New Used Tanks

  

We rescued these two seven barrel DME brewing tanks from a warehouse in Brooklyn last week.  According to DME, the tanks were originally produced in Sweden then retrofitted for brewing by the company in the mid 1990s.  

  

They have been sitting, unused, in a warehouse in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for about 10 years.  Prior to that, we really have no idea where they were, but based on the fact that the insides were pristine and some of the protective plastic wrap was still on the copper they have seen very little use.  

 

 

  

So what’s the plan for these tanks?  We have some ideas for beers that we don’t necessary want running through our full production tanks.  These two new tanks are perfect for experimental fermentation and aging and will allow us to package directly from them so we won’t need to compromise our current set-up. 

The possible uses for these tanks seem endless.  The important part is that they give us the freedom to experiment with different ingredients and techniques and produce a wide variety of unique beers—which has really been the goal since day one. 

We’ll keep you posted.    

Drift Line - Oatmeal Brown Ale

Our latest limited release beer was launched late this past week; Drift Line is an oatmeal brown ale .  The beer was designed using Vienna as the base malts to add a subtle toastiness you can't get from a more traditional two-row base malt.  We then added several crystal and chocolate malts to develop the flavor and color typical associate with American-style brown ales but added just enough toasted oats to create smoothness and body in the beer.  Drift Line finishes with a hint of sweetness but we used just enough hops to balance all the malt.  Finally we used our house ale yeast strain to create the dryness you've come to expect from our beers.  

Like our previous limited release, Single Fin, Drift Line was inspired by and created for the changing seasons and perfect for the the cool Autumn days here on the coast.  

Since we've been out sampling the beer and delivering kegs of Drift Line over the past few days, people always seem to ask what the name means--so here an official answer from the people at marinebio.org.

There is no distinct line between a beach and dune because sand is always being exchanged between the two features. The drift line is the high point of material deposited by waves and could potentially be called the dividing line between the beach and the dunes. At the drift line, significant sand movement by wind can occur from storm waves when they reach far inland. In storm, conditions, however, the drift line can also move inland under the raging waves.

In other words, the drift line is a complex interplay between surf and sand, difficult to precisely define. Though there is no mistaking our Drift Line's brown ale roots, the addition of oats and Vienna malts add a recognizable twist to the style. 

Drift Line Summary:

Malt: German Vienna, Medium English Crystal, 
English Chocolate & Pale Chocolate, 

Hops: Magnum & Cascade

Yeast: English 

ABV: 5.8%

Color: 24 

IBUs: 32

Beer Events

We got two great events coming up this week:

We partnered with a fantastic local restaurant here in Ocean, Piccola Italia, (www.piccolaitalianj.com/web/) for a three course beer pairing dinner.  It will be held this Thursday, September 22 from 6pm - 8pm and reservations are required.  Here is the menu:

First Course

Kane Single Fin Belgian Style Blonde Ale

Citrus Grilled Fish Taco

Jersey Corn & Avocado Pico Di Gallo, Summer Herb Slaw

Second Course

Kane Head High IPA

“Soup & Sandwich”

Jersey Tomato & Local Chili Pepper Bisque

Guajillo Braised Pulled Pork & Taleggio Grilled Cheese, Arugula Salad

 

Third Course

Kane Afterglow Rye Pale Ale

Spiced Pecan & Apple Bread Pudding

Caramelized Onion & Bacon Ice Cream, Rye Pale Ale Glaze

We might also be bring a few growlers of something special.  Hope we see you there.

Beer on the Pier

This Saturday we are going to be at Beer on the Pier in Belmar (http://beerheads.com/).  It's a really nice location for a day of sampling terrific craft beers.  We had a great time last year and can't wait to be pouring this year.  

Update: Tasting Room, Brewing, On Tap and Events

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic around the brewery.  Most importantly we opened the tasting room this past weekend and our new Belgian-style glasses showed up just in time.  First off we want to thank everyone who came out to support us for our opening.  We couldn’t really keep track of how many people stopped by but met some great people and filled over 50 growlers—so I have to say it was a good day.  Same time, same place every Saturday.   

