All systems go!

Roll on 18th Septemeber 2010, The Soapbox Brewery will finally start brewing!

It has been over a year in the making, a lot of blood, sweat, tears, bad weather and a lot of umming and ahh-ing, but it looks like we've finally made it.

The first beer to be brewed fell out of my brain to be named 'Galanthus'. The name comes from the 'botanical' name for Snowdrops. Snowdrops were my Mam's favourite flower and I want to make the first brew in memory of my Mam.
As a coincidence, Snowdrops are part of the Amaryllis family and it just so happened, Amarillo is my favourite hop. Although they aren't remotely related, it just seems right.

The beer will be a 4.5% Pale Ale using Maris Otter Pale Malt, Crystal (or Amber) Malt, and Torrified Wheat. It will be hopped with generous amounts of Amarillo and Bobek hops.

Sorry......

Apologies for the long delay since my last blog. Sadly I lost my Mam to a short battle with cancer and as you can appreciate, a brewery build was the last thing on my mind. Thankfully, I have still been brewing with Garth ( a fellow Jim's Beer Kit member).
But now, the time has come with a more determined attitude to completing the build and starting brewing on my own equipment. My gear in question is nearly a carbon-copy of Garth's set-up as I can brew on his gear and it has been easier to obtain the correct bits first time.

Since the last post, the brewhouse has been painted, the floor has been laid and we are currently running a new amoured cable for the power supply. This involves a lot of drilling into walls, cutting into flagstones and more cementing to secure and hide said cable. Add to this the extra holes to finally connect a fresh water supply.

Things won't be happening as quickly as I would like due to working shifts and copius amounts of overtime, but come June I will be starting a new shift pattern working four continental shifts followed by four days off (and more pay!)

Nice!

Brewery Build

Things have gone from strength to strength these past couple of weeks. The roofing plywood has been nailed down, the inside walls of the brewery have been fitted and the doors are nearly finished. Door hinges have been purchased but I am in the process of making them stronger thanks to our trusty MIG welder!

Yesterday as the weather was nice, the roofing felt was laid and the roof is now finished. However it faced its first test today with torrential rain and high winds. I am pleased to say it held up well. I cannot say I'm suprised as to flatten out the felt we had use of a 6 stone steel tube coupled with my 17 stone frame bearing down on it. That sounds wrong................

Anyway, in the next day or two I will be fitting the guttering and treating the exterior wood.

When will it end?!

My head hurts

Last night, the wife and I ventured off to the 2nd Chester-Le-Street beer festival and this morning I am paying the price......

I cannot remember the order that I had the beers but here goes:

Stables Brewery - Beamish Hall Bitter 3.8%
Wylam - Dognobbler 3.9% (possibly the best named beer......EVER!)
Windie Goat - Gutter Slab 5.5%
Consett Ale Works - Last Tap 4.3%
Consett Ale Works - Zombie 4.5%
Brewdog - Punk IPA 6%
Brewdog - Paradox 10%

The Paradox was the one that finished me, I would be disappointed if it didn't! It didn't give much away in aroma, considering it has been aged for 6 months in Arran whisky casks. First sip though, the whisky influence hits the throat followed by a nice sweet malt character.
A bit strange but worth a try at least once.

Brewery Build MKII

Since the last brewing shed build update, things have gone from strength to strength. In the last 2 weeks we have gone from the base being finished, to all the rear wall and framework being treated and erected (oooh err missus!).

All that is left for the exterior is the remaining roof supports and the wood cladding. Following that, the interior is going to be finished with plywood walls and then the water and electrics to be connect and then.....we are good to go!!

Shiny, shiny, shiny!

Last week I took delivery of some more cornelius kegs, taking my total to 6.

Ohhh.....now the maths!

6 Cornelius kegs holding 19l each which equals approx 33 pints per keg.

So 6 kegs x 33 pints = happy days!
198 pints for my own consumption!

Now I have to make something to put in them........

Brewery building

One thing I failed to mention in my first blog regarding my brew shed, is that at present it is non-existant!
However that is changing on a daily basis, albeit very slowly.

As the weather was on our side today, we managed to finish the base of the shed. The building is both a brewhouse and a bog-standard shed so is quite some size. 24ft by 6ft to be precise!

The base is made up from 3.5x3.5 inch sections of wood with a 12mm plywood floor covered by the same plastic sheeting used for roofing. It might seem a bit overkill but considering the wood was free...................