About Construction

Greetings! Sara here again.

OK, so I do know a thing or two about construction. I spent a great deal time before my sons went to preschool (they're now 4 and 3) cruising the city looking for construction sites. For some reason, Nels and Gabe are more construction-crazy than other kids, according to moms I know. I'd look for a crane and drive toward the base and park for hours while we watched the goings-on. Depending on the weather, we'd watch from inside the car or on the roof of the car with a picnic because sidewalk space is often limited and I was never successful at talking the GC into letting us into their little on-site trailer. I’m sure Turner and Crutcher-Lewis think of me as that crazy lady in the white station wagon.

Aside from my curiosity in the natural sciences (botany, geology, etc.), before kids I wasn’t much interested in things having to do with the physical world (civil and mechanical engineering, for example). I was more into theory, politics, and social science -- leave the building stuff to people who can’t handle the realm of ideas (how’s that for elitist!). Thanks to my sons, that has changed and I've learned a lot though their eyes. Here's a sample:

1) Demolition is the funnest to watch. Seeing huge excavators ripping apart buildings as if they were made of legos really pumps me up. I'll never forget those weeks a couple years ago when the Green Lake Albertsons was being demolished at the same time the Vita Milk Dairy facility was being torn down. Just blocks apart, we could spend all day watching the action, comparing the machines (and, for me, the cuteness of the crew, it being summer...), and videoing the spectacle to show Dad later.

It takes enormous talent to separate the rebar from wood from cement, especially on a small site. The skill of the driver -- her precision, her delicacy -- is beautiful to watch. (Like how I oh-so-subtly snuck in that female pronoun? Part of my gender-neutral parenting.)

It would be a lot easier and cheaper to just haul it all away to the landfill. But construction and demolition waste already makes up the biggest percentage of the mile-long train leaving Seattle every day to the landfill in Eastern Washington. Reducing that load would save garbage ratepayers money and decrease the emissions of its transport. Plus, there’s a lot of reusable stuff in torn-down buildings. So even though it’s a hassle, it’s worthwhile to separate the material and the City of Seattle is working with C&D companies to incentivize even more recycling. (For more info, search for Resolution 30990 at: www.seattle.gov)

2) During excavation, everything depends on the dump truck. Each section of those double dump trucks (called truck and trailers) can hold only 3 scoops of dirt from the Hitachi ZX650LC-3, 6 scoops total and that truck is off to Pacific Topsoil or where ever to dump its load, stuck in traffic like everyone else on I-5. I know that if there's not a line of dump trucks staged on the side of the site ready to assume receptive position once the previous truck is filled and gone, the action is going to be slow. Without the dump truck, the excavators and bulldozers just move dirt around into piles, which is important but not that exciting. Either that or the crew stands around and smokes, waiting for something to do.

Getting cars off the road by providing more mass transit would make it easier for dump trucks to get to and from the construction site. Ka-ching! This is one of many policy examples that negate the supposedly irreconcilable differences between enviros and Industry.

3) It's a big drag when they discover sediment that looks to be laced with a petroleum product or some other type of unexpected toxic substance. Then everything stops while the digger guy calls the foreperson over and they get out baggies and maps to take samples and note their location. For a single-issue neighborhood activist looking to appeal an EIS, this can be sexy but for a 2 year old -- boring. And for the dump truck driver, a nice smoke break.

4) If it's a small project, the time between excavation and concrete pouring is dull -- best to find a different site. For bigger projects, however, this is the time for pile driving which is awesome to watch. I guess I never realized how extensively we alter geology, stabilizing the ground by shoving giant I-beams of steel into deep holes. And that’s piddly compared to how people managed to construct giant edifices, like the pyramids, before they had gas-powered machines. Slavery and indentured servitude. Now we have unions and Caterpillar.

What does all this have to do with beer? Nothing, but give me a minute and I’ll think of something.

Win, Win.

Sorry construction junkies, it’s Sara again so no detailed info on the construction progress except that concrete was poured into the drainage trenches yesterday, the cold room was delivered today – my birthday, btw.

Did anyone catch that guy on NPR a couple days ago talking about the recession-proofness of beer?  What did I tell you? There seems to be a lot of talk about that these days.  I wonder if the American Beer and Brewers Association (ABBA – if there isn’t such an organization, there oughta be. (That was a joke but my editor didn’t get it and told me to say the “Brewers Association” so it sounds like I know something.)) has launched some big public education campaign or something.  But I digress.  My point is simply to point out that I wasn’t just making that up in my last post.

