Yeah – more beer!!!
Shiny stuff from China: bigger mash tun, more fermentation tasks, more brewing.
Need I say more?
Well go on then. Here’s the exciting next phase of Eden River Brew Co.
From our inception and the early days at Brougham, through our move to a bigger unit on Penrith Industrial Site, Eden has had great ambition for supplying Cumbria, the UK, nay the world, high-quality, great-tasting BEER! And with the popularity of fresh, modern, small-batch brews growing exponentially, it was felt that to reach the potential heights that Eden could achieve in the future a new, bigger brewhouse was the next essential step.
And so, after much blood, sweat, tears, banging of heads, pounding of fists, phone calls and paperwork, the Day of the New Brewery arrived, and on Wednesday 10th October 2018 Eden’s next adventure began.
Manufactured at Kuangbo Machinery Equipment Co in Fuyang near Hangzhou in China, the new kit took just 12 weeks to order, assemble, ship and arrive in the UK on the 10th October 2018. And with the final electrical installation on the 20th October, the new brewery was live for production on 22nd October 2018.
Metcalfe Plant Hire Ltd (Penrith) lifting in to place the new Hot Liquor Tank and Cold Liquor Tank, each of which hold 4000 litres and stand nearly 4m tall!
Both Ian and Paul from Willis European Limited, who helped to install the brewery, were impressed, ‘With all the hard pipework prefabricated in the factory it was the fastest brewery installation we have seen!’
Tim Willis added, ‘We are really excited to see another brewery starting to commence production with our equipment, Jason made a few key suggestions to the brew house which we are now adopting on all the new breweries we manufacture in China, this is the 5th UK brewery we have installed this year and speaks volumes for the quality of the equipment.’
For the shiny-equipment aficionados amongst you, the new brew equipment comprises:
- Full control panel
- Increased number of temperature sensors
- Level sensors
- Augur for lifting malt into mash tun
With the new supersize kit, brew length can comfortably double in size from 5 English Brewer’s Barrels (180 gallon/820 litres) to 10 Brewer’s Barrels (360 Gallon/1640 litres). Or, in real money, means that Eden now have 85 Brewer’s Barrels of fermenting capacity, which is just over 24,000 pints! Happy days!!!
Also to arrive are 5 new 2000 litre Dual Purpose Vessels, which will have 6-inch shoots for dry hopping, an increase from 4 inches, and bund valves for accurate pressure regulation. With the new vessels replacing some of the existing tanks (which are being re deployed to the bottling line), fermenting capacity will increase to 20,200 litres in total. We have also acquired 3 x 4000 litre DPV's from Eden Mill.
This will be a big change from where we started over 6 years ago at 2,400 litres. This will allow Eden to produce around 10,000 litres per week, which is quite a few pints… nearly 20,000!
And as the boss is always right, we can’t help but agree with Jason as he says, ‘It’s really exciting to see this next phase of our development, we can’t wait to start producing more limited-edition beers, which this additional brewing capacity will enable us to do.’
The current brew plan for Eden is to continue brewing their favourite Traditional English Ales, including Eden Pale, Eden Fuggle, Eden Best, Eden Cracker, Eden Gold, & First Emperor, to be available in cask (except for First Emperor) throughout Cumbria, as well as the 500ml bottle. Plus, quarterly seasonal Traditional English Ales will be produced in cask for Cumbria.
But importantly, with the expanded brewing capacity, a core range of modern-style Craft Ales can now be added to Eden’s regular brew programme, such as the popular Session IPA (even if it does have the Boss’s face on it, but don’t let that put you off), Yakama West Coast Pale, Bantam IPA, and Amber. These will be available in keg and 330ml cans.
In addition, we are developing our range of limited release product, which we intend to make available in 440ml can and 20/30 litre key keg, look out for those appearing soon.
But for now, we need to settle in to our new kit, let Andrew our new Production Manager get up to speed, and then the world will be our beer oyster!