Brewer's Workshop

Brewer's Workshop is a software tool intended to assist the home brewer in recipe design and record keeping. With all the BJCP beer styles built in, Brewer's Workshop can help with recipe design to ensure you are on the mark for the style of beer you are after. Brewer's Workshop has nicely formatted Email and print functions to document what you have brewed. Read more at their site. brewers-workshop

Founders Expansion With Beer Garden

 Founders Brewing Co. broke ground on a large-scale taproom expansion project on April 1 that will expand the taproom and add a second floor.
In place of the Grandville Ave. parking spots, Founders is building a 3,975-square-foot partially-covered beer garden that will feature multi-level seating, an outdoor bar and a fireplace. The taproom expansion is the second phase of the brewery’s $26 million overall brewery expansion project that will create approximately 50 new jobs and increase annual production capacity to 340,000 barrels of beer.  Also, the second phase construction will add an educational facility for beer tourists, additional offices, an enlarged deli kitchen and company store. Construction should be completed fall of 2013.
 The taproom will stay open during construction and the current layout will remain unchanged except for the restroom and company store areas.

Mobile Beer Canning Truck In Michigan

 Two Western Michigan University graduates are launching Michigan Mobile Canning, the state’s first mobile canning line. They have invested more than $160,000 to replicate what is a successful business in Colorado.  The Wild Goose Canning Technologies MC-250 modified system will be housed in a 16-foot box truck, with custom-made, sleeve-wrap labeled cans designed to can beers. Their aim will be to arrive when a brewery is ready to distribute beer, fill the cans under the brewer's direct supervision and then leave. The line will be able fill 2 to 2.5 million cans a year (approx.7,500 to 8,500 barrels).
 The MMC are aiming to help small breweries who have never packaged before by helping to package for the first time, and help them get into the retail setting by going  state-wide rather quickly.  Many craft brewers have been seeing the benefits of cans, there’s less packaging weight and it stacks better for storage.
 Michigan Mobile Canning's first client will be Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City, with more in line for the summer. The pricing will be pay-as-you go for interested brewers.
 The first truck will be on the road in Michigan by June and they hope to expand to two trucks by 2014.
Michigan Mobile Canning  www.michiganmobilecanning.com

Zeeland's first brewery: Tripelroot To Open Spring of 2014

 Nate and Laura Gentry have started renovation in downtown Zeeland changing the old 5/3 building into a restaurant and brewpub called Tripel Root. The couple bought the building at 146 E. Main St. in February and have successfully convinced Zeeland city leaders to allow take-out alcohol sales at full-service restaurants. The building's last tenant was a Fifth Third bank branch, in the 2,400-square-foot building which started out in the late 1800s as M.C. Ver Hage hardware store. The new decor will include hardwood flooring and an outdoor German-style beer garden on what was once a bank drive-through. Laura says “We want to be local and environmentally friendly, with kind of an earthy feel and the historic pieces of the building highlighted”. They are still raising money for what’s estimated to be an $800,000 project.
 Nate Gentry, a homebrewer of ten years, says Tripel Root plans to brew on a 7-barrel system, with three fermenters and three serving tanks. The company is seeking a Class C liquor license that
would allow for guest taps, wine and liquor. The planned food menu will feature stone-baked pizza-like flatbreads. Gentry said Tripel Root is planning ales at two tiers of beer strength with many different options. A Belgian-style tripel ale will likely be a mainstay.