 

We also fired up the brew house last week and brewed our biggest beer yet.  It was our take on an imperial stout.  We filled our mash tun to the top with over 2,200 pounds of grain then added 120 pounds of dark Belgian Candi Sugar to the kettle to up the gravity, add some fig, dark chocolate and burnt sugar notes to the beer and help dry it out a bit.  Our plan is to rest this beer in some fresh bourbon barrels for six to twelve months then hand bottle it when it’s ready.  

Our plan has always been to try and work in some unique and creative beers between brewing our year-round and seasonal beers and this was the first attempt at that.  Since our tanks are empty while we are delivering our first couple batches it seemed like the perfect time to get something different fermenting.

We also delivered a bunch of kegs last Friday and expect a few more to go out this week.  The list of places that either has Kane on tap or has kegs waiting to be tapped is.  Right now our kegs at The Twin Light Taphouse and Brickwall in Asbury were kicked--we hope to get more on soon.

Bars & Restaurants:

Bond St. Bar
208 Bond Street
Asbury Park, NJ 07712

http://www.bondstreetbar.com/

Fish Urban Dining

601 Mattison Ave

Asbury Park, NJ

07712

http://www.fishasburypark.com/

Main Street Bar & Grill

732 Route 35

Ocean, NJ 07712

http://mainstreetbarandgrillnj.com/

Piccola Italia

837 West Park Ave

Ocean, NJ 07712

http://www.piccolaitalianj.com/web/

Surf Taco

21 South Hope Chapel Road

Jackson NJ 08527

http://www.surftaco.com/locations/jackson/

Nip and Tuck Bar

23 Norwood Avenue

Long Branch NJ 07740-5424

https://www.facebook.com/NipBar

Maloney's Pub and Grill

119 Main St

Matawan New Jersey 07747

www.maloneyspubnj.com

Buffalo Wild Wings

# 2004A, 180 State Route 35

Eatontown NJ 07724-2014

Tap Room at the Somerset Hills Hotel

200 Liberty Corner Road  

Warren, New Jersey 07059 

http://www.thesomersethillshotel.com/

Growler Stations:

Cranbury Buy Rite

2678 Rte 130

Cranbury, NJ 08512

http://www.facebook.com/cbuyrite#%21/cbuyrite?sk=wall

Joe Canal's - Lawrence Twp

3375 Route 1

Lawrence Twp, NJ 08648

http://www.joecanals.com/lawrenceville.html

Joe Canal's - Woodbridge

489 Route 1 South

Woodbridge, NJ 08830

http://www.joecanals.com/iselin-woodbridge.html

The kegs we sent to Joe Canal’s will not be tapped for a few weeks.  We are working on an event for both locations, but we will let you know when it’s confirmed.

Speaking of events—we have a few that are confirmed for the next week or so.  This Thursday we will be taking part in the New Jersey Beer Night at Barcade in Jersey City.  This is going to be a great event and we wish there were more like this.

All operating breweries in NJ are sending two kegs and some brewery reps to Barcade for the night.  The list looks impressive and we can’t wait to try some of the other great beers being brewed in the Garden State.  If the event is half as cool as the promotional poster they created, we’re in for a good night. 

http://barcadejerseycity.com/special-events/

We are also going to be pouring beer at a fund raising BBQ in Lavallette.  It should be a great time and its for a good cause.  More information is available at the link below—if you’re going to be in the area it’s worth checking out:

http://www.lavallette.org/forms/2011events/FirecoPigRoast.pdf

We have a few more events in the works but we will post them as we get confirmation.  

Finally, the person who has been working to find a solution to our glycol issues was in to pull apart the system headers and remove and rework the mess that our first highly unqualified plumber made. It seems to be working correctly now, but we still have to re insulate the copper then we should finally be able to put the glycol problems to rest.  Of course it seems like the probe on our bright tank isn’t working now.

Where to Find Us

With our first week officially under our belts, we wanted to take a minute to thank a few of our first accounts and let you know where to find us so far.

We are grateful to Bob at Nip N Tuck in Long Branch for tapping our first ever keg, Twin Light Tap House in Highlands for hosting our first Kane Brewing event, and Maloney's in Matawan for inviting us to be part of their excellent Jersey Fresh Dinner. You can continue to find us at these great bars.

