Brewing equipment moved in to Ardmore's new Iron Hill Brewery

Some essential items were delivered to Iron Hill Brewerys newest location in Ardmore Tuesday.

Those would be the seven fermenters, eight serving tanks and brewhouse equipment that arrived on two trucks at the restaurant under construction at 60 Greenfield Ave. in the Ardmore Plaza Shopping Center.

Once those elements are installed and permitting completed, the brewing will start, in advance of an early December opening. Company President Kevin Finn, who was on site for the process, said the target date is Dec. 12.

Today were unloading the brewery, he explained Tuesday morning. Thats always an exciting day for us. It means were in the home stretch.

It is a process that, with the Ardmore store, Wilmington-based Iron Hill will have completed 11 times since 1996 at locations in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Finn explained that, as in the other locations, nearly all of the beer that will be served in Ardmore 99 percent -- will be brewed on site. In this case, that will be under the direction of Ardmore Lead Brewer Paul Rutherford. The brewers will do some trading between locations, he said. They might exchange a couple of kegs.

Brewing, which can be done in batches of about 264 gallons with the 10 hectoliter tanks that arrived this week, differs with the beers.

Ales take 10 days to three weeks, some a little longer, Finn said. Lagers take three to five weeks to ferment.

The lager yeast works at colder temperatures. Its not as active. Thats why you often see most brewpubs doing ales, but Iron Hill made a commitment to do some lagers from the beginning, he added.

The restaurants also typically offer a porter, an IPA, a Belgian witbier and a raspberry wheat beer, with seasonal and other specialties of the brewers. Continued...

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Brewing equipment moved in to Ardmore's new Iron Hill Brewery