Brilliant silver tanks gleamed Tuesday morning as they were carefully maneuvered into place inside the Iron Rail Brewing Co., the next step in readying the restaurant brewery for a mid-November opening.

"Things are going well. Construction is rocking and rolling," said Thad Halstead, marketing director for AIM Strategies, one of the brewery's investors.

The restaurant and brewery will open in the former Por’e Richards and Kansan Grill location, 705 S. Kansas Ave. Topeka businessmen Brent Boles and Cody Foster partnered with Mike Babb, a native Topekan who owns Babb Brothers BBQ & Blues in Dallas, on the venture.

Don King, Iron Rail's brewmaster, is already working to create what will be the brewery's signature beers.

Brite serving tanks, which King described as "giant kegs," were brought in, as were fermenters and hot and cold liquor tanks. After fermenting in one tank, the beer is moved to a brite tank for carbonation, filtering and chilling. The hot liquor tanks serve as a giant hot water heater, and the cold liquor tank stores cold water, King said.

The brewing system is a 15-barrel system, and a tank will hold about 465 gallons of beer, King said.

King, a software engineer who is quick to say that his brewmaster career is a "hobby dream come true," said he has been experimenting with flavors and styles for Iron Rail beers.

"I’m in the process of prototyping, more than anything," he said, adding that he brews 5-gallon batches, then takes them to AIM Strategies and to Foster and Boles to try. 

He takes the feedback and works toward recipes that will become Iron Rail's flagship brews.

King said he expects to have those recipes in place by the end of October, but there will always be the challenge of creating recipes for seasonal beers.

"The real key is to figure out what your drinking public would like to drink as well, and I think that’s always a challenge," King said. "Because the fact of the matter is, people in the Northeast or even in the South and the West Coast don't necessarily have the same taste or wants that we want in craft beer."

"Topeka’s becoming very sophisticated with the craft beer," he added. "The new breweries, you’ve got Blind Tiger, the grandfather of beer, then with Norsemen and Happy Basset lining up — it’s like Topeka is really becoming a place that knows its craft beer, and they love it and they expect high quality."