Tomorrow, we'll be filling our newest fermenter, "Tank 28" for the first time.
Tank
28 is the last tank in a third expansion of our fermentation cellar. This most recent expansion cannibalized
warehouse space to install a total of four 200 barrel fermenters and one 200
barrel bright tank.
Previous
expansions took place in 2008/2009 (three 200 barrel fermenters) and again in
2010 (two 200 barrel fermenters and a 200 barrel bright beer tank).
The
Craft Beer industry is growing by leaps and bounds. According
to the Brewers Association, craft beer production volumes grew by 13%
industry-wide in 2011.
Contextually, 2011 Smuttynose production volumes increased by a
staggering 28.6%. In short, we need
more places to put beer. But with
ground breaking on our new home at Towle Farm on the verge of being scheduled,
we’re not sure that this will be the end of expansions at Heritage Avenue.
Tank
28 traveled 3,183 miles from Canby, Oregon to Portsmouth, NH. It was built by
JV Northwest with whom Smuttynose Founder
and President Peter Egelston has worked with since they built the brewing system for The Northampton Brewery in 1986. The fabricators opened in 1981 and they
build equipment for food, beverage, and pharmaceutical companies.
Here's a clip of the tank being removed from between two stacks of hottubs and rotated in mid-air:
New Hampshire's own WMUR-TV shared this nice photo montage, as well as a short video piece, which we weren't able to track down.
Seacoast newspapers Foster's Daily Democrat and The Portsmouth Herald each ran articles as well. We thank all three of them for their support.
Tank 28 Stat Box:
Height:
22.5’
Diameter:
9’ 10”
Weight:
7,200 pounds
Total
volume: 8024 US gallons or 259 US barrels.
Working
volume: ~200 US barrels of beer, or four batches of Smuttynose beer
If
our working volume is 200 barrels and the cycle through the tank takes three
weeks, then our new tank will produce about 3,500 barrels (108,500 gallons) of
beer in a year.
The
difference in these two volume measurements is a necessary part of fermenter
design. Fermentation is a very
turbulent process that causes large amounts of carbon dioxide to be produced and
then released through the volume of beer. This violent gas production causes
the beer to foam, kind of like what happens when you shake a bottle of beer
before your friend opens it. The
extra head space allows that foam to form, while minimizing or preventing
foam-overs, which are messy and cause beer loss.
We’ve
had to make significant modifications to our building for each expansion. For this most recent expansion, we had
to lease off-site warehousing to make space for the tanks, as well as extend the
roof height and install a portal, through which the tanks were inserted and
will later be removed when we move to our new home.
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