Here is a complete list so far:

Nip and Tuck Bar

23 Norwood Avenue

Long Branch NJ 07740-5424

https://www.facebook.com/NipBar

Maloney's Pub and Grill

119 Main St

Matawan New Jersey 07747

www.maloneyspubnj.com

Twin Light Tap House

128 Bay Avenue

Highlands NJ 07732-1732

http://www.twinlighttaphouse.com/

Barcade Jersey City

163 Newark Ave

Jersey City NJ 07302

http://barcadejerseycity.com

Brickwall Tavern

522 Cookman Ave.

Asbury Park NJ 7712

http://www.brickwalltavern.com/

Buffalo Wild Wings

# 2004A, 180 State Route 35

Eatontown NJ 07724-2014

Our Beers

We’ve been busy getting the brewery up and running but now that it is mostly done we can get back to what’s important—the beer.  Our plan is to launch two beers that will be available year round.  We also plan to brew up a different beer each season.  One of the great things about NJ is that fact that we have four distinct seasons and hope to produce beers that are inspired by each. 

We also plan to brew a few bigger beers during the year that will get either the bottle or barrel treatment—or both.  And we plan to continue to produce small run pilot batches to experiment with new ingredients and / or recipes.  These will most likely be featured in our tasting room.

Our philosophy is to keep our recipes simple, use only the best ingredients and combine traditional styles and techniques with some forward thinking.  Since we love hops, balance isn’t necessarily a priority, but flavor is. 

Finally we will do our best to try and incorporate local products and ingredients into our beers whenever possible to help make them truly local and unique.  This holds true for our names as well.  We came up with names that define certain seasons or imagery that remind us of living in coastal NJ.

Batch 001 will be called Single Fin and it will be our summer seasonal.  It is a Belgian-style Blond ale.  It was inspired and influenced by table beer traditionally brewed in the Trappist monasteries in and around Belgium.

Single Fin was designed with the hot, humid summer days in mind.  It is pale in color, low in alcohol and easy to drink.  We use German Pilsner and Vienna malts with a touch of White Wheat.  Styrian Golding hops were used for bittering and a combination of more Styrian Golding and Czech Saaz hops were used for aroma. 

Although we may have been heavy handed with the hops, the flavor is driven mostly by the unique Trappist yeast strain.  East Coast Yeast was able to provide us with a commercial amount of their ECY-13 yeast strain.  We love this strain because it produces a dry beer with a lot of fruit flavors and aromatics.  We will only brew one 20 barrel batch of Single Fin then move on to our autumn seasonal.  We plan to release this beer again early next summer.    

Single Fin Summary:

Malt: German Pilsner, Vienna & White Wheat

Hops: Styrian Golding & Czech Saaz

Yeast: Trappist Strain

OG: 12° Plato

ABV: 5.0%

Color: 3.6

IBUs: 26

There is a small town on the coast of New Jersey close to where I live now and where I spent most of my summers growing up.  Just after sunset the sky over the bay lights up with fantastic orange and red hues.  It reminds me of the color of this beer—so we named our American-style Rye Pale Ale, Afterglow.  It was the second beer we brewed and will be one of our year round beers.  

The base malt for this beer is American two-row combined with light Munich malt from Germany.  We use medium crystal malt from England to add some color and sweetness and a small amount of malted rye to add some subtle spiciness.  It’s bittered with Columbus hops, flavored with German Hallertau and we used Cascade and Centennial hops in the whirlpool and for dry hopping. 

As with all of our American-style ales we use a dry English yeast.  An English yeast for American-style beers may seem unusual but we think this specific strain ferments clean enough to accentuate the hop flavors and aromas but leaves behind just a enough malt character to add some balance.      

