My day as a Brewery Girl!

[Cameron]

In March 2010 some close friends of mine opened a small brewery in Valparaiso IN called Figure 8 Brewing. I covered the grand opening here. Well the business has been going very well, and from the original four brews they now have nine on tap in their tasting room (actually eight, since they ran out of Crash Test Blond while I was there). Local liqueur stores sell all the growlers, several local restaurants have the beer on tap, and Tom is just getting a used bottling machine running (for 22oz "bombers" of Ro).

 

I had been wanting to help them brew from the beginning, but it was always difficult for me to get down there mid-week (since I have a job too!). Well I was extremely fortune on Thursday December 23rd in that I had a day off work, and Tom and Lynne were planning to brew. Not only were they planning to brew, they were planning to brew the delicious Black Corridor - their chocolate stout. I love a good stout, and I love a good chocolate stout - particularly Black Corridor (it's easily one of my favorite F8 beers) .. so I was there, with bells on! Well ok, no bells, but I was there - very very excited to be there too

 

Unfortunately the lovely Anne was out of town for The Holidays, so it was up to me to fill her delightful shoes. I hope I did an adequate job!

 

This first installment will cover setup, and loading up the giant grain hopper with the desired grains and malts.

As I mentioned, I was extremely excited to be given the chance to play ... err I mean ... to help out on what I had been told is a long and exhaustive process. I was out of bed at 6am, and pulling into Figure 8 World Head-quarters just after 8.

Tom was already there, and had set the boiler going..

This is the large Brew Kettle .. basically a very big water (or beer) boiler. At the moment it's full of water that is being heated to 190 degrees (F), but later on the beer will "cook" in there.

This is the tank which will eventually hold this new batch of Black Corridor, and it's where the beer will ferment and become awesome.

A lot of setup is required before we begin. Here is a pile of plumbing that will be necessary to pump liquids between the various tanks.

Tom is already attaching some of the said plumbing. Most of the hot water will be transferred into the mash tun - which is where most of the ingredients are mixed into the hot water. The remainder of the water is pumped into some tanks up in the rafters, and will be used later.

But first, some of the hot water is circulated through this heat-exchanger to sterilize it. Later on, once the beer has finished cooking and is being transferred to the fermentation tank, it is run through this heat exchanger in order to be cooled down.

As Tom continues the setup downstairs, Lynne and I venture up-stairs to start fetching the grains. The super-secret recipe calls for specific amounts of several different types of grains and malts, and Lynne and I have to load everything into the grain hopper.

This is the grain hopper, into which all of the grain will be poured. The blue device at the base is an auger which pushes the grain down chute into the mash tun. Yes the hopper is home-made .. Tom and Lynne built most of the equipment by hand - they did a stunning job.

Here I am pouring a bag of grains into the hopper. The mask is necessary because of the dust.

Lynne is measuring the last few pounds of grain-X into a bucket in order to ensure we have the exact amount.

This is a CHOCOLATE stout after-all! The chocolate malt looked awesome. (I have been promised one of these grain bags for my basement )

As Lynne and I fill the grain hopper, Tom is filling the mash tun with the water from the boiler. You can see the silver grain chute obscuring Tom's right hand. No, it's not a dryer duct

Here is the grain hopper full of all the pretty (and lovely smelling) grains. The dark-brown stuff is the chocolate malt.

Proud of my work so far, I pause to check out the awesomeness of a hopper full of grains.

Lynne does the same .. of course she has a lot more to actually be proud of. She and Tom continue to work amazingly hard on this project, and it is really turning out to be something special.

[Mr. Starr]

Awesome TR Cam! The whole process is magnificent, and it's cool that you finally got to help!

[TheStig]

I remember meeting these people! I would love to venture down there one day and sample everything, looks like a really cool place.

[mcjaco]

Valpo Brewfest was still the highlight of this past fall. A day with Tom, Lynne, Cameron and Cameron's parents was awesome.

 

I so glad to see two awesome people doing so well with this venture. I need to get back down there, as my shirt is starting to wear thin (I wear it all the time!).

[RCFreak]

This is an awesome TR as I'm not that into beer, but do enjoy trying new ones especially micro-brews. It's great to see how it's made. Can't wait to see more!

[ParkTrips]

very cool, I don't think many people realize that brewing beer isn't exactly the easiest job in the world.. its dirty, long hours, etc.. but man is it so worth it! Thanks for sharing

[Cameron]

^ Yeah - brewing is really hard work. After listening to Tom and Lynne talk about it for most of the year, I really wanted to try it out. They currently brew once a week - some weeks they brew twice. Then there are days where they fill growlers, or run the (very manual) bottling machine. And of course they need to run the retail space. It's a boatload of work - but they are having fun.

 

Matt let me know if you need a new shirt, I see Tom and Lynne pretty much every week and it will be trivial to buy a replacement for you. They are constantly bringing me growlers for various people, so it's no problem

 

For part two I'll cover the mash and disposing the used grains..

As soon as Tom gives us the "all clear" from down stairs, we fire up the auger and the grain starts flowing into the mash.

I'm having too much fun taking care of the grains in the hopper - making sure everything goes smoothly.

As the auger turns and the mash is mixed, the hopper slowly drains. It was quite spectacular to watch - the grains slowly disappear in a sort of slow-motion whirlpool.

Meanwhile Tom continues to mix downstairs - never stopped stirring. The wonderful smells have already started to fill the air.

Even once the grain hopper is completely empty, Tom keeps stirring. The liquid is already developing the rich, dark colour of an excellent stout - and did I mention that it smells great?!

Meanwhile Lynne and I start melting chocolate. Yes - actual melted chocolate goes into the mix! (Although it won't actually be added until the boil, we need to start melting it now).

