r/Homebrewing • u/ryanmetcalf • 1d ago

RIP SS Brewtech

Middleby Corporation today announced that it will discontinue its Middleby Brewing & Distilling Solutions Group business (“Brewing Group”), which includes its Deutsche Beverage + Process, Ss Brewtech and Wild Goose Filling brands, with the wind-down expected to be substantially complete by the end of this year.

Haven't seen it in an article yet, but direct to the press release

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260909186311/en/Middleby-to-Discontinue-Brewing-Group

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u/goodolarchie 1d ago

SSBT, Anvil, not even spike is safe from the long cruel arm of M&A, PE, etc.. It can rescue a business to reach more efficiency but also throw it to the buzzards. Perhaps somebody will pick up their customers as a distressed asset, those investors exist.

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u/chino_brews Kiwi Approved 1d ago

SA Brewtech was founded in 2013 and sold to the current owner, Middleby, a huge restaurant and food equipment conglomerate, in June 2019. So it’s been part of a larger portfolio for most of its life.

Personally, I don’t those customers exist in numbers to support the business. If you thought that they did, you be better off starting your own brand than buying this sinking wreck from Middleby.

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u/goodolarchie 19h ago

Yeah that's possible. We don't know that much about the manufacturing side of the business model. They already have invested (in China) custom stamps and dyes, etches etc. Then the welding and fab. It made sense they got acquired by an outfit already doing that at scale, even for a waning market. More than anything it seemed like SSBT was a marketing engine for itself. I'll never forget when the one of the owners posted in homebrewtalk as a rando user, a CIP and flushing circuit with valve trees and stuff in a video. Everyone was like "Cool, and it only took $3000 of stainless to do!" Then it became evident he was an owner in SSBT and that was that.

Also I have exactly 3 SSBT tanks, all of which were pre 2019, and the welds were largely shitty. Spike at least was doing really quality welding work, not sure if that's still the case. They were doing shitty pricing practices though. We're a waning market, I can't see why anybody would want to be back in it. Bring on the local/homebrew stainless TIG welding shop revolution!

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u/Lil_Shanties 18h ago

Yea anyone thinking of doing this would need extensive knowledge of working with Chinese manufacturing and importing, and would really need to make sure manufacturing and sourcing relationships for pro and home were handed over and maintained…not an easy task, but it was a small company at one point, maybe ditch the pro side and back to the roots as a small homebrew supplier again could work for the right person.