On Saturday 23rd February, I visited a local Microbrewery, Dig Brew Co., located in Digbeth. This allowed me the opportunity to see and experience the machinery such as boilers, mash tuns and tanks used for the process of brewing. Through this experience, I gained an understanding as to the scale of production and the space required to house such equipment. To further this, the Microbrewery had its own taproom whereby they sold their produce to the general public and to potential future customers.
In order to successfully design a workshop space which will be functional for my client, it is important for me to research and record information associated with the size of barrel system and dimensions of equipment to ensure that the space meets my client’s specifications.
My client has a 4 barrel system (one barrel being 36 gallons) meaning that 144 gallons can be produced by my client during a brewing day.[1] It is said that a 2.5 barrel brewery requires 250-500 sq feet, being 23-46m^2, and an 8 barrel brewery requires around 800-1100 sq feet (74-102m^2)[2]. Taking this into consideration, the designated workshop space for the brewery must therefore be between 46 and 74 m^2.
To further the special research, I investigated the different dimensions for brewing tanks. Their sizes differed from a 1300 litre tank with a height of 2500mm and an external diameter of 1120mm to a 12,000 litre tank with a height of 4450mm and external diameter of 2150mm.[3] As my client has a brewery that is on the smaller scale, the latter tank and its dimensions is unlikely to be used by my client at this stage of his microbrewing setup.