Old-fashioned tools in a new-fangled brewery?

Just run the old washing machine successfully for the first time in 16 years - compliments to Hotpoint. We use this for washing cloths, overalls, yeast, etc.

A Banner and A Beast

No longer hiding our light behind a bushel.

The beast is the pump for pre-mixing grain with hot liquor and pumping the wetted grist into the mash tun - it is a combination of Steel's masher and progressive cavity pump. I placed the cardboard box to give an indication of scale; useful, huh? 1.75m long, for those who like precise figures.

And now for something completely different

Number 17 : The Grain Store

Very clean and shiny - for now. Not quite hermetically sealed, but definitely rodent-proof. Particularly pleased with the custom-built sliding door, thanks to a certain Texan gentleman.

There appears to be a box on legs in this picture; not a rodent, but certainly a pest of some sort.

Brewhouse plumbing part 1

Most of the brewhouse internal plumbing has been connected up. Took most of Sunday, and I only stabbed myself a couple of times - our last two butterfly stitches saved a trip to the hospital. Detailed instructions & labelling by Specific Mechanical made the job fairly straightforward, though a few complications arose aligning the vessels because of the sloping floor.

Fabricators in on Monday to start work on external connections : grist case, hot liquor tank, heat exchanger, etc.

Brewhouse arrives

Nerve-wracking but unloaded safely, thanks to the generosity and help of various neighbours. Now to connect it all up...

Liquor tanks delivered

These 4000 litre tanks, hot (err... and cold) from the factory will hold brewing liquor (hot water) heated by steam, and cold water (for wort cooling) cooled by glycol. They are twin tanks, each jacketed and insulated for efficiency.

We managed to manoeuvre them into the brewery on the flat-bed truck, and unload with our fork-lift. Manoeuvering these tanks around and trundling them up the ramp onto the brewhouse floor was a little exciting, but completed without drama.

The brewhouse floor is starting to look a little crowded, but my carefully-planned drawing and repeated measurements assure that we will be able to fit everything - probably. Just hope we have none of those embarrassing metric-to-Imperial conversion hiccoughs.

Thanks to Tommy Stafford for his patience at both ends of the delivery, and his help unloading.

All metered up

In terms of utilities at least. New water meter (our neighbours will be glad they are not sharing our water costs), and new gas meter for 400 kW supply. Next stop steam.