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BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
As some of you may have heard, we're building a new brewery. We're moving from a 36,000 sf facility in Harrisburg to a 93,000 sf facility in Hershey. I wanted to share one of the first pics to come in from the German company building our gear. This is our 17 bbl pilot system on display at a trade show in Germany:


On the left is the mash tun/kettle and on the right is the lauter tun.

If there's interest, I'll keep posting pics as the project continues.
 
TN

TN

Hey baby, want a hot dog?
Jul 9, 2002
14,301
1,353
Jimtown, CO
BikeGeek said:
As some of you may have heard, we're building a new brewery. We're moving from a 36,000 sf facility in Harrisburg to a 93,000 sf facility in Hershey. I wanted to share one of the first pics to come in from the German company building our gear. This is our 17 bbl pilot system on display at a trade show in Germany:


On the left is the mash tun/kettle and on the right is the lauter tun.

If there's interest, I'll keep posting pics as the project continues.
Click to expand...
so you mash in the MT then move the wort the LT to lauter there, then move it back to the MT/BK to brew or is the LT basically a hot liquor tank?

Looks sweet.
 
pnj

pnj

Turbo Monkey till the fat lady sings
Aug 14, 2002
4,696
40
seattle
awsome for sure!

I just put up a giant tarp in the back yard so I can stay dry while I do my first brew in many months...

keep the pics coming!
 
DaveW

DaveW

Space Monkey
Jul 2, 2001
11,609
3,122
The bunker at parliament
Sweet looking pilot plant. :)
Whats the first test/christening brew going to be in it?

All that extra space.... you won't know what to do with yourselves!
What's your new plants capacity going to be?
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
TN said:
so you mash in the MT then move the wort the LT to lauter there, then move it back to the MT/BK to brew or is the LT basically a hot liquor tank?

Looks sweet.
Click to expand...
Mash-in to the MT/BK, transfer entire mash to the LT, vorlauf until clear (while spraying out the MT/BK), run off wort back to the MT/BK for boil. Our primary system will be 4 separate vessels (mash, lauter, collection, kettle) so we can have several brews in progress at one time.

Phil, there's talk of a pizza oven coming for handmade pies, but that side of this project really hasn't been addressed yet.

Dave, our current plant will max-out at around 36k barrels (1,116,000 gallons) of beer. The new place will have room for us to slowly expand up to 200k barrels a year.

Here's a rendering of the new facade:
 
dump

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,463
5,100
Man, that's great! Looking forward to having some Troegs in a couple of weeks when I'm down in PA!
 
Secret Squirrel

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
BikeGeek said:
Mash-in to the MT/BK, transfer entire mash to the LT, vorlauf until clear (while spraying out the MT/BK), run off wort back to the MT/BK for boil. Our primary system will be 4 separate vessels (mash, lauter, collection, kettle) so we can have several brews in progress at one time.

Phil, there's talk of a pizza oven coming for handmade pies, but that side of this project really hasn't been addressed yet.

Dave, our current plant will max-out at around 36k barrels (1,116,000 gallons) of beer. The new place will have room for us to slowly expand up to 200k barrels a year.

Here's a rendering of the new facade:
Click to expand...
With the new capacity, will there be any expansion in regard to distribution? (I'm out in Seattle....fwiw...)
 
xy9ine

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
damn, that pilot system is sexy. i want it in my garage.

love seeing the growth of the wee brewers (at the expense of the industrials). though i've never had your beer, i applaud your efforts!
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
Not much to see at the new place. Most of the old concrete floors are up and they've started trenching for the floor drains and excavation for the beer garden and new entrance.

