3bbl 5bbl 7bbl Complete Beer Brewing System Micro Beer Equipment for Sale

What is a barrel in brewing?

A barrel or BBL is 31 gallons. This question often comes up when going on a brewery tour or when reading about large scale brewing systems. A barrel, often abbreviated BBL, is 31 U.S. gallons.

Brewhouse system for brewing beer

Barrel Brewing Capacity

When it comes to capacity, smaller-scale brewing systems, or what the industry would call their brewhouse, are typically in the 7 to 10 barrel range. This means each time they brew, they can make 7-10 barrels of beer per brew. So a 10 barrel brewhouse will brew 310-gallon batches at a time. Meanwhile, larger breweries can have 60 to over 1,000 barrel brewhouses, and they brew several times a day.

System Size (Brewhouse Size) x Number of brews per week x 50 weeks per year = Annual Production

• Option 1 – 10 Barrel System:

  5,000 barrels / 10 barrel brewhouse / 50 brew weeks = 10 brews per week

• Option 2 – 20 Barrel System:

  5,000 barrels / 20 barrel brewhouse / 50 brew weeks = 5 brews per week

• Option 3 – 50 Barrel System:

  5,000 barrels / 50 barrel brewhouse / 50 brew weeks = 2 brews per week

2-3 brews per week is common for new operations

Labour component must be considered

A brewpub should consider the number of beers to serve on tap now and in future

Brewery fermenters for fermenting process

Horizontal tanks for maturing and seving beer

Select the proper brewhouse system size in accordance with planned brews per week

250 barrels of total fermentation capacity required

A 10 barrel system would require 25 x 10 barrel fermenters

A 20 barrel system would require 13 x 20 barrel fermenters

A 50 barrel system would require 5 x 50 barrel fermenters

Double or triple sized fermenters and conditioning/bright tanks are sometimes used if back-to-back brews occur

A brewpub should consider the number of serving tanks required and the use of kegs for serving beer