Franklin beermaker begins lambic brewing process for 2021 season

FRANKLIN — The cool fall nights mean work at Muckraker Beermaker can begin.

Brewery founder and owner Tom Troncone set in motion the first batch of beer of the six-month lambic brewing season this week. After a long and complex process, the product created on the first day will be ready for consumption in about 18 months.

Unlike the traditional brewing method, which uses yeast to give a beer its signature taste, lambic brewing relies on "spontaneous" fermentation, Troncone explained. Hops start the process and the local "microflora" — tiny organisms present in the air — will mix with the liquid to flavor the drinks.

Lambic brewing's emphasis on a robust surrounding environment is what led Troncone to establish Muckraker on Cork Hill Road, about an hour's drive from his home in Hillsdale.

"One of the reasons that we chose this location in an old quarry was, we thought we would get some good microflora from the surrounding woods that would spontaneously inoculate the beer," he said.

The lambic brewing season ideally begins when nighttime temperatures fall below 45 degrees to allow the beer to cool properly, Troncone said. It traditionally runs from November to May in Belgium, where the process originated, but the weather in northern New Jersey allows Muckraker a slightly longer window to create its products.

Lambic brewing begins with turbid mashing, a complex process that extracts liquid from raw wheat and malted barley. It is then boiled with aged hops for four hours. The mixture gets transferred into an open steel vessel called a coolship and sits overnight for about 14 hours in the lower temperatures.

After the spontaneous fermentation, the brew is moved into a 500-gallon French oak barrel, or puncheon, where it remains for about a year. The large puncheon keeps the beer at a steady temperature and preserves its natural flavor over time.

"Think about it in terms of putting your hand in a pond. No matter how hot it is outside if you put your hand far enough into the pond a few inches down, it's cold," Troncone explained. "It's the same principle (in brewing). The large puncheons will hold their temperature longer, a lot better, over the long run. It can be 90 degrees, it can be 30 degrees. Inside the puncheon, the temperature's not going to vary too, too much."

Following the year in the puncheon, the beer can be blended with fruit or other beers to give it additional flavor. It is then aged in a bottle for several more months before it is ready to be sold. 

Troncone begins a new batch around 8 a.m. each day and leaves the brewery about 12 hours later once the coolship is filled. Throughout the day, he moves constantly across several rooms to ensure the brewing process is running smoothly.

The facility, set against a backdrop of the Sussex County woods, is big enough to house all the operations necessary to create the beer. It features separate spaces dedicated to each step in creating the drink, from the initial mixture in turbid mashing to its storage in the "conditioning room," where the temperature remains at 70 degrees at all times.

After about 10 years of homebrewing, Troncone opened Muckraker Beermaker to the public on Labor Day weekend in 2019. The brewery name, a term referring to reporters around the turn of the 20th century who exposed corruption in businesses and government, is a nod to Troncone's days as a journalist. 

Muckraker beers were sold in about 20 restaurants and bars prior to their shutdown in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The brewery suffered after an initial surge in sales at the beginning of the lockdown, but it enjoyed a nice rebound after reopening for in-person tasting in June.

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With COVID cases beginning to rise again, Troncone said he is unsure how the next few months will play out for bar and restaurant sales.

"The hard part is we don't know what the strategy is for winter," he said. "I don't know if everything is going to close back down again. Are restaurants not going to be able to (increase capacity)?" 

Regardless of what the future holds for the restaurant industry, Troncone is looking forward to spending the next few months preparing his signature drinks — even though they will not be seen until 2022.

"We've been here about a year now, and (we're) really excited to begin the 2021 brewing season and get beer in barrels," Troncone said. "Hopefully, everyone will see this beer in about a year and a half."