Another thing I’m not making up is that, supposedly, the most robust recession-proof sector is green technology.  Fremont Brewing Company is hopping on that band-wagon for sure – but for all the right reasons (not just to get federal/state stimulus money or small-business tax breaks or low-interest loans – not that we would turn those down or anything if offered…).  I’ve already mentioned FBC’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and also use organic ingredients and you can read more about that stuff in the real sections of this website.  The back story is that we’ve been like this since the 80’s and finally the circle has caught up to our way of thinking. But there’s a whole other aspect of green that I don’t think Matt has mentioned.

FBC is located in an 8,000 sq. ft warehouse in Fremont.  Not needing that much space, Matt has sublet half of that space to Blue Marble Energy, a start-up that produces food flavorings out of algae and other biological matter and the by-product of the manufacturing process is gas (methane I think).

Blue Marble Energy is going to use Matt’s spent grain to make their product and power their and FBC’s operations with the gas. How cool is that?  Once Blue Marble ramps up, they’ll sell extra energy back to the grid (I’m not really sure how that works). Matt could have sublet to a kite manufacturer or a juggler or whatever but he found this company by talking to everyone who would listen about this dream to zero out carbon emissions in a microbrewery and the connection was made.

This symbiotic relationship reduces carbon emissions because the spent grain (very heavy) will not be transported somewhere for disposal or composting.  And Blue Marble’s production costs will be lower because part of their raw material is free (and right next door).  And the “waste” will be used for energy, obviously better than funneling it into the atmosphere.  Additionally, while we’re fortunate in the Northwest to have fairly clean hydropower thanks to the rivers running off our mountains, the electricity that we don’t use isn’t just sitting around.  City Light sells it on the grid to other places that might have access only to coal-generated power – bad, bad, bad.  So the energy that Seattleites don’t use because of conservation or the above-mentioned re-use of waste helps minimize the consumption of dirty electricity by freeing up more of the clean stuff for use in flat places without big rivers and lots of gravity.

What Recession?

Hello. This is Matt's wife, Sara, blogging today (he's busy). Like you, I've been reading the blow-by-blow of the brewery construction: electricians, plumbers, trenches, drains, and next week - concrete pouring! Not that this isn't fascinating, but I thought you might be interested in something else. Hey, did you hear the economy shed almost 600,000 jobs in January. Good thing I didn't have one to lose. And by the way, don't you think the word "shedding" has a rather positive connotation, as in "shedding pounds"? Maybe they're trying to soften the blow; whatever happened to the old stand-by "lost"? 

Just kidding. I know this isn't supposed to be about politics-it's about BEER and a sweet new brewery. But as a political junkie, I can tie anything to politics, broadly speaking, and the Fremont Brewing Company in particular provides lots of fodder for someone like me. So if you'll indulge me a minute, I'll give you some good news of political relevance-about beer:

1. Beer is recession proof, according to people who get to speak on NPR. It's not that Fremont's beer will convert Miller drinkers, but folks feeling the pinch will choose a frothy pint of Fremont's UniversAle over a $40 bottle of wine for a dinner gathering.

2. Once FBC ramps up, we will be hiring people, contributing to the economic upswing (that is sure to occur before I cave in and cash out all my nose-diving assets).

3. And speaking of assets, Fremont is a great place to park some cash if you're looking for something to invest in, since you're not going to buy that investment condo any time soon. You'll think it's cool to tell folks you sent your kids to college on beer money.

4. Fremont is going to contribute to less global warming than it could because of all the carbon-neutral processes and local, organic ingredient sourcing that Matt has put in place (see www.fremontbrewing.com). This makes for less guilty consumption.

5. In hard times, or any times, community-hanging out with friends, meeting new people, being part of something beyond your daily grind-makes life more fun. And nothing created community better that a local microbrewery. Fremont Brewing wants to lubricate Seattle's social life. In the end, all you need is love...and good, local beer.

I'll stop now. Don't worry, next time you'll get the construction updates you came here for-that is, if Matt isn't overwhelmed by requests for more of yours truly (see picture here because there are no pics of me yet on this blog. Hmm....).

Trench Drains

As we inch closer to actually making beer, some construction projects are more exciting than others. Setting the trench drains gets our blood boiling down here at Fremont Brewing. Yes, it doesn't take much. This week, we'll set finish in the rough in of plumbing, receive our cold room (hopefully) and spend the weekend setting the trench drains. Next week, we'll set up the cold room and pour the concrete for the trench drains. Stay tuned...in the first picture, you can get a glimpse of the future tasting room in our mezzanine. From the windows, you can sip a cold beer (special Brewer's Series available only at the brewery), look at Mt. Rainier over Lake Union or turn around and watch us make beer. Good times.

Trench Drains

As we inch closer to actually making beer, some construction projects are more exciting than others. Setting the trench drains gets our blood boiling down here at Fremont Brewing. Yes, it doesn't take much. This week, we'll set