It’s all pipes, bare concrete and tanks now, but come fall the space that once held the Ocean Crest Body Shop in the Fort George Building at 15th and Duane streets will become the second locally owned and operated microbrewery in Astoria.

Chris Nemlowill, 26, and Jack Harris, 39, both of Astoria, are working to convert the empty body shop into The Fort George Brewery and Public House, named for its location on the original site of Fort George.

“That place has a lot of history,” Nemlowill says.

Nemlowill and Harris have been working in the brewing scene on the North Coast for several years. Harris previously brewed at Bill’s Tavern in Cannon Beach and Nemlowill brewed at the Wet Dog Cafe in Astoria. The two decided it was time to try their own hand at running a brewery.

They have not set a menu or decided on all the specific ales they will brew, but they hope to create a variety of flavors drawing on Astoria and the Northwest. Two ales they’ve discussed are an elderberry ale and a sahti, which is a traditional Finnish ale. They will seek out ingredients from the Northwest, including Yakima-grown hops.

“There’s going to be a nice rainbow of ales and lagers,” Harris says. “There will be a nice . . . selection available to please everybody.”

The menu will be determined after a kitchen manager has been selected – Harris and Nemlowill are, first and foremost, brewers.

They recently installed 81?2 barrels’ worth of fermenting tanks, which will hold about 300 gallons. They will serve the beer on location along with a full dinner menu of what they plan to be affordable meals. They also plan to contract their ales out to other local restaurants.

With their venture and last year’s newly installed Rogue Ales Public House, Nemlowill and Harris say that Astoria is becoming a destination on the Northwest brewery map.

Harris says that everyone he has worked with has been excited by the prospect of a second brewery in town, and that he and Nemlowill have received nothing but support.

“That’s one of the things that’s kept us going,” says Harris. “We couldn’t have done this with just the two of us.”