QUOTE: Originally posted by tomikawaTT Modeling the brewing vats and so forth can be done in an old-fashioned building. The plumbing of the Ballantine brewery in Manhattan was clearly visible from the Third Avenue L through the huge multi-pane windows of the 1900-era brick building. The Third Avenue L came down long before I could drink Ballantine legally, and the name itself disappeared in the early '70's.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
QUOTE: Originally posted by kchronister Other than rolling stock and motive power, I doubt it. The brewery should offer you a lot of flexibility. I grew up not far from the HQ Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. To this day, it still looks very old-fashioned. Brick and stone, vintage appearance (actually, very similar to the DPM modular walls with their brick "columns" at joints). There are more modern buildings, but they're either constructed to look 'historic' or sort of tucked away out of sight. On the other hand, I drive past a Miller brewery regularly which is very state of the art. Glass and steel, very modern looking, even to the point of having huge glass walls so you can see the boiling vats and equipment as you drive by (like what you often see at brewpubs, just on a huge scale). That latter would likely be far too modern for a '69 era layout, but my point is that you can have anything from a 100% modern as-of-your-era building back to a very old-fashioned building from any time in the past and still be on target. One final note: as a homebrewer myself, I'd suggest that hops is about the 1/10 ratio to barley as noted here... BY WEIGHT. But by volume, it's far less skewed. Hops are light while barley is very dense. So I'd suggest you're looking at more of a 1/3 or 1/4 ratio of hops to barley if you consider it by volume of space needed - number of cars, storage, etc. - which is probably more relevant for MRR purposes. And as also mentioned, your A#1 ingredient that dwarfs all else is water. If you haven't a nearby source, you'd best determine that your brewery sits over an acquifer and has a big well with a large pump...
QUOTE: Originally posted by Student of Big Sky Blue Since I first dreamed up this little project. My era has shifted from more or less 1990s to the present day to 1969. I am wondering would there be any fundamental changes I should consider now that I have changed eras? James
Have fun with your trains
QUOTE: Originally posted by Overdurff I remember seeing provision for cardboard for boxes and packaging, but no in bounds for bottles, cans and returned or new kegs. Got to package that "production" into something for distribution! Got to move the necture of the Gods in something!! Will
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
QUOTE: Originally posted by tangerine-jack bukwrm, You may be right about tapping off CO2 from the fermentation for bottling, I don't really know. That is an A-B trade secret that few are privy to, like the recipe for the beer itself. Imagine the black market price for that list of ingredients! All I know is how the hops move from the rails through the brewery to the market, but not a lot about what happens to the hops inside the "restricted areas". I can assure you that the bottling room works 24/7 filling tens of thousands of bottles and cans per day. I may be off on the numbers a little, but I think the claim is 17,000 cases and 5,000 kegs per shift. From what I have seen with my own eyes, that may be very close. It's an impressive operation, most impressive. What staggers me is the realization that Williamsburg is only one brewery of many in the Anheiser-Bush inventory. Add in the other big name brewers, plus a multitude of smaller operations, and one begins to get the understanding that ALL this beer will be consumed within a week or so by the public. That is A LOT OF DRUNK SOB'S OUT THERE!!!!!!!
QUOTE: Originally posted by cuyama A highly compressed model brewery and supporting yard in 8 square feet of N scale modules: http://www.modelrail.us/gallery/id27.html
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QUOTE: Originally posted by AltonFan if you haven't already, see if you can get a copy of More Railroads You Can Model (red cover). One of the railroads depicted is the Milwaukee Road "Beer Line" that served a few breweries in Milwaukee. i would imagine in the old days, CO2 may have been brought in as solid cakes (dry ice perhaps) that would be dissolved in water tp release the CO2. But doesn't beer get its fizz from the fermentation process?
Dan
QUOTE: Originally posted by San Diego Coaster Here is an overhead view of one Los Angeles area brewry: http://tinyurl.com/bbkvz Here is another: http://tinyurl.com/c45fn
QUOTE: Originally posted by tangerine-jack Speaking again only about the Williamsburg, VA brewery, external CO2 is not used in the processing of Budweiser Beers, the carbonation is a 100% natural process of the beech wood ageing (yes they use real beech wood in the larger tanks). I don't remember ever seeing any CO2 deliveries, if they did get any it was an ubersecret operation well away from any public scrutiny. I did however look into the larger tanks on occasion and see nice little bubbles forming on the wood. I would suggest modeling a micro brewery, there are several in my area that are quite interesting architecturally speaking. You will then have the freedom to hodge-podge a number of buildings and styles without any issues of authenticity arising. I agree that almost all modern big name breweries are sterile looking single, but huge, buildings. Not very interesting, but golly they smell great! I would think that whatever you chose for grain storage would be sufficient. A brewery doesn't make money on storing grain or hops, so you only need enough storage to justify maybe one or two day’s worth of product brewing. At Williamsburg, the storage is almost nil as the hops are taken directly to the wort room for processing upon delivery. If anything is stored, it stays in the hopper car until needed. Anheuser-Bush owns its own farms and therefore has 100% control over deliveries of raw materials, so it is possible for them to deliver to themselves the exact amount needed for a production run. And to answer your question, in Williamsburg they only make 100% real beer, no artificial ingredients or chemical short cuts in processing. Quality is assured through high tech monitoring and highly skilled brewers (I asked the Brewmeister how I could get his job, he said "study biology, life sciences and buisiness administration, then bring me your 4.0 GPA and we'll talk, anything less and you can work for Coors, but not here"). However, beer is like stew, there are thousands of ways to do it, some ways are better than others, but it's all beer in the end. I certainly can't wait to see your project in the works! Don't make us wait too long [8D]