BERLIN BREWERY MOVING ALONG
Burley Oak closer toopening daywith arrivalof threetanks
NANCY POWELL ¦ Associate Editor
A hot liquor tank arrives at Burley Oak Brewery on Wednesday. Brewery owner Bryan Brushmiller is there when it arrives.
OCEAN CITY TODAY/NANCY POWELL (March 11, 2011) Burley Oak Brewery is not even open yet in Berlin, but owner Bryan Brushmiller is already expecting to expand. He has plenty of room for more brewing equipment in the former restaurant supply business on Route 346 near the railroad tracks.
“There’s a lot of room for growth,” Brushmiller said as he pointed toward the front of the building where the tap room will be.
Tuesday afternoon, Brushmiller was busy guiding a forklift operator who was moving the latest equipment into the cavernous space that will become the brewery, just in back of the anticipated tap room.
The first piece of equipment hoisted out of the tractor trailer was a hot liquor tank, the second piece was a cold liquor tank and the third was a mash/lauter tun.
The hot liquor tank keeps water hot for the boiler and the cold liquor tank makes the system more efficient.
The mash/lauter tun converts starches to sugars using water from the hot liquor tank and extracts the sugar water, known as wort, from the malted barley grain. The wort is boiled in the kettle with hops and then cooled through the heat exchanger with water from the cold liquor tank. Then it goes to the fermenter for 14 or more days.
He has had a few beer tastings and plans to have more. For the first year of business at Burley Oak Brewery, Brushmiller hopes to produce about 800 barrels of beer.
The microbrewery is possible in Berlin because of a change in state law sought by Michael Day, Berlin’s director of community and economic development. The General Assembly passed the bill last year that added Worcester County to the list of jurisdictions in which the holder of a pubbrewery license may sell beer for offpremises consumption.
It was later realized that Brushmiller would need an additional change in the law to allow the brewery to sell pints of beer to be consumed at the brewery. Sen. Jim Mathias has introduced a bill in the Senate to permit that. Delegates Mike McDermott and Norman Conway have introduced a similar bill in the House of Delegates. The bills add Worcester to the list of counties where it is permitted.
There is no opening date yet, but when the microbrewery is operating and the tap room opens, Brushmiller would like to offer some food to patrons.
“I would like to work out something with restaurants for them to offer small tasters,” he said. “The main thing is to complement the restaurants in town.”
