Whats The Process To Become A Microbrewery

[ham2k]

Found this on Amazon. Won't help you with the finer details about our legal system, etc, but I reckon it would be a good read all the same.

Link

Best of Luck, and give me a yell when you're opening.

Thommo.

Saw this book yesterday in Dymocks. It was the one on George St near Wynyard - $140 tho.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

And I think your right there. The changes came from the consultative process of submissions made to the Minister. The main thrust for the regional brewers is to foster business in regional area's as has been allowed to wine makers. There are not many wine makers in industrial buildings in the urban area's thankfully...

Scotty

In essence then, does that sound like an existing small regional pub would have a walk up start to brew and sell its own brew ? (forget the pressure that the majors may try to influence) ? 30,000 litres = 600 kegs p.a. which is about right for this pub (that's why its closed). But tremendous potential for food / accomodation services that would greatly influence its profitability.

So (in theory) do they have a good case ?

 

[floppinab]

In essence then, does that sound like an existing small regional pub would have a walk up start to brew and sell its own brew ? (forget the pressure that the majors may try to influence) ? 30,000 litres = 600 kegs p.a. which is about right for this pub (that's why its closed). But tremendous potential for food / accomodation services that would greatly influence its profitability.

I don't think the story has changed for existing licencees. They already have the licence to sell alcohol, food, accomodation etc. under their existing terms. The process they need to go through if they wanted to brew on premises hasn't changed although you would expect that if they are a pub getting the local council approval should be easier compared to if you were starting from scratch.

I think the impact is more on existing or new regional brewers looking to sell from their brewery.

 

[Akuna]

I've been searching everywhere and cannot find a documented process to follow to become a MicroBrewery.

At this point I'm not concerned about the business case, that will follow. (But if anyone has one I'd love to see the numbers)

I'd like to get "permission" to brew and sell my beer. Even if it dosn't make money it would be nice to sell it to cover my "Hobby".

Does anyone know where the process is documented so I can commence the paperwork trail to start my Micro.

2008 is the year for my own brewery!


BOG

Hi! We have a microbrewery at Mona Vale - just down the road. Akuna Brewery see www.akunabrewery.com.au pop in if you want any help. Cheers Ali

 

[Hugo]

'Tis the dream of every dedicated brewer to share the fruits of our labour with the world!

Ignoring the physical costs of the microbrewery and assuming you can negotiate the approval process without lawyers, does anyone know the "ball-park" administrative costs of the process? i.e. The licenses, application fees etc. (NSW if available).

cheers

 

[bigfridge]

'Tis the dream of every dedicated brewer to share the fruits of our labour with the world!

Ignoring the physical costs of the microbrewery and assuming you can negotiate the approval process without lawyers, does anyone know the "ball-park" administrative costs of the process? i.e. The licenses, application fees etc. (NSW if available).

cheers

At a rough guess $20,000 - $30,000 not counting time spent and lost wages.

But you should talk to your local council (DA, Const. Cert, Waste, Fire certificates), DLGR (Brewers License) and ATO (Excise license including tank calibration, site plans, documentation review and site audit).

Also allow 1-2 years for the time spent at the Councils building counter, attending the Licensing Court at least 3-4 times and numerous forms to fill out for the ATO (including a criminal check).

David

 

[Chad]

Just curious if anyone has looked into this in QLD/Brisbane, particularly as a part-time hobby/venture in the order of roughly 10,000 litres?

 

[Mitternacht Brauer]

Have tried several searches but have had no luck . Does any one remember or know the location of a ATO tax thread about six months ago ? It related to the new threashold for micro breweries . If anyone can remember I'd be mighty grateful .

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

look on the ATO web site, search for alcohol, it will be in there

 

[Mitternacht Brauer]

That was my second port of call ,after searching here for an hour . It was talked about in a thread here for a while but I can't seem to find it .Thanks anyway .

 

[bigfridge]

That was my second port of call ,after searching here for an hour . It was talked about in a thread here for a while but I can't seem to find it .Thanks anyway .

Ducatiboy stu's advice seemed pretty straightforward to me.

But if you need it spelt out:

Go to:

http://ato.gov.au then select 'Business', then 'Excise' - and you are there.

 

[Benniee]

I think one other thing to think about is how much you will need to sell your product for in order to break even.

No one wants to work for free - and as the "owner" of the brewery I'm sure you'd like it to grow to a size that can support a couple of employees to do the grunt work.

So, factor in the price of all ingredients, consumables like bottles - packaging - water - gas, transport etc. Then work out a time input from you (and/or employees) and see what the break even price is. Then add in your profit margin and I think it'll be right up there.

This may or may not be a big problem depending on how much product you expect to sell. Around a year or two ago I ran through a similar exercise and worked out that as much as people may love the beer - it's unlikely they'll shell out really big dollars on a regular basis.

It is certainly a business model geared toward really, really big brewing volumes with very little margin on each bottle.

I don't want to sound like a wet blanket - and really the micros that set up now are pioneers in the industry and deserve a great deal of kudos. I wish them every bit of success, and where possible I try to get the odd 6 pack as gifts for people (and myself) a couple of times a year.

Benniee

 

[benarnot]

You can sell only YOUR own beer from your premises.

