Artefact Brewing needs your help to expand!

Aim

As a small start-up, we need to increase capacity and improve efficiencies to take Artefact to the next level and make more beer!

Help Artefact grow!

The last 12 months have been an incredible learning curve for us. We’ve dipped our toes in the microbrewery world and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far. A huge thank you to everyone who has tried an Artefact beer, and an even bigger thank you to those who have come back for more!

Somehow we’ve managed to brew 48 batches of beer already (that’s over 10,000 litres), released 10 beers in 12 months and have ran seven drive throughs at the brewery, in all weathers and stages of lockdown! For something that is still a glorified ‘weekend project’, we’re really grateful for all of the support we’ve had so far and are optimistic that Artefact has an exciting future...

Now we’ve tested the concept, can you help us grow?

So far we have done everything pretty much on a shoe-string budget, month-to-month. Our processes are undeniably quite basic and labour-intensive, with many an evening spent bottling or labelling by hand, late into the night. 

Can you help us streamline the brewing process, increase our capacity and take Artefact to the next level? We have some awesome rewards lined up to say thank you for investing in us!

What do we need? 

We need to raise a minimum of £7,500 to improve our processes and efficiencies but we could easily invest twice that in the brewery - there is a lot of expansion opportunity.

Fermenters:
The key thing we need is additional fermentation space. We currently only have four fermenters, which means we can only brew eight times a month. Bigger, better fermenters, will also enable us to experiment with more complex beer styles, such as heavily-hopped IPAs, saisons and lagers.

Bottling:
We also really need to improve our bottling equipment to make this much, much faster. Currently each bottle is lovingly hand-filled, capped and labelled, which we estimate takes around four minutes per bottle. We are just about managing with our current set up but as we aim to increase how much beer we’re producing, this is an area we desperately need to improve at the same time.

Cask washer: 
We also need a better cask washer now that we’re supplying more pubs! This will free up more of our time to grow the business and do other fun things, like working on more new recipes!  

These are just a few examples. Altogether, we estimate we need investment between £7,500 and £12,000 to help us make the brewery more efficient and viable. Most importantly, we want to be able to make more beer for you to enjoy (and stop running out of stock so quickly!). 

To say thank you for your support...

We have put together a variety of rewards from a t-shirt to a year's supply of beer! Featuring in our rewards is something very special, our collab crowdfunder pack, containing three, brand new, limited-edition collab beers with Old Chimneys Brewery. Our first collaboration with another brewery! 

Be the first to try these new limited-edition beers - support our crowdfunder by 1 July and select to pick up your collab crowdfunder pack at our July drive through to get these before anyone else!

A few months ago we had the immense pleasure of working with Alan Thomson of Old Chimneys Brewery (from Market Weston, known for his infamous stout, Good King Henry) on our very first ‘collab’. As a special crowdfunder thank you, we are offering you the chance to get this special collab series before it is released anywhere else, with an exclusive Artefact glass.

More about the series: 

9.5% Barley Wine - The most decadent of the series, brewed with care and hidden away to mature. A full-bodied, sweet and boozey barley wine, expect; treacle, madeira wine, nutty malt, currant fruits and vanilla.

7.2% Pastry Brown Ale - The most controversial of the series, a complex brown ale which utilises modern flavourings. Expect a dark, rich, sweet and nutty ‘pastry’ brown ale, with; vanilla, caramel, chocolate, hazelnut and espresso notes.

6.0% Farmhouse Blonde Ale - The most sessionable of the series; sit back, relax and enjoy in the sun. A dry, spicy and funky ‘Farmhouse’ blonde ale, expect; pepper, clove, sweet biscuit, notes of chardonnay and subtle, earthy barnyard funk.

Getting your rewards - options explained

The easiest way to pick up your rewards is to swing by our July (2nd or 3rd) or August (6th or 7th) drive throughs. If you can’t make it to one of our drive throughs but live within 10 miles of Ixworth, select the local delivery option and we will find a time to deliver to you in person.

If you would rather your rewards were sent out to you, that’s fine. Just select the courier option and please donate an extra £6 as a separate contribution to cover the courier fee. Our online distribution partner, Beautiful Beers, will then ship the rewards to you within two to three weeks of your contribution to the crowdfunder.

Thank you and enjoy your rewards!

This project successfully funded on 2nd August 2021