MILTON, Del. - Dogfish Head Brewery has eight new canisters that mean they'll soon produce a lot more beer.

The canisters are 3,000 times the size of Dogfish's original fermentation tanks. They have a 1200 barrel capacity where beer ages. In the past, beer was fermented and aged in the same tank, meaning the new tanks mean more production.

"For every one of these tanks we can produce on average 20,000 more barrels each year," says Mike Frank, a senior project engineer at Dogfish Head.

Founder & CEO Sam Calagione says that equates to about a quarter million more cases a year.

"Our Dogfish Head Brewery will do about 265,000 barrels in production this year. So we're the largest independent craft brewery in the whole mid-Atlantic," Calagione tells WBOC. "But all the work Mike and his team is doing is about the future. This facility can get to more than twice its size and hopefully more than twice the jobs that we have now."

In addition to the eight new canisters, Dogfish Head has space for 12 more in future years.

Editor's note: There is a family connection between the owners of Dogfish Head and WBOC.