... Can't Ya Smell That Smell?

That’s right, folks.  That delicious aroma rising from south-eastern Fremont and settling over the neighborhood on this gorgeous, windless day is not the transfer station.  Finally, after a brutal week of tank-cleaning (man, those kettles were foul – c’mon, Red Lodge, ya could’ve cleaned the system after that last run!), final hook-ups, testing, fixing of leaks and jerry-rigging of equipment – FINALLY Fremont Brewing Company is, in fact, BREWING!!

I feel like a woman in her 43^rd week of pregnancy on her way to the hospital. It’s taken a lot of blood, time, and sweat to get here.  Matt hasn’t seen the kids awake in 4 days.  He’s cut up (minor brushes with sharp things this time, his severed tendon is healing well), under-slept, and suffering terrible pain in his behind (not me; his sciatica) caused by climbing all over they brew house.  Kemp had to take a welding class (!) to learn how to build the grain platform.  Pumps have broken and pumps have been loaned (thanks Mike!).  The pilot light on the water heater mysteriously went out yesterday afternoon.  We would’ve been SOL at 4:30 on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend were it not for the grace of the owner of Ballard Natural Gas who came to the rescue and spent 4 hours here taking the thing apart and putting it back together again.  And Rick’s been commuting across the lake from his real, paying job to stay until midnight helping out.  Mike from Georgetown Brewery was here last night and again today, contributing some professional street-smarts.

This is but a sampling of the awe-inspiring goodwill  that has made today possible.  A future blog post will be devoted to acknowledging another fundamental piece of this enterprise: the generosity of our investors.  So, today if you’re close by, take a deep whiff and smile that the dream is coming true.  

FBC featured on KUOW 94.9 fm

There's so much happening that I don't have time for a real post but I wanted to let you know that Seattle's NPR station, KUOW 94.9 (www.kuow.org), did a show on green business that featured Fremont Brewing Company last Wednesday, May 13th.  Steve Scher introduces FBC at about 9:40 am or 40 minutes into the show. If you missed it, You can find an audio link at:  http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=17535.  The interest in Seattle was so enthusiastic that KUOW has decided to run the show again tomorrow SATURDAY, MAY 16TH. Irene Noguchi who produced the show says, "KUOW Presents will be playing it tomorrow (Sat.) around 12:30, I think."  So you can stream it live tomorrow (on your way to the Gorge for the Doobie Brothers, Allman Brothers and Dead show starting at 3:30) or download the podcast at said link.

PS: Gas inspection passed today, CIP (Clean In Place) tomorrow, test batch Sunday.

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.

Montana Dreaming

  It happened! He's back (see photo) and the brewhouse is on the way home. Tuesday is the big day! Thanks to the guys and gals at Red Lodge Brewing for helping and sharing a large amount of their tasty IPA, the Broken Nail.

Bringing It All Back Home

Right now, as I write (it’s 1:30, Wednesday March 18, 2009), Matt’s sitting in a bar in SeaTac drinking a beer and waiting for his plane to Billings, Montana. From there he’ll rent a car and drive to Red Lodge, a small town about an hour and a half outside Billings in the mountains on the highway to Yellowstone and also home to Red Lodge Brewery. Matt is finally TAKING POSSESSION of the brew system he bought from them now that Red Lodge’s new facility is built and they can use their new, bigger system.

I say finally because we first met the gorgeous, 15 bbl system last September when the whole family road-tripped to MT in order to check it out (and visit my uncle who lives in Billings while we were at it). Since then, Matt has signed the lease, acquired fermentation tanks and a bunch of other equipment, laid plumbing, redid the electrical, painted, built a wall and more (much thanks to all the volunteer and cheap labor!) – everything but brew beer!

The Plan: Matt arrives in Billings at 6:30 tonight. He’ll drive straight to Red Lodge and help the crew brew one lasty: a triple batch of IPA because they don’t want to leave their customers jonesing while they get their new system up and running. Tomorrow, Thursday, Matt will spend all day helping to clean everything so that it’s ready to be loaded on a big truck (with a crane, my sons would add) on Friday the 20th. He’ll supervise the loading and fly home that night and the truck will arrive in Seattle on Tuesday, March whatever.

