Brewing equipment is unusually good collateral for a food and drink business. Stainless steel tanks are identifiable, durable, expensive to replace and traded on an active secondary market — which is close to the opposite of a commercial kitchen, where most of the fit-out is worth little the moment it is installed.
Brewing kit is expensive, long-lived and highly specialised, which pushes it toward asset-backed structures. The general principles are in our equipment financing guide; this page covers what is specific to a brewhouse.
That works in your favour. The two things that complicate a brewery or distillery file are elsewhere: federal licensing, and how long your product sits before it earns.
What gets financed
- Brewhouse — mash tun, kettle, hot liquor tank, whirlpool. The centrepiece and usually the largest line.
- Cellar — fermenters, brite tanks, glycol chiller and lines. Tank capacity is the constraint on how much you can sell, so this is where expansion money usually goes.
- Packaging — canning or bottling line, labeller, keg washer, kegs. A canning line is often the single best return on financed equipment a small brewery makes, because it opens distribution.
- Distilling — still, mash tuns, fermenters, barrels, bottling. Copper and stainless stills hold value well.
- Cold storage and taproom — walk-ins, draft systems, bar build, kitchen equipment where there is food service.
- Delivery — self-distribution needs vehicles, which finance separately and more easily. See cargo van and box truck financing.
Licensing is a gate, not a formality
You cannot legally produce until the federal permit is issued, and state and local approvals sit on top of it. Lenders know this, and it shapes how they fund a startup brewery: equipment can be financed before you are licensed, but a lender funding a pre-revenue production facility is exposed for however long approval takes.
- Get the application in early. Federal processing times move around and have run to several months. It is frequently the longest item on a brewery launch timeline.
- Secure the premises first. The permit is tied to a specific address, so the lease has to come before the licence, which has to come before revenue.
- Expect the lender to ask. On a startup file, permit status is a standard question. “Applied, expecting approval in eight weeks” is a very different answer from “we will look into it”.
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The working capital cycle nobody budgets for
This is where breweries and distilleries diverge sharply, and where most underfunded launches come apart.
- Beer turns in weeks. An ale can be grain to glass in two to three; a lager takes longer. Your cash cycle is short enough that equipment finance plus a modest buffer usually works.
- Spirits can sit for years. Every barrel of aging whiskey is capital you have spent and cannot sell, and no equipment loan solves that. Distilleries that survive either sell an unaged product — gin, vodka, white whiskey — while the barrels rest, or they raise working capital separately and deliberately.
- Both have to fund raw materials, packaging and excise ahead of sale. That is a line of credit question, not an equipment one.
- Distribution makes it worse before it makes it better. Selling through a distributor means getting paid on terms rather than at the taproom till — a receivables gap that invoice financing exists to cover.
Typical terms
| Situation | Typical term | Typical deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Operating brewery, tank or brewhouse expansion | 60–84 months | 10–20% |
| Operating brewery, canning or bottling line | 48–72 months | 10–20% |
| Taproom build and draft system | 36–60 months | 15–25% |
| Startup brewery, full build | 36–60 months | 20–30%, personal guarantee |
| Distillery, production equipment | 60–84 months | 15–25% |
| Used tanks from a closure or auction | 36–60 months | 20%+ |
A worked example
An operating brewery adds capacity: two 30bbl fermenters, a brite tank, glycol expansion and a small canning line. Invoice $260,000, $39,000 (15%) down, quoted 11.25% over 72 months.
- Amount financed: $221,000
- Monthly payment: $4,235
- Total interest: $83,912
- Total of payments: $304,912
The canning line is the part that has to justify that payment, because tanks only add capacity — cans add channels. Brewing more beer you cannot sell is the most expensive mistake in this category. Model your own figures in the equipment loan calculator.
Used tanks and the closure market
There is a steady supply of good used brewing equipment from closures and expansions, and it is genuinely worth considering — stainless does not wear out the way mechanical equipment does. Lenders will finance it, though private-party and auction purchases usually need an inspection and move more slowly than a dealer invoice. Used equipment financing and leasing covers the rules. One caution: buying a 15bbl system because it was cheap, when your taproom can sell 7bbl, is buying someone else’s mistake.
The tax position
A loan makes you the owner from day one, opening depreciation and potentially Section 179 — capped for tax years beginning in 2025 at $2,500,000, reduced dollar for dollar once Section 179 property placed in service exceeds $4,000,000. Indexed and revised most years; check IRS Publication 946 and your accountant.
When your equipment becomes part of the building
Fermenters, a brewhouse and a glycol loop are craned in and plumbed to drains and utilities. Once equipment is attached to real property it can legally become a fixture, and that changes who has the first claim on it if things go wrong. Under UCC § 9-334, a lender holding a purchase-money interest keeps priority over an existing mortgage holder only if it makes a fixture filing before the goods become fixtures, or within 20 days afterwards.
That 20-day window is the reason a lender asks who owns your building before it funds, and why a landlord or mortgagee waiver often appears on the checklist. If you lease your space, expect the request early. Chasing a signature from a landlord after the equipment is already installed is one of the most common reasons these deals close late.
Frequently asked questions
Can I finance brewing equipment before I am licensed?
Often yes, though a lender funding a pre-licence startup will want a deposit, a personal guarantee and evidence that the application is progressing. Equipment financing for startups covers what changes under two years in business.
Is a canning line worth financing?
For most small breweries it is the highest-return equipment purchase available, because it converts a taproom-only business into one that can sell through retail and distribution. Mobile canning is the lower-commitment way to test that before you buy.
How is a distillery different from a lender point of view?
The equipment underwrites similarly. The difference is the aging cycle — inventory that sits for years is working capital, and it needs funding that is not an equipment loan.
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