With things moving slowly at the brewery and my trip to the Craft Brewers Conference and London dramatically canceled at the last minute, I haven't had much to write about. Thankfully things have finally changed. The brewhouse is now fully glassed in and that made it practical to finally unwrap the tanks. They sure look stunning. What appears so much like copper is actually anodized stainless steel with a rose finish. It will be much easier to keep looking great than copper. There are really only two ways a copper brewhouse looks good - either for it to be sprayed very skillfully with a clear coat just after it is made or for it to be polished very frequently - a real headache for the brewer that has better things to do. Unlike the solid copper brew kettles from last century, modern tanks are stainless steel on the inside and copper jacketed on the outside. The stainless is a lot less reactive to brewers wort (unfermented beer) and cleaning chemicals. They last longer too.
All of our steam piping is complete and our massive boiler is just about dialed in. A more robust condensate return pump had to be added so I can run higher pressure steam. Glycol pipe insulation is happening right now and our chiller should be operational early next week. I've cleaned all the tanks with caustic (alkaline cleaner) and hot water cycles and just need to do an acid cycle on Monday before they can see beer. The brewery has it's license and our first brew - a golden ale - will hopefully happen by the end of the week.
Our kitchen crew is turning out some great food and gearing up for an August opening and the bar staff is testing cocktail recipes. I've taken particular interest in adding my input on my favorites (margarita's & mojito's). Our web page should also be up soon. Stay tuned...