Afterglow Summary:

Malt: American Two-Row, German Munich, Medium English Crystal, Malted Rye

Hops: Columbus, German Hallertau, Cascade & Centennial

Yeast: Dry English

OG: 13.5° Plato

ABV: 5.5%

Color: 9.5

IBUs: 50

Our last tank was filled with our American-style IPA called Head High.  More specifically it’s closer to a west coast style IPA.  This style is typically lighter in color and drier in body then a traditional American-style IPA.  We used a mix of American two-row and German pilsner for the base malt and added a small amount of light English crystal and Carapils malt for some color and body. 

We used Columbus and Chinook in the boil, and Ahtanum, Citra and Centennial in both the whirlpool and for dry hopping.  The resulting beer is not too bitter but hoppy and aromatic.  At 6.5% ABV it's manageable enough that you can have a few pints.  

We did a lot of pilot batches for this beer.  The reason is that we were unable to get our hands on a couple of the hop varieties that we’ve been using in our IPAs for years—specifically Simcoe and Amarillo.  So we had to tweak the IPA recipe we planned to use and began playing with different hop varieties and combinations. 

We are really happy with the combination we came up with and think this is a better beer than the original.  Of course, as soon as we get our hands on some Simcoe and Amarillo hops our imperial IPA called Overhead will be the next beer in our tanks.  

Head High Summary: 

Hops: Columbus, Chinook, Ahtanum, Citra, Centennial

Yeast: Dry English

OG: 16° Plato

ABV: 6.5%

Color: 6.3

IBUs: 67

These are our first few beers and they should be ready for release sometime next week.  We’ve got a couple pilot batches going now and in the coming weeks plan to start brewing our autumn seasonal and fermenting a few surprises.  Stay tuned. 

Solenoid Problem

A day after our first beer went into the fermenter we realized that there was another problem with our glycol system.  Originally, we thought the only problem was that we couldn’t get our tanks below 38 – 40 degrees in any reasonable amount of time.  However, we also found out that once we set our temperature control to the desired temperature it would continue to cool pass the point.

The way the system works is that once the temperature inside the tank reaches the set point programmed into the controller it should close, therefore preventing cold glycol from entering the tanks.  Once the temperature begins to rise, the valve will open again and allow glycol in to cool the contents of the tank. 

We had our first fermenter set at 64 degrees.  Once it got down to that temperature we assumed the valve would shut and cooling would stop.  When we came in the next morning our unfermented beer was sitting at 55 degrees.  For some reason the tanks continued to cool past the set point.  

We called some of the people that had been helping us with this problem.  They told us the most likely reason was that there was glycol getting past the solenoid valve.  They said it was possible that the valve was damaged during installation so we took it apart and check the condition.  What we found out was that the plumber, who had been causing all these problems for us already, installed the valve backwards.  

It’s easy to tell because anyone who understands how this system works knows that the glycol comes into the valve from the top and out through the bottom.  As you can see in the picture the “out” is on top and the “in” is on the bottom.  We checked and sure enough all the tanks were piped this way.  

We got someone in the next day to rebuild and reinstall all the valves properly and the problem was corrected.  Fortunately, we were able to warm up the tank back up to 64 and fermentation kicked in with in a few hours.  Since the other two tanks were still empty we didn’t have to worry them. 

Unfortunately, that didn’t solve the problem of getting the tank down below 38, but at least we fixed one of the major issues.       

First Batch

After a couple years of planning and eleven months in our building we finally brewed our first batch of beer today.  The first beer we brewed was a Belgian-style Single that will be our summer seasonal.  

As we expected it was a marathon brew day as we got familiar with the new equipment.  The major slowdowns were a grain mill that got seized up as we were adjusting the speed of the mill and the auger system.  We had to unload some grain and start again which killed some time.

The other major delay was a very slow, three hour run off from the mash tun.  Once we got to the boil everything we pretty straight forward.   

Other than that it wasn't too bad for a first brew.  We mostly reach our expect volume and at the end of hit our original gravity for the beer so we were happy.  We plan to brew two more batches later this week.

We are still have some issues with our glycol system, but we think it still has some air in the system which should bleed out over time.  The tanks have no problem maintaining temperature between 40-70, we just can't get below 40 yet.  Once the air is flushed out of the system we believe it will work as designed.

