pre-May Day Post

I’m about 10 days late but while it’s still April, I want to draw your attention to FBC’s phone number: 420-2407.  Get it?

 Anyway, the last major piece of this project is falling into place today.  The refrigerator guys are hooking up the compressor coils to the cold room.  Which means we can hook gas up next week.  Kemp is mounting the grain auger (interesting visual, huh?) to pull the grain out of the grain room and into the mash tank.  By mounting, I mean he’s up in the forklift box and hanging the motor from the 28 foot high ceiling – precision work.

 To pretty up the place for the 40^th birthday bash tomorrow, I moved the piles of flotsam and jetsam all over the place and consolidated them into one room.  Now no one can find anything!  And today I get to mount the forklift box to wash all the tanks so that the ambient lights for the party will reflect off the gorgeous towers of stainless steel.  Then I’ll have to clean the bathrooms –volunteers, anyone?

 Meanwhile, 100 tap handles are in production and will soon be available to fine drinking and dining establishments across town and beyond.

 All this is happening in the wake of Matt’s surgery a couple days ago.  Did I mention that he slit his wrist (accidentally!) cutting zip ties with a box cutter?  Didn’t follow the constant admonition we give our sons to always cut away from themselves when chopping veggies with our Henckels.  He severed the flexor minor tendon his left wrist.  The surgeon made a two-inch incision to retract the tendon and stitched the two ends together with titanium thread – fancy!  After six weeks of physical therapy which he’s sure to do religiously, he should be almost back to normal but his rock star career is shot.  (Speaking of, if anyone has extra tickets to the Dead at the Gorge, let me know: sara@fremontbrewing.com.)

I’m about 10 days late but while it’s still April, I want to draw your attention to FBC’s phone number: 420-2407.  Get it?

 Anyway, the last major piece of this project is falling into place today.  The refrigerator guys are h

ooking up the compressor coils to the cold room.  Which means we can hook gas up next week.  Kemp is mounting the grain auger (interesting visual, huh?) to pull the grain out of the grain room and into the mash tank.  By mounting, I mean he’s up in the forklift box and hanging the motor from the 28 foot high ceiling – precision work.

 To pretty up the place for the 40^th birthday bash tomorrow, I moved the piles of flotsam and jetsam all over the place and consolidated them into one room.  Now no one can find anything!  And today I get to mount the forklift box to wash all the tanks so that the ambient lights for the party will reflect off the gorgeous towers of stainless steel.  Then I’ll have to clean the bathrooms –volunteers, anyone?

 Meanwhile, 100 tap handles are in production and will soon be available to fine drinking and dining establishments across town and beyond.

 All this is happening in the wake of Matt’s surgery a couple days ago.  Did I mention that he slit his wrist (accidentally!) cutting zip ties with a box cutter?  Didn’t follow the constant admonition we give our sons to always cut away from themselves when chopping veggies with our Henckels.  He severed the flexor minor tendon his left wrist.  The surgeon made a two-inch incision to retract the tendon and stitched the two ends together with titanium thread – fancy!  After six weeks of physical therapy which he’s sure to do religiously, he should be almost back to normal but his rock star career is shot.  (Speaking of, if anyone has extra tickets to the Dead at the Gorge, let me know: sara@fremontbrewing.com.)

Getting There

Hello Beer lovers! We're getting close!! Carbonix. which sells C02, nitrogen and helium (no N02, in case you were wondering) has been here all day hooking up the carbon dioxide and oxygen tanks. I wonder if I should ask him to comp me some helium for my son's birthday party balloons (he turns 5 tomorrow, 4/16). Earlier this week, the two liquor tanks, reused from Georgetwon Brewing, arrived. It was fun to watch Matt, Devin and Kemp unload those two 450-gallon tanks with the tiny forklift and some really fat straps. Keith, our ass-kicking plumber (and stainless steel welder) has been here all week attaching copper pipes to the wall and running the glycol lines. Matt got a new/used stereo to keep the place rocking all day. Our friend Dan is throwing his 40th birthday party here so Matt's brewing a test batch of beer on the old "husband land" system. That's what I called Matt's original set-up that was first in our garage and then in the outside shed (the boys are very happy to have that newly empty space for a fort to sneak their Easter candy). Practice makes perfect, you know.

And the checks keep rolling in -- which is what I predicted (see my Feb. 6 post below). In this down economy, people want somewhere to invest their money that's not gonna disappear before their retirement. And rather than buy gold bars (which I hear is the all-time safest investment), they want something cooler, colder, tastier -- like gold beer.

So the place is looking like a real brewery, with all this stuff around. Very little room for scootering which was fun in the big empty space of yore. It's anticipated that Matt will run the first batch in two weeks. First, he and our oldest son are going to the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston (and to hang with his brother and see his new niece). When he gets back, they will run the test batch and beer will follow shortly. Yummy. I'm going to keep my text brief and fill up this space with some exciting visuals for you. But first, if you're jonesing from the action of the last campaign season and looking for a worthy cause to get involved in, consider supporting the reelection campaign of my old boss, Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin. He's an effective leader with politics that any sustainable beer fan could get behind. Check out http://www.richardconlin.com/

That's all, folks.

Welcome Home

What’s new? The brew house (is that the Northwest equivalent of a New England sugar shack?) arrived safe and sound last Tuesday, March 24th. (That’s also the day, BTW, that Michael McGinn announced he’s running for mayor. And now former Sonics player James Donaldson is officially in too – after months of teasing and musing about which branch of government he’d like to work in, if any. This campaign season is shaping up to be very interesting. The PI folded too soon. The buzz over this three-way will surely sell lots of advertising space for, like, the PCC, LEED-certified condos, and other things appealing to a certain demographic profile. That, plus the million council candidates and Peter Holmes running against City Attorney Tom Carr, could float two dailies and several blogs for months.)

But I digress. (Love that verb! Way more official-sounding than ramble.) Where was I? Oh, yeah. Brew house is home and we also now have the water filter and grain handling equipment. The liquor tanks (that hold the hot water) arrive next week. Most very importantly, we’re fully licensed! The Feds came through last week and the Washington State Liquor Control Board finalized (Thanks, Tom) the state license TODAY! We can sell beer (legally)! Now, we need to make some beer…see pictures of the unloading and stay tuned for the pictures of the brewery in final position. Most excellent.

So the whole kit&kaboodle is ready to be hooked up and then the real fun begins: the opening party (you thought I’d say brewing, did’ncha?), setting up the tasting room, promoting sustainability and the vitality of Fremont, and, of course, drinking Matt’s clean, crisp beer.