After three years of hard work and planning, an Idaho Falls couple have opened their brewery.

Like many business owners, Leon Wolfram and his wife, Robin Van Horn, were subjected to seemingly endless licensing, zoning and permitting processes before they could open their doors.

Their challenge: to convert an old ice plant on the corner of Trask Street and Chamberlain Avenue into a brewery that complies with state and local codes.

The Idaho Brewing Company finally opened in May, but Wolfram and Van Horn didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, partly because they didn’t feel as if they were ready to handle huge crowds right away.

Now that they’ve been in operation for at least a month, things seem to be running smoothly.

Open Wednesday through Saturday, the brewery’s tasting room is a new building complete with modern comforts like couches, carpet and a fireplace.

At the bar, eight taps offer fresh beers brewed just feet away.

This is not Wolfram’s first experience with brewing. He started by home brewing decades ago. From 2002-03, he worked as “master hose dragger” for the old Idaho Brewing Company, which went out of business in 2003.

The old Idaho Brewing Company is not to be confused with the Wolfram’s and Van Horn’s operation, Wolfram said, adding that he only chose the name “Idaho Brewing Company” because it was available and he wanted to tap into the area’s recognition of the name.

Response to the brewery has been positive, Wolfram said, though he stopped short of exuberance.

The tasting room offers eight beer choices, ranging from lighter lagers and summer ales to a Scotch ale and a stout, darker beers typically better suited for cold weather.

At this point, Idaho Brewing Company’s only sales are to customers in the tasting room. Eventually, the company will sell kegs to local restaurants and bars, Wolfram said, adding that he and Van Horn have no plans to sell bottled beer to retail stores, because that would require a significant investment in bottling equipment.

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If you go

What: Idaho Brewing Company

Where: Corner of Chamberlain Avenue and Trask Street, Idaho Falls

Open: 4 p.m. to 9″ish” p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 4 p.m. to 10″ish” p.m. Saturday

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Brewing beer: From grain to tap

Just because Idaho Brewing Company serves beer a short walk from the place it was brewed doesn’t mean the beer didn’t face a long journey before arriving at the taps.

The brewing process, which owner Leon Wolfram declared a fancy version of a home-brewing system, starts with pallets of grain. For a 310-gallon batch of beer, Wolfram and his fellow brewers start by grinding 500 pounds to 600 pounds of grain.

Once that’s done, the grains are put into a tank called a mash tun, where they’re mixed for an hour or so with about 150-degree water to convert their starches to sugar. The liquid that comes out of the mash tun is called sweet liquor, or in Wolfram’s words, “sugar water.”

Next, brewers pump the sweet liquor into a kettle, where hops — bitter-flavored flowers — are added. That mixture is boiled for another hour, producing what’s known as wort.

“Now we have hop-flavored sugar water,” Wolfram said.

Before it can be fermented, the wort has to be cooled to about 70 degrees, depending on the type of beer being made. Then it’s pumped into a fermenter, where yeast is added.

For about 10 days, the wort sits in the fermenter, releasing carbon dioxide as the yeast converts sugars to alcohol. Meanwhile, leftover suspended solid particles settle into the fermenter’s cone-shaped base. A valve at the bottom of the cone allows brewers to drain out the solid particles.

Once fermentation has taken place, the beer is filtered and put into another fermenter. Brewers then blow carbon dioxide through a tool at the bottom of the fermenter that turns the air stream into tiny bubbles. The bubbles work their way through the fermenter, which Wolfram keeps pressurized to one atmosphere in order to trap the bubbles inside the beer.

When carbonation of the beer reaches the desired level, brewers keg the beer and wheel it into a cooler. After that, there’s only one thing left to do — serve it to thirsty customers.

Leon Wolfram pours a draft of Summer Lager on Friday at the Idaho Brewing Company in Idaho Falls.

Map

Leon Wolfram of Idaho Brewing Company

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