Will World Cup Derail Meantime Brewery Fitout?

Worried directors of the Meantime Brewing Company headed down to the new Blackwall Lane site recently to assess the situation when the World Cup threw up the worst of all possible fixtures for the company. The England-Germany clash on June 27th.

The brewhouse vessels are now in, and two teams of welders - 8 Britons and 8 Germans- are working away feverishly between fixtures to weld and fit no less than 10 miles of stainless steel pipe work that are needed to connect all the vessels in this fully automated brewery.

So far rivalries have been fairly friendly with health and safety compliant fire resistant national flags indicating the areas of strict demarcation between the various working areas. Competition between the teams so far has been confined to the two camps respective radio station choices.

The Meantime board are concerned that all this could change on June27th. Meantime Brewmaster, Alastair Hook, explains the company dilemma. "If England win we get our beer mains, gas and steam working in time for the commissioning date of 12th July. If Germany win we will get the brewhouse up and running, but naturally neither will work without the other. The best result for Meantime and its thirsty customers would be a match postponement until the end of July’."

Tight Squeeze No. 2

Meantime Brewing Lauter Tun Install from Meantime Brewing on Vimeo.

Having had a tight vertical squeeze with our hot liquor tank on June 3rd, the following day we opted for a tight horizontal squeeze with the lauter tun.

Everyone was worrying about making sure that the mammoth 4.5 metre diameter brew vessel did not hit the walls, that they forgot that it also shouldn't hit the floor.

Meantime Team Time

Now that Meantime's new brewery in SE10 is starting to take shape we thought it was time that the staff from our old premises at Penhall Road, came for a bit of an advance preview, which took place on Monday 7th June. The new vessels were closely inspected and pronounced very exciting. The Meantime team left greatly fired up and looking eagerly to the day in the next few months when they can move into their new offices next to the shiny new brewhouse.

Meantime Get Into A Tight Scrape

There was a tight moment at Meantime Brewing's new premises on June 3rd when the largest vessel in the new brewhouse was hoist into position. At 250hl ( 25,000 litres or 42,000 pints)  the tank was only two inches clear of the brewery ceiling, so it was touch and go if it would sit on its plinth. It did.

Most of the remainer of the brewery vessels are being lifted into position this week, and then there follows six weeks of electrical and pipework to ensure that Britain's newest brewery is ready to go at the touch of a button.

Meantime Brewmaster Alastair Hook, stands atop the new 4.5m diameter Lauter tun, prior to its installation (left) and inspects the platform where the new lauter tun will sit.

Meantime's New Brewery En Route

Excitement mounts at Meantime upon receipt of a set of photos of our new brewhouse leaving it's Bavarian birthpace of Chieming for its new Greenwich home. Two lorries and a low-loader set off on May 31st and are due to arrive at Blackwall Lane on Thursday this week. Low-loaders with the larger brewhouse vessels will follow (pictures to follow) and a futher lorry with the nuts and bolts will depart later in the week.

The new brewery floor is finishing it's curing process and the last of the tiles are being laid in order to be ready to receive the new vessels.

More news soon.