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Block 15 Restaurant and Brewery
10
The Conical Chronicles
Our new conical fermenters have finally arrived! This has closed the book on the latest, and longest running chapter in our grow quality campaign. Rewind to last June when I ordered two new fermenters from a company in San Diego. They were promised to be delivered in late August. The company screwed everything up. The tanks didn’t show up until January, and when they arrived they were the wrong ones! I sent them back and scrambled to order from another company (If anyone wants to know the name of this company so that you don’t use them, drop me an email). I went with a local manufacture, JVNW out of Canby Oregon. JVNW was great to work with, prompt and high quality tanks delivered as promised within the timeframe quoted. 
As our cellar is in the basement of a building built in 1926, moving these tanks in is a real chore. We have them custom fabricated to barely squeeze through doors, down the stairs, and stand up in our low ceilings. Fortunately, I have some really smart friends and employees to help with the process. Big thanks to Brad, Jason, Steve, Chris, Matt and Erik for their help! 
So what does this mean for us, for you, and for the beer? The short answer is better beer, special bottle releases, and a mind bending tap list by the late fall (more on this at a later post).
Since opening, we have been working hard to buck the normal brewpub trend of 21 day beer turn around and 6-10 tap average. Most beer is brewed, primary fermented for one week, conditioned for two and then served. This works very well for a lot of styles, a good crisp IPA, or light Golden Ale for example. However, many styles need more tank, barrel and conditioning time to truly mature. Lagers, strong ales, Belgian ales, stouts, and wild ales all benefit from extended aging.
We opened on a limited budget. It wasn’t easy for a couple of young entrepreneurs in their 20’s to convince banks to lend us money. We did what we could and knew that as we were successful, our earning would go straight back into the business. The addition of more tanks, kegs, barrels, gadgets, and employees is a direct result of our reinvestment. And we will not stop until we are producing world class beer day in and day out! 
Block 15 Grow Quality by the numbers (roughly).
Year one
Two conical Fermenters (7bbl), 3 temperature controlled conditioning tanks (7bbl), one uncontrolled tank, four barrels, 75 kegs, and 50 sq ft of cellar space.
Total storage: 79.5bbls, 700bbls sold.
Year Two
Addition of 5 temperature controlled conditioning tanks, 13 bourbon barrels, 15 wine barrels, one Oregon oak barrel, & 50 kegs. Expanded cellar to 100 sq ft and added a cooling unit to keep temp at 50 degrees.
Total tank Storage: 191.5 (140% increase) 900bbls sold (28% increase).
Year Three
Addition of two Conical Fermenters, 2 dish bottom fermenters, 4 conditioning tanks, 100 kegs, 200 sq cellar ft, 200 sq ft hot cellar for bottle conditioning, 15 wine barrels, 12 brandy barrels*, 12 bourbon barrels*, 8 wine barrels*. ( *barrels to come later this year)
Total tank/barrel Storage 388.5bbls , 388% increase over year one. Expected beer sold 1100-1200bbls, 71% increase over year one.
As you can see by the numbers we have almost quadrupled our total fermenting/storage space while growing our quantity by only 71%. I have always thought that it will be in year three that we hit our true stride. By late fall we will begin to realize the fruit of our labors; extended tap list, wild ales, lagers, barrel aged beers, small batch bottled conditioned beer, and a mind bending and mature tap list.
A huge thank you to all who have supported us, we truly would not be able to grow quality without your patronage. It is my belief that you will be rewarded with truly exceptional beer and a brewpub that Corvallis, and Oregon, is proud to call their own.
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Carson · Monday May 17, 2010 · 1
Block 15 has been a great addition to the area. The quality and creativity of your beer is incredible. The customer service has also always been very top notch. Thank you!!!!
Ocean at FireWorks · Sunday May 23, 2010 · 2
Kudos, Nick and the Block 15 brew crew! Our patrons are loving your beer down here in Southtown and we are looking forward to even MORE amazing Block 15 beers!