Brewery and taproom construction: tanks, drains and opening night

The tanks arrived before the slab was ready for them, which is the most expensive way to learn that a brewhouse is built around its equipment and not the other way around. On a brewery job the brewing system's specifications are the first document we ask for, ahead of the finish schedule and sometimes ahead of the lease. Everything downstream, from the floor to the electrical service to the opening date, depends on them.

The brewhouse comes first

Fermenters, brite tanks, a kettle and a mash tun full of liquid put loads on a floor that no dining room ever will. Before we price a brewery we want the tank sizes, the layout, the weight of each vessel when full, and the utility requirements from the manufacturer. Those numbers go to a structural engineer for the slab and pads, to the plumber for water and drain sizing, and to the electrical designer for service and panel capacity. Glycol chillers, boilers and canning lines add their own loads and their own space needs.

Our own concrete and excavation crews pour the slab and the pads, so the floor is built to the tank plan on our schedule rather than waiting on a sub. In an existing building, that often means cutting and replacing sections of an old slab, which is work we do ourselves.

Water goes somewhere

Brewing is cleaning. Tanks, hoses and lines get washed constantly, and the floor sees hot water, caustic and the occasional spilled batch. Trench drains sloped correctly across the whole production area, grated and sized for volume, keep the floor safe and the operation legal. Many jurisdictions treat brewery wastewater differently from restaurant wastewater, with pretreatment, sampling ports or pH neutralization required. Find that out from the utility and the health authority before the drains are in, because a drain in the wrong place under a full tank is not a small fix. Floor coating and cove base matter here too, and our tile and concrete crews handle both.

Air, gas and the people in the room

Fermentation makes carbon dioxide, and a closed brewhouse can reach unsafe levels faster than most owners expect. CO2 monitoring and exhaust sized for the room volume and the tank capacity are life safety items, and the fire marshal will ask about them. Boilers need combustion air and venting. The taproom side needs its own HVAC sized for a full house on a Saturday, separate from the production space so the customers are not breathing the brewhouse.

Three permit tracks and one opening date

A brewery build-out answers to the building and fire authorities for the structure and the assembly space, to the health department for the bar and any food service, and to state and federal alcohol regulators for production and sales. Each one has its own timeline, and the alcohol licensing in particular can take longer than construction. We map all three tracks on the same schedule and work backward from the day you want to pour the first pint, so the building is not finished and waiting on a license, or licensed and waiting on a final inspection.

The taproom is a restaurant with a view of the tanks

Customers come for the room as much as the beer. The bar, the tap wall, the seating, the restrooms sized for the occupant load, and the glass wall that shows off the brewhouse all get the same attention we give a restaurant dining room. Our millwork crew builds the bar and the tap wall, our tile and stone crews handle the bar top and back bar, our glazing crew sets the storefront and the viewing window, and our painters and drywall crew finish the room. Tables, chairs, stools and merch fixtures come in through our FF&E crew, received and installed in the last week rather than piling up on the loading dock.

A brewery opens on the date when the equipment plan is final before the slab is designed, when the drains and CO2 system are drawn with the tanks and not after them, when the alcohol license is filed at the start, and when one person is accountable for all of it. On our jobs that person is a principal of the company, on site through the last punch walk. Send the brewhouse specs and the floor plan and we will price the build-out around the equipment and the opening date.