew (ie 50L-60L p/week) make this a viable option?

Any thoughts to shatter my dreams or kick start my new occupation?

 

[HoppingMad]

If you have a willing holder of a licensed premises that is happy to put your brews on you're well on the way but there are plenty of other hoops to jump through. If you already have a premises yourself Stinky then would be already in front though. The laws throughout Oz on setting up micros and what premises are required aren't 100% consistent, but in a general sense you have to think about these aspects or get the licensee of the premises to look at them for you:

- Council/Planning permit (some councils are more accommodating of 'breweries' in their area, big or small - so consult your local dept)
some will be more thorough than others, but many will want to see compliance for 'food' premises, how brewery waste like grain and water is disposed of, and how aspects like fire safety would be addressed.

- Excise and tax - Lots of boring record keeping to be done etc. Of which you need to look at a dull link like this: ATO/Excise and record keeping

- According to info I have (from NSW) You need to apply for an excise license from the ATO and get tanks calibrated for volume, have a site audit and supply floor plans. A few other hoops to go through in this state, but NSW is supposedly the toughest, so may not be as bad in QLD.

- Satisfy basic health & safety requirements (which most licensed premises already would).

- Secure the appropriate additional licence and then get approval for it. Ie. if you sell packaged versions of your beer (in a bottleshop for example) you will also need a license for that. To brew on premise you may need to apply for a 'variation to license' of the existing venue.

- Depending on the state it can take between 6-12 mths to get the license so don't think this will happen overnight. From a comment I found from the guys at O'Briens Brewery (Ballarat,Vic) their brewery license took 6 months and that was with relatively few hassles. Getting a license for something which is a variation to an existing license could well take less though so you would have that in your favour. But Vic is relatively license friendly compared to some other states so hard to say.

In short, if you're thinking about it make sure to talk to your local council, licensing body as well as the tax office to make sure you're doing it right.

Good luck on living the dream :icon_cheers:

Hopper.

 

[newguy]

I'd like to suggest an alternative: sell your wort to the public. A friend started doing this many years ago. He started with a commercial 40ish liter RIMS unit churning out 4 x 20l of yeast ready wort per day. Based on that success he eventually turned his homebrew supply business into a microbrewery. The only problem was with the customer's sanitation once the wort left the premises. He got around that by including 1-2l of premixed no-rinse sanitiser with each kit.

The oldtimers in my homebrew club have told me about a guy who used to sell wort here too. He'd brew once a week and whatever he didn't sell, he'd drink himself.

 

[WSC]

In QLD, my understanding is you need to go in the following order, council, state then federal.

Council planning seems to be the worst/longest part depending on the council. In QLD you would need a producer wholesaler licence on top of the pub licence I think.

Then you go to the ATO. Depending on your volumes you can get away with lighter calibration requirements, once agian I think.

I have not been through the process but would think that what you suggest is the easiest path to go down and probably most profitable in the short term- in an existing pub.

Plus if you think about it you have a ready made distribution outlet.

Whoever owns that pub though is going to have to factor in what the big breweries may do to buy prices and rebates if the pub reduces their tap/adds new taps that are not theirs.

Good luck

 

[Count Vorlauf]

Yeah - The local planning is often what catches people. What are you doing with your brewery waste? You can't just flush all those fermentables, hop debris, trub, spent yeast, etc down the drain. Others have gotten stuck on air pollution issues - for some reason some neighbors might not like the smell of a boiling kettle (I know, I know)

I dunno - seems easier to set up a tap at home and invite some friends around!

In QLD, my understanding is you need to go in the following order, council, state then federal.

Council planning seems to be the worst/longest part depending on the council. In QLD you would need a producer wholesaler licence on top of the pub licence I think.

Then you go to the ATO. Depending on your volumes you can get away with lighter calibration requirements, once agian I think.

I have not been through the process but would think that what you suggest is the easiest path to go down and probably most profitable in the short term- in an existing pub.

Plus if you think about it you have a ready made distribution outlet.

Whoever owns that pub though is going to have to factor in what the big breweries may do to buy prices and rebates if the pub reduces their tap/adds new taps that are not theirs.

Good luck

 

[Bribie G]

A few people here on the Island run genuine banjo playing bootlegging Copperhead Road moonshine operations and sell a lot of rum flavoured alcoholic beverage that we don't talk about on this forum. A far better commercial proposition than beer.

 

[lczaban]

A few people here on the Island run genuine banjo playing bootlegging Copperhead Road moonshine operations and sell a lot of rum flavoured alcoholic beverage that we don't talk about on this forum. A far better commercial proposition than beer.

:icon_offtopic: - who would have thought that to be the case. Such people are obviously not residents of Pacific Harbour... :icon_cheers:

 

[Bribie G]

:icon_offtopic: - who would have thought that to be the case. Such people are obviously not residents of Pacific Harbour... :icon_cheers:

They are now, that's how they made the money h34r:

 

[Spartan 117]

Just a quick post on this. LHBS owner was talking to me about this a while ago and he could (somewhat cheaply he wasn't sure of the price) obtain all the necessary papers to allow him to sell his brews for consumption on the premises, however he would have to introduce 2 toilets(1 m, 1 f) an area for people to sit, fire exits among many more that would make it impossible. Interesting thought though if you opened a restaurant or whatever with all of the necessary facilities could you slap a brewery onto it ?????

Aaron