Back To Work

Greetings!

I realize that I must first apologize for the long span between posts.  The point was really driven home when I was recently asked if we had abandoned the brewery project!

I am here to assure one and all that we have not abandoned the brewery project.  In fact we are just getting back to work on the brewery. The problem is that much of what has been done so far this spring has required small crews so we have not yet been able to have the big work parties of last year. But fear not for we shall soon have one!

The biggest thing we have worked on  has been planking the roof.  Loyal readers may recall that the last work party put up all the rafters.  So the next step was to plank the roof.  However, we were not able to get that done before the snow flew (The day the rafters went up we had ice on the deck and the nail guns were malfunctioning due to the cold).

Eager to get going, I started putting up the roof planks myself and realized that things did not line up. This got me concerned.  I called in some professional help in the form of our friend Andy.  Andy is a professional builder of many years experience.

Andy came out on a Sunday morning. It turned out that nothing was seriously wrong and over the course of the next three hours, ignoring wind and rain, we were able to plank one half of the roof.  With Andy up top yelling down what size plank he needed, and me passing up the same, things went quite smoothly.

The following Sunday Tracy's Uncles Vin and Greg came up.  This time Vin had the honors of the "Man on the Roof" while Greg and I supplied the appropriate sized planks.  In short order the second side of the roof was planked.

So we now have a planked roof.  The next step is to put up the cupola vent and then start with the roofing.  After that comes sheathing the exterior.  I had not wanted to use any OSB or plywood on this project. However, due to some inherent weakness in the structure, Andy suggested that we sheath the building with OSB before siding it.  The weakness arises from the fact that instead of building 12-foot walls, as the original plan called for , we built 8-foot walls and then added a 4-foot extension.  This was done to make the construction more manageable for small crews. While not exactly a mistake, it did leave us with a weak spot that we need to take care of.  The easiest way to do that is to sheath the building in OSB.  So much for idealism.

Once again we must thank the folks at Woodell & Daughters for supplying us with some mighty fine lumber. 

Hopefully, the gap between posing will be a little shorter from now on.  Thanks to you all for sticking with me, the blog and the brewery.




Some mighty fine lumber!



Vine on the roof with the hop trellis in the foreground.



Duchess contemplates a brewery with a roof.

Farmer's Market

Tomorrow is our first farmer's market.  I have a ton of eggs and brewery shirts to sell.  Hopefully we will have some success.  I hope to create a proper blog entry soon, but I just got done washing eggs and it is midnight.

One In the Keg - Working on the Brewhouse



Deep in the dungeon...



So I decided on which beer to brew and it is already in the keg!  The best idea may have been to make a tried and true recipe, so that I could tell if force carbonating made much difference, however, I was in the mood for something different.  I found a recipe in the original Clone Brews for a "Wit Dark".  Essentially, this is a stout with dark wheat malt completely replacing the dark roasted barley.

After one week in the fermenter, I ran it into the keg and hit it with the recommended 40 pounds of pressure. After two days I decided to give it a try.  Being new to force carbonating and kegging, one would expect that I might miss a few points on the first attempt.  One would be right.

The point I missed was that while 40 pounds pressure is needed to carbonate a beer, 10 pounds is used for dispensing.  So without turning down the pressure on the regulator, I happily put tap to mug and pressed the lever.  The result was a blast of black fluid that hit the bottom of the mug and erupted in a geyser of foam.  Worse yet was that the pressure coming through the line was more that the spring in the tap could handle.  I could not turn off the beer!

As beer was spewing about our small cellar, I had to think fast. Turn down the regulator pressure! I reached for the regulator, but it does not have T-handles, a screwdriver is required. What to do?  In desperation I grabbed a coin from my pocket and turned down the regulator pressure until the flow of beer stopped.

In retrospect, I realize I could have just turned off the gas at the tank, but that did not occur to me at the time.

But how was the beer?  It was, and is, excellent.  At the first tasting it was very smooth with a goody buttery roast flavor. As it has matured, the butteriness has faded and it has a bit more bite on the tongue. So there is still some conditioning going on in the keg.  Anyway you cut it, this is a good beer.

Brewhouse Update

This past weekend proved a good one weather wise.  I was able to get out for a bit and do some work on the brewhouse. I managed to get the studs put in on the gable ends yesterday and put in the last of the collar braces today.  I was also able to get the benches put up in the greenhouse. Keep on the lookout, I will be setting up a work party soon!

Round 3 of Operation Monster Chicken has hatched.  Here is a picture of one of the little boogers: