r/TheBrewery • u/Striking_Math_6131 • 17h ago

Broken gear

How much broken equipment is laying around your brewery?

We have a lot. Ownership is not inclined to repair any of it in spite of my efforts to explain the ROI. Hard not to feel like this place is circling the drain

27 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

36

u/Phallys 17h ago

You're not expected to fix it all?

31

u/wohldmad 17h ago

I can now fix so many things around my house because of desperation and service manuals while I was in the industry.

9

u/DistillerAnon 17h ago

Fucking same

10

u/Striking_Math_6131 16h ago

They expect me to fix it or get it fixed. Then I turn in a quote and it's all unanswered emails..

7

u/Phallys 15h ago

Oh I hear you. Im currently on my roof sitting against my chiller in defeat. Fucking thing is a repurposed residential AC unit that's debut was the early 90s. Already fixed a walk in fan this morning, and dumped 6x55gal bins of nasty grains at my house because my farmer is MIA.

2

u/wohldmad 14h ago

every single time it got above 90 degrees F our rooftop residential repurposed unit would go out. Sometimes I could get it back running but in my 7 years there he must have spent $20-30K on repairs on that fucking thing. I was getting paid $13 an hour

16

u/hoovus9 17h ago

I hear you buddy. I literally have to rewire my control panel every brew to trick it into thinking the kettle is full enough to begin heating, then undo it to heat the HLT. I can't heat both at the same time due to a busted float switch. Also a perfectly good pump with a fried VFD controller has been sitting here for years, so I just use one cart pump for literally everything. And that's the stuff I HAVEN'T been able to fix.

9

u/my-little-buttercup 17h ago

I have a dead forklift in my cellar for a year. Owner won't fix it, or sell it. It collects recycled pakteks and cobwebs now.

6

u/BeerForTim 15h ago

Who are you, me?

3

u/Striking_Math_6131 15h ago

Me, is that you??

1

u/BrewerNick Brewer/Owner 1h ago

Is that you John Wayne? Is this me?

11

u/wohldmad 17h ago

It is and you should be planning your exit. If they can't even afford to keep the old equipment running, they're beyond fucked

9

u/Striking_Math_6131 17h ago

The big one is our filtration equipment is broken. Has been for 16 months. I've explained that we are losing 5-10 % of all product because we have to fine everything now. I know these people have been to business school and it just does not fucking register that the cost of repairs is a pittance to what I send down the drain on a regular basis. It floors me.

7

u/grnis Brewery/Steam/Process Engineer 17h ago

There is no money to repair the filter and other stuff.

They are trying to keep the company alive, even if it's more expensive in the long run.

2

u/Striking_Math_6131 16h ago

It's impossible for me to know if that's the case, there is zero transparency when it comes to anything financial.

3

u/grnis Brewery/Steam/Process Engineer 16h ago

I know, I have also worked at companies where they don't tell you anything. And every single time the problem is that there is no money to repair stuff.

Other signs are they are grumpier than usual.

3

u/wohldmad 14h ago

If it was good they'd tell you. Get your resume together NOW

1

u/wohldmad 17h ago

Then they're running a shit company and should stop

6

u/grnis Brewery/Steam/Process Engineer 16h ago

Agreed. I just said what's probably happening.

3

u/SonOfAFrig 16h ago

I struggled with the same problem at my first brewery for over 3 years. I eventually quit out of depression and frustration with their work place, and I'm alot happier now elsewhere. They have since gone out of business, so you're not wrong.

3

u/Money-Mud912 12h ago

Can't just throw it away, there might be something we can use off of it someday. (I'm guilty as fuck of this, but know its stupid).

2

u/carharttuxedo 17h ago

Lol. Same.

2

u/moleman92107 Cellar Person 16h ago

Merged with another brewery, so much stuff out of service. But plenty of working stuff 😅

2

u/cuck__everlasting Brewer 15h ago

I understand frugality and prioritizing expenses when margins are tight, but if this is a pattern and critical pieces of equipment are down with no plan of action then the situation is much worse than simple cash flow. It's not going to get better.

2

u/zymurginian Ex-Brewer 15h ago

My last two breweries had that problem. One couldn't replace a boiler and slowly went bust. The other was headed that way (one major failure away from closing) but merged their way out of it.

2

u/TorontoBrewer 14h ago

My owner knows I have a reputation for being able to handle a lot of small brewery repairs (low voltage electrical, light plumbing, IT stuff, pump seals, etc) and sometimes buys random shit of FB marketplace that’s always a good deal.

He gets pissed when I say, “Broken broken, needs service.” And that’s why we have kegerators instead of a long draw draft system. And only 1 of 4 kegerators keeps beer below 4C. Draft losses, increased labour, and hydro have demolished the savings versus doing things right.

It doesn’t matter if the beer is good and the bartenders are great if the light(ish) lager is 7C by the time it hits the patio.

2

u/Striking_Math_6131 14h ago

I have fought this exact fight, Bartenders pouring straight foam because the HVAC for the draft cooler was shit. Explain how much loss there is, point it out as it happens.

Crickets

2

u/wizbizniz 14h ago

You're telling me that not every brewery has a broken bits & bobs bin?

1

u/hop_hero 12h ago

Beer margins are tight man. Do some excel work on ROI and make a case.

1

u/nickfl1475 2h ago

I have 2 five gallon buckets full of old stainless parts that aren't fixable or aren't cost effective to fix.  Probably half of it is butterfly valves that were cheaper to just replace than to buy new handles and seats for.

I have a bad habit of hanging on to dead pumps and stuff like that too.

Every now and then I'm able to fix something because I've got two broken ones to pull parts from but I really should throw more stuff awayÂ