The cold box is up.  It took some serious heavy lifting, some cam-locking, and a little ingenuity, but we got her up.  Special thanks go to my father, Bob Sabel, who was in town to help out.  We don’t think we could have done it without him.  As you can see from the pictures, those panels are pretty big and they definitely aren’t light.  We started with the walls, locking them together, then moved onto the ceiling.  Once the shape was in place, we started in on the sliding door.  There were six sets of differing instructions, so after a few too many discussions, we just started piecing it together and the result is quite exceptional, if I say so myself.  With the door hung, we secured the structure, caulked the edges, and mounted the lights and evaporator units.  All that is left is the Condensing units piping and we have a nice cold box.  She’s a big one too, 36′ x 20′.  Soon, we’ll be installing a tasting area adjacent to it, with a nice big bar and some taps coming straight from the cold box.    Plenty more to come, so keep checking back…

The Circle Store is up and running!  Add that news with the arrival of our t-shirts and pint glasses and we’ve got a solid combo.   We’ve only got two types of merchandise for sale at the moment, the pint glasses and t-shirts, but more will come.  We’re open to input, so let us know what you want with our logo all over it.  Tshirts come in Red, Green, Blue, Black, and White, all with unique color schemes for each color shirt.  Pint Glasses have that clean etched look and make any beverage look that much better.  We’ll of course have all this for sale on our tour days when we open for business(still looking like late October).   I don’t know about you, but those cool looking pint glasses are making me thirsty…

Now that the floors were in and dry, we were ready to move the tanks into place.  As you can see from the pics below, it was a long, hot, and nerve-racking day for us, carefully lifting and moving those tanks and brew vessels into their proper place.  We were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after the last tank was lowered into place, but I certainly caught myself holding my breath a number of times during the process.  Those stainless tanks weigh a few pounds.

The pictures speak for themselves, so enjoy looking through them.  All said and done, the final product is a glorious sight.  What was once a warehouse now looks unmistakably like a brewery.  We’ll have more pics of the assembly of the brewhouse piping and platform to follow.  Keep checking back, updates will continue as rapidly as the progress.

I know it has been awhile since the last post, but hey, we’ve been a little busy.  After unloading day, we went to work finishing up the plumbing.  Everything was in play, ready for us to pour back the concrete.  Our primary goal was to complete that phase as soon as possible, to allow the proper amount of time for the concrete to cure before we sealed the floors.  The rebar was set and the pourback commenced, which was a little interesting since we were still in the middle of our electricity upgrade and had no electricity.  Normally, this wouldn’t have been an issue with the bay doors open, but fate had chosen to darken the skies and send buckets of rain our way that fine day.  No problem some portable lights couldn’t fix, however.

The pour went well and we set back to finishing up the plumbing and electrical, preparing the space for when the concrete had cured properly.  During this time, we were able to frame, juice, plumb, and wall the second bathroom, which we’ll need especially for those tour days.    After the alloted time, we began to work on the existing concrete, scuffing up the old sealant to prepare to put down our own.  As you can see, not only does it protect those floors from the rigors of brewing, but it really looks great.

The next step is to move the brewery vessels and tanks into place and start piping.  We’ll have pictures soon to follow with those shiny tanks upright and ready to rock.  Keep checking back for updates!

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:

View Larger Map

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.