Moving in the Mill and our first Brew on the new Pilot System

The last week or so had us feeling giddy with all this stainless steal and a brand new brewing system sitting around.  But, we have many other tasks to complete in order to brew and sell our beer.  First and foremost, we are almost complete our application process to the TTB for manufacturing beer.  This, along with licensing from the VT DLC, will allow us to actually sell beer legally.  We are just a few steps away from being licensed, and, like most federal or state permits, they are tedious and somewhat mundane. 

There were also fit up items to be completed as well during this time.  Daren brought the mill and rack from his home (where we had been brewing) and set those up behind the bar.  We also began building the counter that will house the register (which also stores the condensing unit for the kegerator).  Additionally, we had a small electrical issue (some neutrals that were arcing in the panel box, wicked scary), that we needed our house electrician to help rectify.  All is well, and we only lit one outlet on fire...

We also had a friend replace the compressor on the old ass kegerator.  And, it works!  In addition to the many hours Daren has spent refurbishing the innards of the machine, we also purchased new C02 parts, tap towers and liquid fittings for it.  We will have 5 taps from the beginning and will install a glass washer and C02 purge as well in the next week.

Finally, today, we broke in the new 1.5 BBL "magic brew" pilot system.  This system has many perks and is a big step up from or modified 1/2 barrel system we built.  Two pumps, 3 burners and tons of plumbing make this unit very impressive and we have room to grow.  We did, however, find a few things that need changing or modifying.  There will be many kinks to work out for our procedure, but all in all, it was a good brew day.  We made a hybrid oatmeal/dry stout with some leftover grain and hops.  This wort made its way into our 1 BBL fermentor with no jacket.  We hope with the mild temps, this stout will ferment nicely in our pilot space.

Friday, we will go pick up a used walk in cooler for our keg and can storage.  

The old grease hood makes a good home for our mill and grain storage.

Our old Perlick kegerator and register counter.

Daren working out the automation with the pilot system 

Still have to add the grain by hand!

Utilizing our <1 BBL fermenter this stout.


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