Unfortunatly, the only problem that I can see is that there will be a period where the granting of a regional brewers license will have to go thru a period of " Umm...yeah..we have new legislation now...exactly how does it work....." as it will also affect the way councils deal with DA for regional breweries..only (hopefully ) in respect to traffic,parking, social impact etc

I know my council where at a loss to with how to process my application, but what I did manage to do ( after some positive discussions ) was to get an approval that allowed me to do it as a "cottage" based industry. This allowed me to use my shed ( no bigger than a double carport ) on land that was not designated for the purpose of a brewery...but generally they where very supportive


This kind of thing sounds like what I'm looking for. Just brewing in my garage and legally selling to folks from work, friends, friends of friends etc. Anybody done this on the Gold Coast?

Cheers

 

[manticle]

Old thread but:

A number of people, when they find out my passion for homebrewing and realise it involves more than opening a tin, ask me when I'm opening a microbrewery. All legalities aside there are a number of reasons why I wouldn't want to sell my beer. Worthy of consideration, at least some of them:

1. I can brew whatever I want, whenever I want - ESB, porter, tripel, APA, sour beer cider, non style specific experiement etc.
2. Not every brew I make is even worth being given away let alone sold. That's a luxury I can afford. As a business maybe not so. Even if I brew the same beer again, consistency is not something I have yet nailed down everytime without fail.
3. As passionate about brewing as I am, there are times when I can't. As a business I wuld have to.
4. I like giving things away that I'm proud of. I used to work as a chef and I'm fairly proud of many of the different dishes that I've cooked. I don't see them as a financial avenue. When I invite friends around for dinner, I get pleasure from their reaction to the food, not financial gain or motive

None of this is intended to take away from the homebrewers who have taken that step (eg kooinda). Those guys have made a great step and make great beer. Just my thoughts pertaining to my brewing.

 

[damianjthorpe]

G'day Brewers,

Try this ATO link: http://www.ato.gov.au/content/29520.htm


Cheers and happy brewing,
Damo

 

[Muscovy_333]

I read somewhere that for the many that fail, the ventures that have been successful have been on the back of a sound "cellar door" experience to build their brand. I.e. Good food, good environment and gently educating their market to try something new from their range. Something to consider?? Perhaps a good social venue to get the punters in without relying on the beer to do all the work given that different people have vastly different likes and dislikes when it comes to beer.
It is certainly the general experience I have had at the micros i have been to.

 

[Thefatdoghead]

Old thread but:

A number of people, when they find out my passion for homebrewing and realise it involves more than opening a tin, ask me when I'm opening a microbrewery. All legalities aside there are a number of reasons why I wouldn't want to sell my beer. Worthy of consideration, at least some of them:

1. I can brew whatever I want, whenever I want - ESB, porter, tripel, APA, sour beer cider, non style specific experiement etc.
2. Not every brew I make is even worth being given away let alone sold. That's a luxury I can afford. As a business maybe not so. Even if I brew the same beer again, consistency is not something I have yet nailed down everytime without fail.
3. As passionate about brewing as I am, there are times when I can't. As a business I wuld have to.
4. I like giving things away that I'm proud of. I used to work as a chef and I'm fairly proud of many of the different dishes that I've cooked. I don't see them as a financial avenue. When I invite friends around for dinner, I get pleasure from their reaction to the food, not financial gain or motive

None of this is intended to take away from the homebrewers who have taken that step (eg kooinda). Those guys have made a great step and make great beer. Just my thoughts pertaining to my brewing.

I'm not a chef but my family and friends and some blow'ins say my cooking aint to shabby but I know exactly what your talking about when you say you get pleasure from peoples reactions to food! Im sure you get the same with your homebrew. I only had that reaction off my old man with my homebrew so far but the man don't lie when he likes something he means it all bias aside. He said I quote "How the **** am I going to drink that shit they sell at the bootl'o now"!? He moved away caravanning and hasn't touched beer since but I do believe he is getting into his red's.
Point is I absolutely love your attitude towards homebrew and how people take it....awesome

 

[jimmychill]

At work there are excise counters on the packaging lines ... once a carton of finished beer goes through the counter, excise must be paid. Before the counter.. nope.

The tax guys always want to move the counter further back up the line, the brewery wants it as close to the end as possible.. result, they are about 15 or so meters before the palletisers.

If we smash, or don't sell for QC reasons etc any of the beer that has been put through the counter, we can claim an excise credit for the product. But it has to be properly recorded and appear as an "accountable loss" in the stocktake. If its smashed before the excise counter, its just rubbish.

So its volume out the door rather than volume brewed. Mind you, they still want your fermentors calibrated and all that shizz ... if you made a lot more alcohol than you shipped out - they want to know where it went. Maybe they do it differently depending on the set-up of your brewery??

I know at least one AHB member here in Melborne that has gone through the licensing process and all the other rigmarole, and has set up a beautiful nano-brewery in his garage. (flexible 100-300L) So in Victoria at least.. its possible to do the homebrewer/microbrewer thing. Mind you, I suspect there was a chunk of cash and a lot of effort involved as well.

Who is the AHB member? I would like to ask 'em a few questions. 100-300L sounds like a nice small place to start.

 

[shaunous]

Hi BOG,
How did you go with all this? Did you eventually get all set up and brewing??

Cheers,
Shaun...