What a glorious, glorious day.  Countless months of hard work and preparation went into making this day possible.  At 9 am on Friday, June 18th, we began unloading the first of our two 40-foot containers filled to the brim with our Brewhouse, two 60 BBL Fermenters, and 60 BBL Bright Tank, and a number of misc brewery equipment(our malt mill, pumps, motors, 100 kegs, control panel, heat exchanger, platform, pipes, hoses, fittings, etc).

The first container opened to the wonderful sight of our Brewhouse Mash/Lauter Ton.   It was packed in there pretty tightly, with about a 2 inch clearance on each side and about 4 inches from the ceiling.  We had been warned to bring wire cutters for the stabilizing wire that was used to secure the equipment, but no amount of talk could have prepared us for that crazy wire maze.  Wires were seriously run everywhere and to everything.

After taking our sweet time, we finally got it out, to reveal much of the brewery platform and misc equipment.  Just after placing the Mash Ton in the brewery, the second truck arrived almost two full hours early.   There definitely is something to be said for punctuality.

After hauling most of the misc equipment by hand, we cleared the way to remove one of the 60 BBL Fermenters and the 60 BBL Bright.  We needed to drag each the vessels to the edge of the container in order to get at them, and the tight clearances on the sides and top made for some tedious work.

We cleared out the first container and the second truck backed in to reveal the Brewhouse Kettle/Whirlpool.  Now that we had the procedure down, it went a bit more smoothly.  We pulled the Kettle out along with the second 60 BBL Fermenter and some more misc equipment.  The kegs were stacked on their sides and lashed down with chicken wire.  Getting all of them out was not fun, especially in the back of what felt like a heated shipping container on a hot Texas summer day.

We finished unloading around 1:30 pm and said goodbye to our second and drastically more impatient truck driver.  The rest of the day was spent inspecting and marveling at our shiny new brewery equipment.  All in all, the unloading process was mostly seamless with hardly a scratch to mar our efforts.  We hope you enjoy these random pics from that great day.

Things are moving along and moving along quickly.  First thing’s first, we saw cut the concrete to prepare for our brewery trench drainage.  Since we finished prepping the area and putting up the FRP on the brewery side, we were ready to slice into the concrete, dig it up and find and tap into the sewer lines.

The concrete was hard and thick and the main sewer line was 5 and 1/2 feet down, but we got there.  After all the hard labor was through, we tapped into the line and ran the PVC for our three trench drains and misc plumbing.  The rough-in went without a hitch and we are ready for the next step, pouring back the concrete and finishing out the water lines.

Meanwhile, we have been upgrading the electric service, since all those pumps and compressors use some serious juice.  We are doubling our capacity from a 200 amp to a 400 amp to make room for our current needs as well as any future expansion requirements.  More pics of the electric upgrade as they come.

Keep checking back, many more pictures and progress to come.  We’ve got the finish out for plumbing and electric coming up as well as the pictures from the holy brewhouse unloading day.

We’ve been busy.  Over the last few weeks we’ve been prepping the space while the our permit was being finalized by the city.  We’ve attached some pics to show you the development.  First, we did some extensive drywall repair(those 20 foot ceilings are pretty tall) before being able to lather it with primer.  Priming and Painting those huge walls was no small task, but as you can see from the picture of Jud, we tried to have a little fun with it.  After much of the painting was done, the walls were prepped for the wet area to put up FRP(fiberglass reinforced plastic) panels to waterproof the area where the tanks and brewhouse will go.

Now that all the prep work is mostly done, we’re looking forward to the next major phase in the buildout.  Next up, we’ll have plenty of pics of our progress as we cut up the floors and dig out the plumbing for our trench drains and misc plumbing.  Stay tuned for more updates as they come.

What do you think? We’ve done a little polishing to the Circle Brewing site and it’s logos/labels. Love it, hate it? Send us an email and let us know…brewer@circlebrewing.com

It’s on the way! Estimated arrival is the week of June 21st. The two 60 BBL Fermenters and 60 BBL Bright Tank along with our brewhouse are packed up and on a ship. Once the two 40 ft containers get to LA(est June 7th), they will be loaded onto rail and then finally on trucks to be delivered right to our door. We’re getting the space ready for the arrival, so the next few weeks will be busy ones. More pics are sure to follow with the buildout as well as plenty of the equipment when it gets here. Below are some final pics of the brewhouse and fermenters before they shipped. Ooooh, they look good.

Hey Circle Brewing Fans,

Circle Brewing has a home!  After months of debate and negotiations, we have finalized our lease on the brewery location.  You’ll be pleased to know that it is located up North, near the intersection of Braker Ln. and Kramer Ln.  The address of the new home of Circle Brewing Company is 2340 W Braker Ln, Suite B.  Check it out:

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We’ve also taken a few pics of the inside of the place to give you an idea of what we’ll be working with.  It’s 8,100 sqft, so we’ll have plenty of room to work and expand.  The location is perfect for us, with easy access to both Mopac and I-35 for deliveries throughout Austin and an easy reach to Round Rock and beyond.

We hope you’re as excited about our progress as we are.  Jud and I can’t wait to get to work on building out the space.   Don’t worry, we will be taking plenty of pics of the buildout and documenting every step in the development, so stay tuned to the website and the blog for updates.

I hope you’re salivating.  As we get closer and closer to securing a location, our equipment is finishing up its fabrication in China.  Here are a few choice pictures of the brewhouse as it is being created from scratch.  Pretty cool stuff.  We can’t wait to put her to use.  We’ll keep you up to date on new developments as they happen.

We did it!  Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about Circle Brewing Company over the last year.  While we are still raising capital and actively pursuing additional investors, we recently hit our primary financial goal!

During that time, we have been working on securing our brewhouse and accompanying equipment.  Since we hit our mark, we were able to put in our order for our brewhouse…here is a picture of what that bad boy is going to look like when it is fabricated.  Ooooooohhhhh, it’s so good lookin’.

She’s a 30 BBL system, fabbed by Frank Ma and our friends over at PBST.  We can’t wait to have her delivered and fire this sucker up and brew some tasty Circle Brews.  Now that the order is in, we are looking to receive it in approximately 4 months.  So, start your stopwatch.

It’s on, Circle Brew Fans.  More updates to come soon as we secure our location and begin building out the space.   To make sure you get updates, make sure you sign up for our Circle of Friends or check us out on the Facebook.com.

Hey everyone.  We wanted to let you know about a mention Circle Brewing has in the August 28th issue of the Austin Chronicle.  So go pick up a copy or seven.  You can also check out the article online here.  Read more beer related news and reviews from the Chronicle article’s author, Lee Nichols, on his blog, I Love Beer Blog.

The equity raising is speeding along, as we have only 15 shares left til we reach our initial goal!  We have quickly and to our great enjoyment mastered our Dry Irish Stout recipe.  Still fishing around for names for her, so if you have any thoughts on the matter, feel free to email us or post.

In other news, we have an upcoming article in the Austin American-Statesman, to be published on August 12.  So, make sure you go pick up a copy next Wednesday and head over to your local framing shop.  If you can’t wait for the print version, the author, Patrick Beach, has posted it on his blog as well.  Check it out here.

We’re getting close to pulling the trigger, so keep spreading the word and checking back for updated info on our progress.