From left: Krill, Henke.

ERMA — The smell when you enter the door of Cape May Brewing Company is enticing, sort of like a mix of vegetable soup and fresh brewing coffee but it is actually mash used in the first stage of brewing beer. The microbrewery is still taking baby steps after opening last March in a 1,500 square foot warehouse at the county airport.

Ryan Krill, an owner of Cape May Brewing Company, said they began selling beer in July.

Chris Henke, another partner in the enterprise is a former Lockheed Martin engineer. He began brewing beer at home, one-third barrel at a time. A barrel is 31 gallons.
The licensing process for the brewing company took about a year’s time, which involved approvals at the local, state and federal levels.

“It’s a big education process for all the officials because there are not a lot of breweries opening up,” said Krill.

The brewing company is currently using a system that produces a barrel and a half of beer, about 45 gallons at each batch, he said.

“When you make beer, you’re making a tea,” he said, eying a tank of stout beer in its earliest stage.

Hot water is mixed with crushed grain which steeps in a tank for an hour. At the end of an hour, only the liquid is extracted which is known as wort.
The wort goes into a boil kettle where hops are added. That mix boils for an hour, which sterilizes the beer and allows oils and the hops to be extracted.

“At the end of that hour, we’ll cool down the liquid very quickly, add oxygen to it and a transfer it to one of our fermentation tanks,” said Krill.
Yeast is added and allowed to do its job which is eating all the sugars in the liquid for two weeks. That converts it to ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide.

After two weeks, the liquid is transferred into a freezer for another week. Krill said that allows the beer to become clear.
He said the brewing company is producing three to four batches per week. Every drop brewed is sold to Cabanas and the SeaSalt in Cape May or in the brewing company’s own sampling room.

The brewing company is in the expansion mode to increase production and the size of its facility which would mean occupying neighboring suites.

“The initial idea was it would just be wholesale beer and the tasting room was really an after thought,” said Krill. “We’re really surprised with how much it’s taken off.”
“On any given Saturday, this place is packed,” he continued.

Krill holds a full time job in the commercial real estate division of a large bank. He said it was an easy decision to open the company here, his family has always had a second home in Cape May County.
Krill said he was mindful of the successful wineries operating in the area.

“The reason we started so small is because we weren’t sure, none of us have a background in the beer industry, so this is a learning experience for us,” he said. “It turns out there is a huge demand for it.”

He said textbooks about opening a brewery deal in generalities and are not specific to the size of an operation or location.

Four beers were on tap at the sampling room during the Herald’s visit, a wheat beer, a stout, a cranberry/wheat beer for Thanksgiving and a honey porter featuring local honey.
New Jersey law allows them to dispense four, four-ounce tastings in chilled glasses. Visitors can take home a 64-ounce growler jug of beer.
Henke said he plans to produce a beer using local beach plums.

The public is invited to an open house, Thur., Dec. 1 from noon to 2 p.m. At 1 p.m., officials will cut a ribbon to dedicate the brewing company.