Tom is still mixing, but Lynne and I prepare the hops. The hops have a very strong but very distinct smell - pretty much exactly like an IPA beer. We load up the required amount (by weight) into big bags (like tea-bags) which will be later dropped into the boil. The hops totally disintegrate in the hot water, which is why Tom prefers to keep it all contained in these bags.

With the mash sufficently mixed, it's time to strain it and pump it into the boiler. During this process the suds form around the strainer, and it's tradition to scoop up some suds - they taste delicious!

As the mash is nearly completely drained, additional hot water is flowed through the grains to help get every last bit of flavor out of them. This hot water flows down from the tanks in the rafters which we filled right at the start of the process (remember?). I previously mentioned that Tom and Lynne built most of the brewery by hand, well the mash tun is an old (significantly modified) dairy tank; it used to store milk.

This is looking down into the boiler, as it slowly fills with liquid being pumped out of the mash tun.

Taking advantage of the few spare minutes during the transfer, Lynne and I start to prepare the retail area. It's still 5 hours until they officially open, but they never turn anyone away who shows-up wanting to buy some carry-out. Tom and Lynne are amazingly friendly and welcoming, which is a part of their success.

With the mash completely drained, Lynne and I start the process of cleaning out the used grains.

Meanwhile Tom drops the bags of hops into the boil. That rising steam smelled SO SO SO good!

Lynne and I continue to shovel the grains.

Almost done now. You can see the line which marked the top of the grains - that was full solid! It took a good 30 minutes to shovel everything out of there.

Once Lynne and I had finished that, Tom got to work on the final cleaning and sterilizing.

And Lynna and I took all the used grains over to the city compost heap / recycling center. Sometimes Lynne takes this over to local farms so that it can be fed to animals - but being the day before Christmas Eve everyone was busy. Those buckets were *heavy*, and the grains are still very hot.

At the compost center we were met by the guy in the bulldozer, and we got to dump the grains directly into the front bucket! You can still see the steam rising...

[nay]

Very cool! It does look like a lot of work, but seems to be worth it. I really enjoyed my visit to F8 earlier this year too!

[mcjaco]

Cam, no need to buy one and bring it back. I want to get back down there, and sample more beer!

[Cameron]

^ That is of course the best solution!

[Brandy524]

That's a fascinating process. I'm not a beer person myself, but it's very interesting to see how it's made. It really is a lot of work!

[Cameron]

Resuming where we left off for the third (and final) part of the magical journey that is Brewing...

 

Overall I had just a terrifically fun day. I'm not sure I could do this every day, but I genuinely loved it. I'm really appreciative to Tom and Lynne for letting me help out - I already can't wait to do it again

Tom pitched the melted chocolate into the boil while Lynne and I were disposing of the spent grains, but once we returned we had a short breather and then it was time to remove the bags of hops. As amusing as this picture looks, it's actually really tough .. Tom has to fish the bags out of an extremely large tank that is full of boiling liquid (hence the gloves and long-sleeves).

But he always finds them!

With the hops removed, and the beer (still) boiling, Tom starts to prepare to transfer to the fermentation tank. He is running an oxygen line, and in the foreground (the bottle partially full of white liquid) is the yeast.

Pumping the beer from the boiler into the fermentation tank. The thick gray hoses carry the actual liquid, and the thinner clear/white hoses carry cold water to cool the beer as it flows through the heat exchanger. Tom is checking the temperature gauge, and making sure that the right amount of oxygen is being added (it's tough to see but there's a glass window and you can see the bubbles in the liquid). If the beer is too warm or the amount of oxygen is off, then the yeast will not do its job correctly.

Pitching the yeast into the beer as it fills the fermentation tank!

Any time we have to disconnect a hose, some beer spills; however it's such a pretty colour!

With all the beer in the fermentation tank, it's time to clean the boiler. This takes well over an hour, and includes Tom actually getting inside there with a scrubbing brush.

As the yeast works its magic, gasses will be released and come out of the top of the fermentation tank, through this tube, and bubble up through the water. When I went back to F8 two days later, it was already bubbling like crazy. Very exciting!

Cleaning continues ... hosing down the pump. We also have to pump hot (clean) water through everything to clean out any sediment.

With the beer in the fermentation tank (where it will stay for about two weeks), and at least half the cleaning done, it was time for a lunch break. Joel (Tom and Lynne's son) joined us for some food and later some pinball too. It was about 3pm by this point, and we'd been on the go since 8:30.

Back to work again, and I'm cleaning out the hop bags so they can be reused the next time.

This is what used/boiled hops looks like!

One (of two) piles of clean fittings for all the plumbing. It's important to stay on top of getting all this stuff clean because it's 4pm now and the tasting room opens in just one hour. This must all be clean, dry and out of the way so that we can deal with glasses and growlers.

With about 20 minutes remaining before the tasting room opens, it's time to turn on the taps!

With everything ready for customers, Tom handed me a sip of what we had just brewed. It's not even close to done yet (no alcohol, or carbonation), but damn it was good!

Then the people came .. we were **slammed**! It was one of the busiest days at F8 since opening, and I spent the next four hours in back washing glasses and growlers (new growlers are slightly cheaper if you bring back the old one). This is just a small percentage of the Growler Madness I had to contend with! We were thinking we could leave by about 7, but we were there until after 9!

By the end of the night I had been on my feet for 13 hours, and had only eaten a small (but very tasty) sandwich at about 3pm. Fortunately one customer had brought in a platter of cheese, sausage and crackers for us! Figure 8 has a very cozy and welcoming feel, and there is a growing number of regular (and awesome) customers to back this up. Tom and Lynne get little gifts like this regularly (I'm sure it didn't hurt being 2 days before Christmas!).