brewery profile
SMART GROWTH: THE RISE OF
KNEE DEEP BREWING CO.
Knee Deep Brewing Co. has recently relocated to historic Auburn,
CA. In a relatively short amount of time, they have blown up from a
modest 15 barrel system to a 40 barrel system in addition to doubling
their space from 960 square feet to 18,000 square feet.
last year of college bored just writing recipes in every class and studying raw
materials. I just got real frustrated. The first batch I did, an IPA, had two plastic
buckets, some hops and yeast with some instructions basically telling me how
to boil water. It didn’t say when to add the hops; it didn’t tell me when to
do anything. The first one came out really well, and I didn’t even know how
to chill my wort. I just left it in the garage, and it didn’t get infected. From
that point on and for about three months after, the beer never tasted good.
Instead of getting frustrated and walking away I just kept at it.
Warren: Trial and error. It was never enough information. I just wanted to
keep learning and progressing.
How big is your brew system right now?
Warren: We currently brew on a 15 barrel, two vessel brew house. We only
have seven 15 barrel fermenters. We are expanding to a five vessel, 40 barrel
brew house with 60 barrel tanks and 90 barrel tanks. We will have 120 barrel
tanks in operation by March. And we will also be operating a two vessel,
three and a half barrel pilot system with three and a half barrel and seven
barrel tanks.
Is this in Auburn? Will you have a tap room and food available?
Moore: Yes, we are opening up a taproom. It will be all about our beer and
introducing people to our beer and having them available so people can try
them. We will not be involved with a restaurant at all, although we will have
food trucks come out there and will schedule it based on how busy we are. It
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