New Belgium officially started construction on its second brewery — a 133,000-square-foot brewery and tasting room — last May. Photo credit: Ken Abbott.
New Belgium Brewing Co.’s brewhouse vessels start rolling into their new home on Craven Street in Asheville, N.C., the second week in January. New Belgium’s 200 hectoliter brewhouse system departed from GEA Brewery Systems (GEA) in Kitzingen, Germany, in mid-November to arrive to the N.C. State Ports Authority in Wilmington, N.C., by mid-December. Once the vessels arrive on the site, they will be set into their new home over a period of weeks. Three of the vessels are oversized, requiring rolling road closures and special routing through NC Department of Transportation. Routing will be shared when finalized by N.C. DOT.
“The on-time arrival and delivery of our vessels is testament to having strong, competent brewing, construction and community partners,” said Jay Richardson, New Belgium Asheville general manager. “We are incredibly grateful to be surrounded by a team that is making extraordinary efforts throughout this process. We will be thoughtful and intentional about the delivery of our vessels and appreciate the patience of those along the route.”
Through the month of January, GEA will be on site installing brewhouse vessels and tanks, which will arrive via truck to the Craven Street location. Routing will be shared once finalized. The largest of the shipments, arriving the second week in January, includes the lauter tun which is nearly 22 ft long x 22 ft wide x 15 ft high, within its shipping crate. The whirlpool and hot water tank are also oversized and arriving the second week of January, requiring special routing through N.C. DOT. Other smaller brewhouse tanks, including the mash tun and wort boiling kettle, will arrive by flatbed truck with no special routing throughout January.
Fermentation vessels and bright tanks, which are up to 75 ft tall, will arrive in spring 2015. Additional information will be provided closer to that time. New Belgium will be brewing beer in Asheville by the end of 2015.
Fun Asheville Brewery Facts:
- 1 million — pounds of rebar in the cellar deck alone
- 500,000 — minimum number of barrels of beer brewed annually in Asheville at full capacity
- 42,264 — number of pints brewed per batch on a 200hl system
- 5,000 — yards of concrete poured on the site in 2014
- 700 — yards of concrete in the cellar deck
- 350 — number of piles driven to stabilize the ground
- 350 — approximate number of people working on site daily from spring-fall 2015
- 200 — hectoliters per batch in the brewing system = 5,283 gallons
- 150 — approximate number of people working on site daily in January 2015
- 74 — number of immediate neighbors who shared a potluck meal this November
- 45 — approximate number of coworkers New Belgium will hire in Asheville in 2015
- 30 — number of fermentation and bright tanks the cellar deck is ready to receive
- 20 — approximate number of coworkers who will be hired annually through full build out
- 9 — silos in our malt silo building that hold between 50 and 100 metric tons
- 6 — number of bright beer tanks in our cellar
- 3 — beer styles initially brewed in Asheville
- 2 — Asheville hires who will be co-owners by January 2015
- 1 — new East Coast home
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500,000-bbl capacity & other stats on NewBelgium Asheville plant. Via @craftbrewingbiz: http://t.co/GlUVErIZXD” @w_a_miller @peter_a_davey