Grimsby’s Docks Beers is celebrating its third anniversary by increasing its brewing capacity by 40%.
Ninkasi delivers the new fermentation vessel. Photographs: Docks Beers
A 60-hectolitre fermentation tank, supplied by Ninkasi, has been installed at the rear of the brewery’s Church premises. This takes capacity to more than 20,000 litres, giving an additional 10,500 pints each time the tank is filled.
Demand for beer from the brewery’s own venues and trade accounts has made the expansion necessary. The business is also seeing strong growth through recent listings of its canned beer with the Co-Op convenience store chain.
Docks Beers director, Shahram Shadan, said: “This is a fantastic birthday present. This new fermentation vessel is essential to ensure we can keep up with demand.
“In spite of the pandemic, we have seen strong demand for our beer, and now the Docks Academy and GTFC (Grimsby Town Football Club) bars are on line, local demand has skyrocketed. This is exacerbated by people coming back to our taproom, and trade customers’ increasing numbers as consumer confidence grows following covid.”
The new vessel in situ
To cope with demand, Rory Lynch, an experienced brewer from Grimsby, has joined director Mike Richards and senior brewer Lewis Birch, along with two brewing assistants Sam Denford and Jack Gibbons.
Mr Shaden added: “The new brewing team members will help us through the next quarter, which is traditionally our busiest. We have loads of gigs taking place in the Docks Academy, the imminent launch of Mockingbird, our new streetfood kitchen, and Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas aren’t too far away.
“With this increased footfall and the additional seasonal sales from Q3, this new tank is going to be worked hard to make enough beer for the additional numbers coming through the doors. It’s more than likely we will need a similar
expansion in 2022.”