Glycol System Down

While we were waiting to get our brewing license from the NJ ABC we cleaned and passivated our new stainless steel fermentation tanks.  After that we decided to fill the tanks with water to test how fast they cooled down to conditioning temperature so would have an idea of cooling rates.  We had started up the chiller before to test it, but once it seemed to be working fine we shut it down.  We ran the chiller over night, which was the first time we left it running for any length of time.  

When we came back in the morning the chiller had tripped a low pressure setting and stopped working so our tanks never got cold which clearly indicated a problem with the system.  We spent the next few days working on the phone with the chiller manufacturer, our equipment supplier and neither had any idea what was causing the problem.  We kept trying solutions but the pressure would always drop tripping the cut off before we would get the temperature down.  Finally we narrowed the problem down to an issue with the flow. 

While we were trying to solve this problem, we got the word from NJ ABC that we could start brewing.  So now we were officially able to brew but couldn’t until we fixed this issue. 

We called in a refrigeration specialist down to see if he could troubleshoot the problem.   He thought it might be a faulty valve so we replaced it in the hopes that it would fix the problem. It helped, but unfortunately the flow rate was still restricted enough that the system wouldn’t work.  

On top of that it was a holiday weekend, so we had to wait until Tuesday to try anything new.  We were told to try and bleed some air out of the system over the weekend and that may help.  By Tuesday the system still wasn’t working right.
    

After checking every part in the chiller unit and finding nothing wrong we decided that the restriction had to be from too much air trapped in the pipes.  We decided to add another air eliminator to the other part of the piping where the air seemed trapped to increase the flow.  Once we added that, it allowed the air to slowly drain from the part of the system that it was trapped in and the tanks began to cool a bit.  

Ultimately the problem was poor piping layout and a faulty start up, both handed by our plumber / steam guy.  When he built the system he put in a ton of unnecessary elbow and turns where air could get trapped and when he started it up he didn’t flush out the air before filling it with glycol.  This caused large amounts of air to get caught in the jackets and piping.

Once the additional eliminator was added the chiller started working great, but now we have to wait for all the air to drain out of the system and see if the problem corrects itself.  

Drive In Cooler

The other massive project we tackled while we were working to get the brew house up and running was construction of our walk in cooler.  We pretty much bought the largest cooler we could afford and that would fit into our space.  The reason we wanted a larger cold space is that since we are self-distributing our beers we will be storing them until on site until we deliver them to retail accounts.  Since we won’t be shipping our kegs off to a distributor in bulk once they are packaged we wanted a large enough space to keep all our beer stored cold.  We also wanted to have enough space to properly age some kegs and / or barrels.  

We ended up getting a used box that was 36 feet long, 18 feet wide and 16 feet tall.  It’s about 650 square feet of cold box goodness.  We realized once it was up that it was larger than the last apartment my wife and I shared in the city by about 150 square feet—and we lived there for five years.  It should be a good home for our kegged beer, hops and anything we plan to age.  Since we bought it used, it was delivered to us as a stack of loose panels in the back of a tractor trailer.

It took us about three hours to get the massive 8x8 door and about forty 16x4 panels unloaded by hand off the truck.  At least this gave the driver a chance to take a nice afternoon nap in the cab.   

As you can see from the photo organizing the panels happened another day. Getting the box built was one of the more difficult things we had to do.  We were told the box is self supporting and that each panel locks into the one next to it.  It’s true that the panels lock into one and other, but that’s only true if the locks work.  It also seemed that it would be better to add some type of support to hold the roof up.  This ended up taking the most time.  

We started by getting the three walls built, then we planned to add the roof, then the front with the door.  The cold box doors supported by our warehouse walls were not that difficult to get up, but the free standing walls were a little more difficult. 

Because the panels are 16 feet tall they were difficult to stand up and get into place without tipping over.  Again, the forklift was crucial in getting these into place. 

After getting the outer walls built we lifted the ceiling panels on with the forklift.   We chose to support them with threaded rod and unistruts from the existing roof but this took a while

.  

Once we finally got the ceiling on, we needed to cut a few panels to build in a space for the door then hang the surprisingly heavy sliding door on the tracks.  After that we brought  in a refrigeration guy to hook the cooling unit up and we were on our way. Two quick coats of white paint and the box was finished.  

