November 20, 2019

A Little MiniBrew History and Tribute to John S. Thomas

During the later part of 1996, it became clear to John that his Hobby was about to really come to life. It was in those formative months that John could finally see his vision of creating something that had no been created before for the Small Batch Beer Gang as they were called back then.

John formed Hobby Beverage Equipment Company, which then in turn created the MiniBrew System. John was ahead of his time when he was the first to introduce plastic as a viable, cost effective alternative to Stainless Steel brewing.

His introduction opened the Home Beverage Market and Small Batch Market to professionally Designed Equipment. Now the Small Batch Brewer and Wine Maker can purchase equipment with all the attributes professional brewers have available at at prices that were affordable.

Hobby Beverge Equipment Company & MiniBrew

Hobby Beverage Equipment Formed and Filed in January 1997.
The First Product, a 5.5 Gallon Mini-Fermenter shipped in April 1997.
The Second Product, the Mini-Mash Lauter Tun shipped in September 1997.
The 8 and 15 Gallon Conical Fermenters were introduced in early 1998.
The 25 and 40 Gallon Conical Fermenters were introduced in September 1998.
Affordable Conical Fermenters (AC) Mold was purchased by Hobby Beverage Equipment Company in December of 1999.
Received our First order from a major pharmaceutical company in early 2000. The 6.5 Gallon Conical Fermenter is still used for a Blood Plasma Device.
The Mini-Mash Lauter Tun was rebuilt and dramatically improved in 2001.
Received First order from the US Geological Survey in mid 2002. They use our Conical Tanks and Mash Lauter Tuns to Confirm Water Quality.
The 98 and 101 Gallon Conical Fermenters were introduced in June of 2005.
Our First Retail Contract was signed with a UK Distributer during the mid-summer months of 2008.
Introduced the Industry Leading Sparge Arm for our Mini-Mash Latuer Tun in September of 2009.
In 2012, We received orders from the World's 2nd Largest Brewery at that time, for 10 6.5 Gallon Conical Fermenters for their Brewing Classroom in the United Kingdom.
Orders received from a new Bio-Research firm in the Middle of 2013. They test for microscopic specs of blood.
Australian Retail Distributor in late 2013.
Received orders from one of the World's Largest Winery, at the time, for two 40 Gallon Conical Fermenters for use in the laboratory in Modesto, California in early 2014. Used for Taste Experimenting.
Introduced the new, All-Aluminum Stand, replacing the plastic stand in the early months of 2015. This is more compact and reduced shipping costs.
Introduced our very own Stainless Steel Threads with the release of the EZ Seal Weldless Bulkhead in June of 2015 for all Tanks & Conicals.
November of 2017 received an order from a Malaysian Health Beverage Producer. Their bacteria-based beverage would not produce the same health benefits in Stainless as it did in our HDPE Tanks. They are still currently in operation and expanding. They exclusively use our 101 gallon Conical Fermenter and our 40 Gallon Conical Fermenters.
Fall of 2018 - State Parks and Recreation Departments begin using our EZ Seal Bulkheads to build custom, underwter wiring boxes for waterways.
The EZ Seal Weldless Bulkhead found its way into healthcare. It is now used in a specially designed Kidney Dialysis box. Late 2018.
2018 Resulted in Design Changes in the Stands of Larger Conical Fermenters. MiniBrew introduces our newest Logo Design, Carried our popular 4" Threaded Lid to 15 gallon Conical Fermenter and also introduced a new Dry Hop Lid for our Larger Conicals, which also uses the same 4" Threaded Lid.
Fall of 2019 saw MiniBrew beginning a partnership with Penguin Chillers, from Knoxville to produce our own Temperature Controlled Cooling Lid. Now, you will be able to control the temperature you want to choose! And use Glycol to Chill!