Feasibility of a 1/2 Barrel Startup?

So, most people know a barrel of beer in the U.S. is 31 gallons and a half barrel (the kind most people buy) is 15.5 gallons. This is generally the largest home brew setup people can build in their homes. Occasionally people get as big as 20 gallons but 15.5 gallons is pretty big.

Is it feasible to start a brewery with a 1/2 barrel system?

In theory, maybe, in practical application, no.

Here's why:

Say you can brew 5 days a week at 15 gallons per day. That would be 75 gallons of beer per week or 300 gallons per month. Of course, there are always problems with production when getting started so say that 300 gallons is now 280 gallons per month. One gallon holds 128 ounces or roughly 5.8 bottles of beer per (at 22 ounces). So 5.8 bottles x 280 gallons = 1,624 bottles of beer per month.

Ok, now hypothetically say you can skip the distributor and sell directly to the retailers for $2.50/ bottle. If the bottle, label, water, propane comes to $1/bottle there's a $1.50 profit per bottle.

$1.50 x 1,624 = $2,436

Take into account the Tax man because this is alchohol and subtract %40. Your take home profit would be $1,416 dollars.

Feasible yes, profitable, not really.