Owners of the Red Shedman Farm Brewery and Hop Yard in Mount Airy and representatives from the Carroll County fire marshal’s office were assessing the damage Friday of a fire that ripped through the taproom the day before, destroying the brewery and causing an estimated $800,000 in damage.

Melissa Aellen, director of winery operations at Linganore Winecellars, a sister company on the same property, said Friday it’s too early to tell when and if they will rebuild.

“We have not had time to figure it out,” she said. “All that has to be determined. This has set us back. We won’t be brewing beer anytime soon. … Today, we’re just trying to clean up.”

Fire officials said the building was “a total loss.”

Eric Aellen said in an interview Friday that security cameras on the property showed smoke starting around 1 a.m., Thursday, but the fire was not noticed until around 3:30 a.m., when a beer keg in the taproom exploded and the building was fully engulfed.

He thanked the firefighters who worked so hard to put out the fire and save the rest of the property.

“This could have been even worse than it is right now, we could have lost every building here on the farm because they are so close together,” Eric Aellen said.

About 45 firefighters from Frederick, Carroll, Howard and Montgomery counties battled the blaze for about two hours Thursday and remained on the scene for five more to wet down hotspots.

No one was in the building when the fire was discovered and no one was injured, according to fire officials.

The brewery, on Glissans Mill Road in Frederick County, will remain closed as the Frederick County Fire Marshal’s Office works to determine the cause of the blaze.

Red Shedman is a sister company to Linganore Winecellars, a family-owned vineyard and winery known for the extensive wine and music festivals it stages several times a year that draw thousands from around the region. The winery was established by Jack and Lucille Aellen in 1971, and their children and grandchildren continue to run it.

Vic, Anthony and Eric Aellen, the second generation, opened Red Shedman Brewery on the property in November 2014. Since then the family has sold craft beer, hard seltzer and cider on-site and wholesale to restaurants and beer sellers regionally.

Though the winery will remain open, the brewery will be closed for the foreseeable future. The brewery’s Facebook page states that “our current plans include rebuilding the taproom and brewery … but we are working closely with authorities to determine what happened and to prevent such incidents in the future.”

The Aellen family and staff were working Friday to clean up debris and prepare for a scheduled gathering at the winery on Saturday. A fundraiser is being held by residents opposed to the $424 million Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, which would install 70 miles of new transmission lines through Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore counties.

The winery’s property is in the path of the proposed transmission lines.

The local community has offered support to the Aellens and their employees, according to several social media posts. A Frederick-based food truck called Grilled Cheese Please said it would donate a portion of every sale it makes Saturday at the Stop MPRP event to “the Red Shedman Farm Brewery employees that awoke today jobless.”

Mount Airy Mayor Larry Hushour in an email praised the timely response of the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company and other firefighters and said that he was grateful no one was injured.

“Mount Airy truly regrets the devastating fire at Red Shedman. It is important that our community supports this local business in their time of need,” Hushour said. “Red Shedman and Linganore Winecellars have always been a terrific supporter of the 21771 community through advocacy for local issues and as sponsors of our town’s programs and events.”

As he walked among the debris Friday afternoon, Eric Aellen pledged to rebuild.

“We will be back, hopefully better and stronger,” he said.