It’s happening! Stay tuned…

Construction Update from Matt

....and for those that are following the hardcore construction, we've put together the walk in cold room. Note the green, very green paint job. Painting the cold room was a slog but Devin from Blue Marble stepped up to the task and, three coats later, got the job done and done well. Thanks, Devin. Rick and I put the cold room together one weekend and then Kemp and I fine tuned the rest until she was just right. Kemp (see photo of Kemp trapped on the fork lift) and I then set about, with Devin's help, constructing decking for the glycol chiller and compressor, which were put into place yesterday. Today, Devin, Kemp and I picked up the antique refrigerator (see picture) from the ReStore and planned out her restoration. This refrigerator will hold our growlers for sale in the retail area and we are very excited to restore it to it's former glory. It was made sometime in the 1930's here in Seattle by Marine Refrigeration and was previously in use at Pies and Pints in the Roosevelt neighborhood. Coincidentally, Pies and Pints was started and run by one of Sara's childhood friends from Sacramento. You can also see in the picture below, Mike, our landlord, driving the forklift and hauling out the concrete blocks left behind from cutting the trench drains. Mike came early in the morning and worked all day, even providing the dump truck and driving said death trap to one of his lots where he is storing them for a future use. Thanks, Mike. Our hats off to Mike and the Fremont Dock Company (our landlord) for believing in what we're doing and for going the extra mile. We've also finished demoing (thanks, Devin) the area that will be our temporary retail sales room and will begin build out next week. Kemp is drawing up a material list and our friends at Bitters Co. will help with the design. With friends like these, it's easy to believe that this community will pull through these hard times. We're humbled. So, now the big news: the brewhouse is set to arrive on March 23rd and we're very ready to make some beer. Why? Because Beer Matters. So, a big thanks to Kemp for working in the trenches EVERY DAY through surgery, kidney stones and some really bad music; to Rick for picking up the ball on marketing and for digging, building and endless planning; to Devin for painting everything and not breaking too many of our tools, to Sara for holding down the fort, the blog and putting up with me and all this insanity, to Terry, Mike, Roger, Manny, and Bret for helping out with all the little questions that are a big deal and for allowing us to treat their company like a big brewery Costco; to our investors who have put their faith in our vision and to the many volunteers who have pitched in with a smile. We would not be here today without each and every one of you.

Random updates: we've singed up to sponsor the Fremont 5K which is the Friday night before the Fremont Fair and are the proud sponsors of the Seattle Art Car show during the Fair.

Well, that's a little more than a construction update, but there it is. Next week, we'll dial in the last of the plumbing, get our new gas service and spiffy up our retail section. Thanks for staying tuned...now back to Sara's regular blogging.

Killer Green Beer

I’ve never thought about running my own business because I’ve never had any good ideas of things to sell and I’m not one of those can’t-work-for-anybody-else sorts of people. I’ll work for the Man no problem – as long as I believe in the mission and values of said (figurative) Man. And for the most part, I’ve been perfectly happy executing the vision of someone else, most recently my former boss, Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin.

Being a complacent cog in a machine, I haven’t focused on the challenges of running a small business -- if it’s too hard Working For Yourself, then be a happy little cog like me or quit complaining. Until now. You might remember that my husband, Matt, is starting a brewery from scratch, in the midst of a financial catastrophe, with 2 kids at home and a wife whose marketable skills are inversely related to her education. Plus, Fremont Brewing Company is striving to produce beer as sustainably as possible, which can mean more expensive equipment, ingredients, and all that.

Mayor Greg Nickels has spoken a lot about both the importance of climate protection and supporting small businesses. So, using my contacts at my old place of employ, I set out to see what bennies were available for small businesses trying to do the right thing. Loan assistance for small green businesses? Nope. City Light did a site visit and told us that we could get a rebate by using certain lights and VSD pumps to conserve energy. But overall, there’s no single program for small businesses that are either producing green technologies or trying to be green in their operations, procurement, facility, etc.

So I’ve drawn up an outline for a City of Seattle program for a One-Stop-Shop for green-inclined businesses who need technical assistance (in designing their space or figuring out which equipment is most energy efficient etc.); information on incentive programs for water, electricity, and gas conservation; building permit expedition; and so on. Most of this is already available but it’s hard to access because there’s no integrated program to go to – businesses have to contact SPU, OED, DPD, City Light, etc. And who has time for that when you’re trying to Make Money? Even though my program has gotten positive feedback from City staff, there’s no cash to fund anything new these days.

In the meantime, businesses should check out the Seattle Climate Partnership (http://www.seattle.gov/climate/partnership.htm). It’s a group of businesses that pledge to reduce their carbon footprint. And Fremont Brewing Company will be the very first brewery to sign up (paperwork in progress). Stay tuned…

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 

Trench digging

Will we ever make beer again? Yes. And we will have wonderful trench drains to help keep the brewery clean. Cutting over 300 feet of 6 inch concrete and digging into the hard, winter dirt of Seattle proves to be a very big job. And, what does every big job need? Bigger tools. We enjoyed the excavators and took 4 days to dig out the trenches. Now, we're ready to set the drains and prepare for the concrete to be poured back in.....closer to beer now.

Standing up the fermentation tanks

After they arrived, the job of unloading the tanks consumes our full attention. Since the tanks were already damaged in transit, we were focused on making sure no more came to our new babies. Luckily, the unloading and standing up of the tanks went relatively smoothly. Note the newly painted walls....We look forward to putting our first batch of beer in the tanks soon.

Fermentation Tanks arrive!

The two 3o BBL fermentation tanks are finally in the brewery. We got the tanks from the fine folks at Georgetown Brewing (darn tasty beer) and these pics show the loading and unloading process. Unfortunately, the tanks were damaged in transit. We are in the process of determining exactly how bad the damage is.