FLEMINGTON -- Lone Eagle Brewing's beer is in production, and the new brewery will have eight different types to offer for its anticipated opening in late July.

Head brewer Alex Franko was preparing to make a cream ale on Wednesday morning, using a 50-50 mix of two-row barley and pilsner "with a little flaked corn," he said.

When the brewery holds its grand opening, the eight varieties on tap will be American Pale Ale, Extra Special Bitter, West Coast IPA, Cream Ale, Hefeweizen, Porter, Double IPA and Saison.

Brewery owners Todd Becker and Bob King on Wednesday described the brewing process and what visitors can expect when they visit Lone Eagle, which is in Liberty Village across from the Polo and Timberland outlet stores.

Walking into the brewery, the main floor will offer pub tables -- built by students from Hunterdon County Polytech -- at which people can stand, along with a table for people requiring handicap access. A blackboard behind the bar, surrounded by reclaimed Hunterdon barnwood, will show the beers on tap and their alcohol content.

People will be able to order beer by the flight, which is like a selection of samplers; by the pint; half-growler; growler; sixtel (a sixth of a keg); and half-keg.

Upstairs a loft offers two bars separated by a wide doorway, where seating is available at farmhouse-style tables, again crafted by Polytech students.

The entire loft area overlooks the downstairs bar and the brewing operation. "This is the best seat in the house," said Becker, standing at the balcony overlooking the brewing machinery.

Making the Beer

Shelves in a back room hold huge bags of grain, and which grains are used depends on what type of beer is being made. Grains of Pilsner Malt were sweet and nutty tasting. "We grind whole grains because you can extract more sugar that way," Becker said. The sweet Pilsner Malt is perfect for a pear saison, King said.

The ground grain is piped into a Mash Tun, a huge vat, where it's mixed with hot water. "It creates a kind of porridge," Franko said. That's called the wort. "The wort is essentially the sweetness," said King. "It tastes like a sweet tea."

The wort cycles around, passing through a clear cylinder called a wort grant that lets the brewers see how cloudy the mix is. "When it first comes out it's very muddy," King said. "With some beers you want more haze, some less."

When the clarity is right, the wort gets pumped into the brew kettle, where it boils for an hour or so with hops added at various stages, again depending on what type of beer is being made.

Then it's time to cool things down. After passing through a heat exchange, the mixture is pumped into a fermenter that maintains a constant temperature at which yeast thrives. When the beer's done, they "crash the tanks," King said, meaning they drop the temperature to around 32 degrees, so the yeast goes dormant and settles.

Next is the carbonation stage. Tanks are filled with the fermented mixture and a carbonation stone is added to release carbon dioxide into the beer. "You've probably noticed different carbonation levels in beers," King said. Darker beers are generally less carbonated, "while a summer ale will be highly carbonated."

Once the beer reaches a certain pressure, depending on the type being made, it gets kegged off.

Community Ties

Good news for people who've been following plans for the Flemington Filling Station beer garden: Lone Eagle beer will be served at the beer garden on two nights in August and two in September.

Tying in to local resources has been part of Lone Eagle's approach, as shown by the Douglas fir tables built by the Polytech students. Spent grains are picked up by an area farmer who uses them as a protein supplement for feeding his pigs and chickens.

King and Becker have also hooked up with the organizers of Flemington's Thursday Night Lights, a town-wide, live music and art festival where musicians, bands, street performers, dancers and artists perform outdoors for exposure and tips.

"Lone Eagle Brewing and Flemington Rocks are planning on activities in the Liberty Village area as well as in the Turntable Junction area," said Bob Flisser, one of the organizers. Details are still being worked out, but Thursday Night Lights will run July 21-Sept. 8.

It's been quite a while since King and Becker celebrated their venture with Frankos by brewing up a batch of chocolate porter in King's driveway. That was excellent, he said, looking forward to when Franko brews it in Lone Eagle's new equipment.

King and Becker were originally thinking of having four signature beers on tap year-round, but now they're planning to have eight to 10 beers on hand at any time, to meet customers' varying tastes. "We'll let customers' demand drive our decisions," Becker said.

Lone Eagle Brewing is at 44 Stangl Road in Flemington. Once it opens, hours will be Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 4-10 p.m.; Saturday noon-10 p.m.; and Sunday noon-6 p.m.

Sallie Graziano may be reached at sgraziano@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SallieGraziano. Find NJ.com on Facebook.