If you are anything like me there are plenty of times while brewing or talking to other home brewers where there is that idea of starting a brewery. The past weekend we had the chance to take a look at a pico brewery operation in Pawtucket RI. The Bucket Brewery is tiny up start, in comparison to breweries or even brew pubs in Rhode Island. Nate who is one of the owners/brewers, filtered our questions about how one goes from kitchen to commercial, legal woes and other topics.
Long time readers may remember that we visited this brewery during the Lorraine Mills open house back in Fall of last year. In just 5 short months they have made some great strides to make their dream a reality. For starters, the small 300 sqft. space was made even more efficient with enough space for the kettles, ferementers, keg cleaning station, grain storage, chest freezers, keg storage, an office and a grain station. That’s a lot of stuff to fit into a small space!
Nate also discussed some of the process debugging they’ve been going through in making the transition from small scale home brewing to a real life brewery. One thing he said that will stick with me is “You can never have enough quick disconnect valves, or tubing” which is absolutely true. Nate also made the point that sometimes the biggest part of brewing is just getting the equipment together. After having to cancel a brewing day the other week due to missing parts, I can’t tell you how true Nate’s comment is.
The idea to form Bucket Brewery had a very logical birth in that it started off with a love of brewing which has only increased. It started off with some surplus syrup tanks rescued from the scrap pile and has made the evolution to full fledged brewery because one simply cannot drink 75 gallons worth of beer. Well at least nobody I know…
The hearing for Bucket’s state license will be tomorrow the 11th and we wish them the best of luck and hope to see them at our local bars in the very near future. You can contact them through their website to arrange a tour or even help them out on their brew days.
Dear God, I could stand to lose a few pounds. I guess I’ll have to cut out solid food and rely completely on beer.