Construction Completed

We spent the last month working with contractors and our DME representative to get the brew house installed and connected to the required utilities.  The DME representative, Paul, showed up right before Memorial Day and was here for 10 days.  The plan was to have all the DME equipment set up and utilities connected to the equipment so that we could perform a test brew with water and check the glycol system before he left.

The way it usually works with these type of installs is that Paul plans to come to the brewery when the steam, electrical, and water is a few days from being finished so that he can answer any questions the contractors have about getting the systems hooked up to the brewing equipment then he will have a few days to test and troubleshot any issues before he leaves. We coordinated the timing of his trip with our contractors to make sure we would be able to get all this done in ten days.

The most complicated part of the install was getting the steam system for the kettle and hot liquor tanks up and running.   The steam guys started a few weeks before Paul got here so that they would be ready for the test brew.

The first few days that Paul was here we spent getting the tanks in their final positions and getting them level and running the pipe water, steam, and electrical to them.  Once that was done we could connect the stainless piping that connects the mash tun, kettle and pumps on the brew house.

Once that was done we spent some time getting the plates into the mash / lauter tun and getting the rake motor mounted on top. 

 

Next we worked on getting the grain handling systems set up.  We have an existing room in the warehouse that we were planning to use as a mill room to keep all the grain dust separate from the brew house and cellar.  We realized that we were going to have to raise the ceiling to get all of our equipment in there easily.

We moved our mill, grist case and augurs into the expanded room and got those running.  The way our systems works is that the grain is sent through the wall of the mill room, behind our fermenters along the side wall and over to the mash tun.  

  

We also finally got the town to sign off on the placement of the chiller behind our building.  So we got the concrete pad poured and got the chiller in place so that when they got around to hooking it up it would be ready to go.

About half way through Paul's time here we realized there was no way the company putting together the boiler and glycol system were going to finish as promised.  They were way behind on the boiler install so we decided that it was better for them to focus solely on the steam and not work on the glycol system at all. 

One of the major mistakes we made was hiring one steam fitting / plumbing company to do both.  They were hired to install the boiler, the domestic water service, and pipe and start-up the glycol chiller.  All things we were told they did numerous times.  At the outset of the project they told us two weeks for everything.  Almost immediately they were behind and never managed to get caught up.  

If we had use two different companies like we had originally planned, we could have had both set-ups going at the same time.  Four weeks in they hadn't finished the boiler or glycol.

 

With a lot of pushing they manged to get the boiler fired up around 7:00 pm the night before Paul was scheduled to leave.  Since the boiler was finally working we were able to fill the tanks with water to clean out the residual oils and dust and check the pumps and piping between the brew house.

After that we filled the hot liquor tank and kettle and made sure the steam was heating both.  We did an hour boil to check the evaporation rates and see how the boiler performed over time.  Since we didn’t have the vent installed yet because of on going delays, we were a little concerned about the steam in the warehouse—mostly making sure we didn’t set off any sprinklers from the heat.   

We opened all the doors and set up a few fans and that seem to take care of any potential issues.  By the time we cooled down the tanks and drained the water we finished up around 3 am.  

The other thing we found out was that our drain worked like a champ, moving water from three tanks out of the brewery with no problem.  Although, there were some minor issues that needed to be fixed, overall the steam system worked fine.

When Paul left we had a working brew house, but we still needed to get the chiller fired up.  It took another week or two for them to get the piping finished.  Once it was ready we spent the better part of a day trying to get the chiller started-up, but once it was up and running it seemed to be working just fine.  There were no leaks in the pipes and the glycol was cooling down by design.  Since we thought that system was working fine they brought in their insulation guy to finish the job.  

While they were insulating the pipes we needed to get some sprinklers moved and a few heads added by request of the fire marshal. When that was done we could get our final fire inspection.  We also managed to pass our final electrical, plumbing and construction inspections.  With that we were able to apply for our Certificate of Occupancy, which we received early last week.  Now that all the construction was completed and we satisfied all the requirements from the town, the only step left was getting our brewing license from the NJ ABC.