Business/Economy

Kenai River among Alaska breweries cranking up production

KENAI, Alaska -- These days, the big topic of discussion in Juneau seems to be what must be done to stimulate economic growth in Alaska. Will cutting taxes encourage more oil exploration, or is that just a big giveaway to the oil companies? Given the heated atmosphere surrounding this debate, it's nice to take a moment to step back and contemplate one industry that's still booming in Alaska -- craft brewing.

In 2011, the brewing industry contributed at least 1,340 jobs to Alaska's economy and generated more than $125 million in economic activity through direct spending -- and the multiplier effect of that spending -- in the state.

Not only does the industry bring money into the state from the export of its product, our brewers also provide a product to meet statewide demand that otherwise would have to be imported, reducing the amount of money leaving Alaska. On top of that, Alaska's breweries and brewpubs paid more than $27.5 million in state and local taxes and fees in 2011.

Those numbers, the most recent available, are from 2011. Since then, two additional breweries have opened, the Seward Brewing Company and HooDoo Brewing in Fairbanks, and more are in the planning stage. While craft brewing will never replace oil and gas in Alaska's economy, it still represents a not inconsiderable addition to the overall economic health of our state.

Here on the Kenai Peninsula, we're seeing this same sustained, steady growth continue. Besides the new brewpub in Seward, Kenai River Brewing in Soldotna has just expanded its production capacity.

If you're not a brewer, you may not realize that the bottleneck in the operation of a brewery is usually not the actual "brewhouse." The brewhouse is the name for the mash tun and brew kettle combination, which determines the maximum size of each batch of beer. After all, you can brew a batch of beer in under six hours, so brewing two batches a day is fairly typical, and even three is possible, given sufficient manpower.

Rather, the production bottleneck is often the volume of fermentation tank space available.

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You may be able to brew a batch in a few hours, but yeast works at its own pace, and will require at least a week, give or take, to turn the sugars into alcohol. Once all your fermenters are full, your brewhouse has no choice but to sit idle until one of them is emptied.

Given this limitation, it makes sense that Kenai River Brewing just added a third 20-barrel conical fermenter to its tank farm. Now they have three 20-barrel tanks, plus 50 barrels worth of smaller, open fermenters, allowing them to ferment a total of 110 barrels at one time. Since their brewhouse produces 10 barrels per batch, a typical double batch brew day will fill one of these fermenters, making for efficient brewhouse utilization.

Obviously, if you are going to be so efficient at filling them, you'll have to be equally efficient at emptying those fermenters once the yeast has done its work and the beer is ready for packaging. Kegs are relatively easy to fill, other than the need to clean them. But what about cans?

Kenai River has been using a manual two-head canning system. With it, three experienced workers can empty a 20-barrel fermenter in about 18 hours work, producing about 6,600 cans or 275 cases of beer. That makes for a pretty long day of canning beer to empty one 20-barrel fermenter.

At the end of February, Kenai River took delivery of a new, automated three-head canning line. Empty cans are fed into the machine and full cans emerge, needing only to be snapped into the six-pack holders and stacked in their cardboard flats. Brewer and owner Doug Hogue estimates that the new machine will allow them to can 20 barrels of beer in about six hours (rather than 18), making emptying a fermenter into cans just a typical day's work.

What's driving Kenai River to invest in this new equipment? Two words -- increased demand. In the case of this particular brewery, it's demand for their Peninsula Brewers Reserve, which they will be adding to their can lineup in early summer.

This growing demand isn't limited to Kenai River Brewing Company. Breweries across Alaska are experiencing the same thing -- Alaskans like good beer and they are willing to pay a little extra to get it, especially if it's made right here in Alaska.

So the next time you see a report on TV about the latest oil tax debate in Juneau, do what I do. Open a nice Alaska-brewed craft beer and give yourself a pat on the back for boosting our state's economy.

Bill Howell is a homebrewer, teaches a beer appreciation class at Kenai Peninsula College's Kenai River Campus and was named the 2010 Beerdrinker of the Year by Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver. He and his wife, Elaine, have released a book, "Beer on the Last Frontier: The Craft Breweries of Alaska -- Volume I: Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island Breweries," via Amazon. ?Check out his blog here.

Bill Howell

Bill Howell is a home brewer, teaches a beer appreciation class at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kenai River Campus and was named the 2010 Beerdrinker of the Year by Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver. He and his wife, Elaine, have released a book, “Beer on the Last Frontier: The Craft Breweries of Alaska — Volume I: Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island Breweries,” via Amazon. ?Check out his blog here.

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