Succession Fermentory is a brand new mixed-culture brewery set to open this fall in Cochranville, PA. The brewery is located at 432 Leaman Road on Stella Lou Farm.
The new brewery will hold its Grand Opening on October 8th from 2:00 – 6:00 PM at the farm, and tickets are required to attend. Tickets will include ten (5oz) samples, a tasting glass, a personal pizza, and snacks.
Succession Fermentory was licensed back in June but has been waiting on equipment to be installed and final approvals to take place. They have been brewing for the previous month and prior to that had been barreling at an offsite facility, then blending, and bottling. Each beer the brewery produces takes roughly 6 months to a year to reach the maturity desired, however, some such as their Berliner Weiss beers, can finish a bit quicker.
While the goal for Succession Fermentory is to eventually have a tasting room with a restaurant, they will not open with a tasting room on the farm. Instead, they will offer bottle pick-up times, as well as direct-to-consumer shipping throughout Pennsylvania. They will also host a variety of special events on the farm that will be announced periodically, where customers are invited to drink on the premises.
To learn even more about the Fermentory we recently spoke with co-owner and brewer Keith Hartwig about the operation and future plans. You can read more from our conversation below.
BIPA: How did you become initially interested in craft beer? Who is all involved with Succession Fermentory?
Keith: It’s myself Keith Hartwig and my business partner Justin Kerber. We will both be brewing and working on all aspects of the brewery. The styles of beer we are making are experience-driven drinking styles. We are really focused on aging beers to get the flavors and aromas, and overall drinking experience.
I have been homebrewing for almost 10 years, and have done some collaborations with breweries in Boston. I am also an artist, and my work is mostly community and social practice. I work with communities to identify creative opportunities. Some time ago, I became very interested in, and focused on, the relationship between food production and environment/climate issues. I started looking at how I could engage as an artist with communities on issues related to food production.
Justin is an amazing trained chef and has worked in some of the best restaurants in Philadelphia over the last 10 years. He is interested in brewing from a culinary perspective and is really recipe and technique driven. He has also homebrewed for many years, and we are excited to see what we can create with our different backgrounds.
We liked that brewing could be more than a business, it could have a value proposition to it. We want to help the community and be a platform for others. The brewery will be used to focus on many local issues around PA agriculture and community, and we’ve made a commitment to use 100% grain from PA farmers and hops they occasionally use.
The artwork on all bottles will be done by Caroline Hu. It’s all focused on the science of fermentation, and also the folkloric and mythological part of the Succession Fermentory brand. We will have stories of each of the beers that will be told through the art.
Keith: We will primarily focus on mixed culture beers, but will have three main styles: Berliner Weiss, Saisons, and blended sours.
Our Berliner has a small amount of aged hops in it, and we are working with a really sensitive lactobacillus strain. When seasons are right they will utilize the cool ship, generally in the October-March timeframe. We also have no heating or cooling systems on any of our tanks, we are using spontaneous fermentation/ambient fermentation.
BIPA: Can you describe the space you are opening?
Keith: We are opening on Stell Lou Farm, with a 5BBL brewhouse, in a 1,200 sq/ft building. We won’t have a tasting room to come and hang out, but will be selling bottles to go, as well as for shipping to all PA residents. Our plan is to do private events on the farm.
Stell Lou Farm is a permaculture-based farm. What does that mean? “It is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.”, according to a popular Permaculture farming website. Stella Lou has an Apiary on site, a produce garden, and an orchard as well. They’ll host events throughout the year, and we will provide beer for them. Stay tuned for Fall Fest next year!
The brewery will also be using ingredients directly off the farm. Lots of honey, rhubarb, and berries to start.
BIPA: Anything else our readers should know about the Succession Fermentory Brewery?
Keith: We have some collaborations lined up and are really excited about them. We have a Deer Creek Malt collab, as well as one with The Referend soon too.