Here's some more equipment that will be going in next summer:

100 bbl brewhouse (l-r:mash tun, lauter tun, wort collection, kettle):

for scale, I think the lauter tun is around 16' in diameter

the hopback:

I believe they said that this will hold close to 200 lbs of whole flower hops

open fermenters for our hefeweizen:

The large tanks are about 16' tall. top of the small yeast collection tank to the bottom of the spillway is about 4'. These, of course, will be isolated in a positive pressure room.
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
stgil888 said:
Is the LT made of wood or insulated with it or am I seeing things?
Click to expand...
Yes, it has wood cladding. It's an inside joke with Braukon, the manufacturer. We added a new mash tun and a kettle to our current brewhouse 5 or so years ago. They were the first vessels ever made by Braukon. About a year after installation we found a piece of lumber inside one of the vent stacks, probably for support during shipping. When we selected Braukon for the new system, our brewmaster jokingly asked if it would include any wood.
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
The open fermenters were designed with the hefe in mind, but you bet we'll occasionally use them for other things. The only Belgian-ish offering we have is our annual holiday seasonal, Mad Elf, a strong (11%) ale brewed with local honey, cherries, and a well known yeast strain from Belgium. A lot of our Scratch series beers have been belgian-ish as well. I brewed a dubbel this summer then fermented a portion of it with 2 strains of yeast, 2 strains of bacteria, and 2 strains of brett. It's currently aging in oak barrels and has a while to go, but so far it's tasting and smelling really nice.
 
TN

TN

Hey baby, want a hot dog?
Jul 9, 2002
14,301
1,353
Jimtown, CO
BikeGeek said:
.... I brewed a dubbel this summer then fermented a portion of it with 2 strains of yeast, 2 strains of bacteria, and 2 strains of brett. It's currently aging in oak barrels and has a while to go, but so far it's tasting and smelling really nice.
Click to expand...
sounds dank as hell. :thumb:

would like to do an open fermentation in a bucket just to see what happens.
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
TN said:
sounds dank as hell. :thumb:

would like to do an open fermentation in a bucket just to see what happens.
Click to expand...
It gives you a slightly different ester/phenol profile from the yeast. Hefe yeast produces a more desireable banana to clove ratio in an open fermenter.
 
xy9ine

xy9ine

Turbo Monkey
Mar 22, 2004
2,940
353
vancouver eastside
BikeGeek said:
It gives you a slightly different ester/phenol profile from the yeast. Hefe yeast produces a more desireable banana to clove ratio in an open fermenter.
Click to expand...
interesting. is this something one could achieve in a home brew, or do you need a more rigorously controlled environment to avoid infection / unwanted esters?

ie, can you actually just leave the lid off the primary & hope for the best? seems scary, yet exhilarating.

would love to try a sour brown one day...
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
First tanks are in. Still some structural work needed for the platform and CIP cap hoist, but it didn't look much like a brewery until we got some tanks in.

 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
8 Germans and 14 semis worth of equipment and piping en route from Germany. Installation begins 7/5. :D

New brewhouse in final production before it was packed for shipping:
 
-BB-

-BB-

I broke all the rules, but somehow still became mo
Sep 6, 2001
4,254
28
Livin it up in the O.C.
BikeGeek, Since you are "in the area" you might be interested in this...
I went on the Yeungling tour a while back (1999 maybe) and the tour lady made a comment that is either WRONG, or they are mis-representing their beers.

Here is the comment:
"We use the same yeast for all our beers".

So what is wrong with that comment? (before I give away the answer).
 
BikeGeek

BikeGeek

BrewMonkey
Jul 2, 2001
4,577
277
Hershey, PA
Yeah, don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard that before. I wonder if it's a lager strain that they ferment warm for their ales, or vice versa. I've also heard that they only brew one beer. They just treat it differently to get their different products.

-BB- said:
BikeGeek, Since you are "in the area" you might be interested in this...
I went on the Yeungling tour a while back (1999 maybe) and the tour lady made a comment that is either WRONG, or they are mis-representing their beers.

Here is the comment:
"We use the same yeast for all our beers".

So what is wrong with that comment? (before I give away the answer).
Click to expand...
 
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