Being the great historian that I am, I managed to take one photo on opening night before my camera ran low on batteries. Luckily a few others grabbed shots, including this one that I've been anticipating in my sleep the last year or so. Good times all around the first few nights. Wednesday was kinda chaotic, but it seems to get better each night as we work the kinks out. Overall, our staff, including managers Michelle & Greg and Chef Jason did a Herculean job of serving everyone and keeping the positive vibe going. I gotta admit that I do feel like I've been run over by a truck.
We got a little break tonight for the Super Bowl, which was appreciated since we are all pretty worn out after several of us put in back-to-back-to-back-to-back 15-18 hour days. This blog has previously been about the business and while we start to trot out our beers and dishes, it's hard to keep away from all the navel gazing that I've been doing.
Being 'too' busy is the kind of problem that a lot of people wish for. We are adjusting staffing, food orders and making more space for the kitchen everyday, but the brewery is slower to respond, which is by nature since beer takes a lot longer to make. Our first casualty is going to be that we will be missing some of our mainstay beers over the next few months. Although we have ample serving tanks, we only have four fermenters and people are drinking the beer faster than we can make it. We are looking for more tanks and trying to make the best use of what we have, but here's advance notice that we are gonna be out of hoppy ales for a bit sometime next week. Luckily we've got some nice guest brews on, including some hoppy ones like Goose Green Line and Founders Double Trouble to tide you over.
Also, come on in an enjoy a pint of Eugene, our first seasonal this week while it lasts. Brewer Jim was wholly responsible for this black beauty that is warming bellies nightly on Milwaukee Ave.
That my friends is a picture of a frothing kettle of wort. After several system failures and many, many trips to Home Depot, our brewery is up and running. The fun part has officially begun. On Wednesday, we brewed our first batch, Workingman Mild, a luncheon beer. Things didn't really go perfectly, but that's pretty much what you expect on the first brew. The steam system in particular has been finicky but in the process of addressing all the problems we've learned the inns and outs of our gently used equipment, which didn't come with an owner's manual.
I've heard an old brewer's superstition that you should toss out the first batch, but this one's already tasting good on day two and there's no sense wasting beer now is there? We are staining and sealing the bar top over the holiday since the place is quiet and dust-free for a change. The silence is a nice change since it has been hectic lately with all the finishing touches being made. I took a few minutes today to just sit on the steps in the fermentation cellar and listen the bubbling blow-off bucket attached to that first brew. Very peaceful. I hope everyone else got what they wished for this year too.
For a change of scenery (and pace), Chef Jason, Michelle and I drove down I-80 to Ottawa to visit the pig farm that we'll be working with once we open. Mark & Kristin Boe are a couple that operate a clean and tidy farm about 85 miles away near where the Fox River dumps into the Illinois River. They grow their own corn for feed and were busy harvesting the on Saturday when we came by. They are usually done with that task by now, but it's been a wet year and the corn is still drying out.
We were introduced to the Boe's by Beth & Jody Osmund of Cedar Valley Farm who sell chicken, beef and pork monthly at the Logan Square Farmers Market and offer one of the few meat CSAs around. They were early particpants of the market back when I was working to grow it into the diverse market it is today and I've enjoyed watching them evolve as farmers. They used to grow vegetables, but have shifted towards meat as a sustainable business model that suits their family. We stopped in at their farm down the road before heading over to the Boe's. They had just purchased several shipping containers to use as shelters for their pigs and for raising chicks, funded by a grant from the Frontera Farmer Foundation. Here's a pic of Jody peering over his pig pen:
Unlike Cedar Valley, which had about 25 pigs that are all destined for their CSA, Mark & Kristin have around 100 head, making them just the right size to set up a restaurant relationship. They raise both pure breed Duroc & Hampshires along with a few Yorkshires. Kristin is patting their hairy, red Duroc boar in the picture above, while the Hampshire pigs look quite different with black hair and a white stripe. They do some cross breeding, but also produce a lot of pure breeds and we got quite a mouthful about the finer points of each one. The highlight of the trip was visiting the Boe's farrowing building where the sows give birth and nurse their piglets.
Overall, I was impressed with the cleanliness of the place, especially given that it was a pig farm. My wife did make me wash my clothes and take a shower the minute I stepped in the door, but I think next time we'll bring the kids. And yes, we will have good vegetarian dishes on the menu too.
I really hope this is the last update I have to provide on construction of this brewery. It's been a quixotic quest of sorts that I'll miss soon enough, but for now it is getting old. A lot of people ask if we have run into any major issues that have slowed us down, a question I've always answered no to. The biggest lesson learned for me is that everything takes longer than you want it to. Coordination is an art form that requires patience as well as persistence. The G.C. and all the subs are working for you, but the best ones also take great pride in their work and are working for themselves, building a reputation that they take to the next job. Some
Starting upstairs, we insulated the attic this week and the drywall is going up fast since there aren't many walls up there. We've fired up several of the heating systems, which makes working all the more pleasant. Now if only we could lose that porta-potty. Downstairs, the bathrooms have doors and wall finishes, but the fixtures still haven't arrived. The kitchen sinks and dishwasher are plumbed so we can finally wash our hands without the use of a garden hose.
The brewery glycol cooling system is partway installed and we should brew at the end of this week. In the dinning room & bar area, the back bar coolers for our guset bottled beer were dropped into place on Friday and tiling behind the bar began. When that's done, we'll install the rest of the bar equipment. The front bar has been hanging out for a few weeks, but is still awaiting some dust-free time to receive its epoxy finish. The back should arrive this week with it's 12" diameter carved-fist columns. For perspective, here's a tap handle sitting on one in progress at the wood shop:
The highlight of our progress last week was the painting of the tin ceiling, which came out great and has allowed a lot of finish carpentry to commence. Now everybody asks if it is the original ceiling since it looks so shiny. I say "Yes, but it took two months to take down, flatten out the tin and reinstall"
Here's the view as you walk in our new front doors:
The front bar (that seats 30) has been installed and is covered in plastic so we can paint the tin ceiling a metallic pewter shade. All of the drywall work is complete on the first floor and painting should be complete by the end of this coming week. The glass wall looking in the brewery is in and we are starting to put up the finish woodwork around the dinning room, which is going to take a few weeks. The old maple floors still need to be refinished along with that structural column you see next to the bar. The kitchen is semi functional with the gas flowing to all of the equipment.
In the brewery we finally fired up our steam boiler last Friday and after using the process of elimination to complete the wiring we heated up some water for the first time. Jim has replaced all of the gaskets through the system, which is just good practice when you buy used equipment. We're still waiting for the glycol installation to be complete (the installer has the flu) but hopefully we'll brew this week. I think we're going to brew a Workingman Mild for the first brew. It's our favorite all-round drinker but at the same time it isn't too complicated a brew to kick things off when we are just getting to know the system.
