• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

Update on Catawba Brewing’s plans after 50 percent capacity expansion

March 7, 2018Chris Crowell

Morganton brewery expansion

Catawba Brewing Co.’s 2018 expansion project is right on track. Just two months after announcing their purchase of Palmetto Brewing of Charleston, S.C., the brewery installed two new 240-bbl external fermenters at their existing production facility in Morganton, N.C. Two more identical vessels are scheduled to arrive in Morganton next week. The 11,000-lb tanks were custom-built by Marks Design and Metal Works of Vancouver, Wash., at a total investment cost of $300,000.

Plans for the new equipment

The new tanks are slated to remain full at all times with the company’s four best-selling brands: Catawba White Zombie White Ale, Catawba HOPness Monster IPA, Palmetto Huger Street IPA and Palmetto Amber Ale. Fermentation capacity will be increased by more than 50 percent as a result of these tanks alone — from the current level of about 20,000 bbls per year to more than 30,000 bbls with the new tanks.

The brewery plans for all canned products for both Catawba and Palmetto to be produced in Morganton, effective April 1. Finished goods facilities for shipments and pickups will be located at a new warehouse in Morganton and at the Charleston brewery. A dedicated 53-ft refrigerated tractor-trailer will move fresh product daily between these hubs for finished goods to facilitate timely delivery to distributor warehouses in six states (NC, SC, TN, GA, AL, VA).

In addition to equipment upgrades, the company is investing in new personnel. Notably, a full-time product manager was recently added to their commercial and operations teams to oversee the smooth execution of new product introductions. A full-time quality control and assurance manager will soon be hired to oversee all lab and testing work in Morganton, and more jobs will be created by the expansion in the months ahead.

Don’t forget to clean your fermenter’s sample port

While the production brewery in Morganton focuses on canned product, most Catawba and Palmetto draft beer will originate in Charleston, S.C. Later this month, the Charleston brewery will add a third brewing vessel to its existing 25-bbl brewhouse, along with five brand new 100-bbl fermenters. This phase of the expansion will raise fermentation capacity by 83 percent in Charleston, scheduled to be completed by late-April.

Pilot brewhouses in Asheville and Charlotte will continue serving the need for weekly Small Batch beers, test batches and specialty series — like the upcoming Cloud Cover NE IPA releases. Additionally, the brewery’s Barrel Program will be a point of emphasis in Charlotte, with plans for a number of canned and bottled releases to arrive throughout the year.

Systech stainless brewing equipment
Ill Mannered Brewing adds new fermenters from Ohio-based Systech Stainless
Foothills_brewing
Foothills Brewing installs first of four new fermentation vessels
Ziemann brewhouse
Brewery expansion planning: Greenbush Brewery chooses alternating proprietorship over larger facility
Castle Island brewery
Castle Island Brewing expanding capacity after only 7 months

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jonathan Kutche says

    March 8, 2018 at 10:22 am

    Great news!

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • After a year in business, Louisville’s Gallant Fox Brewing is already opening a second location in Bullitt County
  • Sovos ShipCompliant adds audit protection for direct-to-consumer alcohol shippers in 24 states
  • Proof Brewing installing Earthly Labs’ carbon capture tech
  • Because you must know everything about beer, here’s March 2021’s domestic tax paid estimates for beer shipments

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • Lemon-QuestDogfish Head’s deal with Mother Nature other beers to know this Earth Week
    April 20, 2021
  • Understanding ionization: Let’s learn how to air rinse and dry cans and bottles without water
    April 19, 2021
  • Crosby Farm TopWire Hop Project 12Resplendent Oregon hop farm has ultimate beer garden (TopWire Hop Project) reopening April 30 (enjoy some images)
    April 15, 2021
  • Get Your Drink On app people cheers drinksThis Get Your Drink On app gifts beer money to a phone’s digital wallet, so please send me some
    April 15, 2021
  • GEA-InsightPartner-ProduktbildInside the real-time process control of GEA’s InsightPartner software
    April 14, 2021
  • roughhouse brewing cave aged beersCave-aged beer finally excavated by Roughhouse and other beers to know this week
    April 13, 2021

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2021 · CBB Media LLC

Continue ...

sponsored by