Remember, not long ago, we were thrilled to just have some lights, doors and walls? Times have changed. The brewery’s recent cement pouring allowed our contractors to begin some serious work on the fermentation room, as well as the loft we’ll have above it (our engineers drew plans for a loft capable of holding 3,000 lbs – we assume most of that will be storage, but I suspect a few couches will appear for some much-needed Night Shift naps). The framing for our office is also complete, as are the stairs leading up to the loft. It’s amazing to actually see our brewery become “real” before our own eyes.
We also had a few key shipments arrive last week. Namely, two 3.5-barrel brite tanks and four brew kettles (which will complete the upper half of our brewing system). Nothing can be put to use just yet, but it’s getting anxiously close.
Quick detour for those in need of a brewery vocab brush-up:
Brewing system/brew kettles: Our brewing system is the “3-4 Barrel” beast on this page. The bottom half contains four 200,000 BTU burners that heat the four brew kettles above. We will brew all of our beer on this system, after which point we’ll transfer it to the…
Fermentation room: After our beer is brewed, it goes into fermentation vessels that get stored in this airtight room. We’ll likely keep the temperature between 62 and 68 degrees, depending on the beer inside. Beer stays in this room until it ferments (simply put: sugars converted into alcohol). Once fermented, the beer moves into the…
Brite tanks: The final step for our beer before bottling. The tanks themselves reside in our walk-in cooler, which we’ll keep at near-freezing temps. In the tanks, beer gains its carbonation while the cold temperature works to drop out yeast and other particles still floating around, clarifying the beer. Most beers spend 2-3 days in the tanks, though some may stay longer as part of a lagering period to age and smooth out the flavors.
Now for some pictures!
