Monday, December 29, 2008

Those new tanks....

Here are the promised fermenter installation pictures....





New tanks installed...



Trying to get another big tank into the brewery...



The 20bbl fermenter is finally home...




It's a group effort...




PUSH!!!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Yes, it's snowing here in Truckee. The skiiers will be here soon.

Monday 12/15/2008. If Kyle and I can get out of the driveway today we plan on bottling up some of the Imperial Eclipse Stout. How nice would it be to have a bottle under the Christmas tree? Enjoying in front of a warm fire, watching it snow?

Keep an eye out at the brewery they'll be there soon...

Todd

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The busy season nears...and other stuff

I'm back from Germany. It was a great trip and yes I'll probably go back but most likely in the summer when the days are longer and drinking is done outside versus inside. Probably most significant is beer is still very reasonable in the Bamberg vicinity. Around $2.25 a half liter for world class beer... Thanks for the well wishes and "I missed you's". Nice to get those for sure...

All of the fermenters have been filled, Imperial Eclipse Stout is getting closer to a tap and a quick glance at a calendar all lead up to the fact we're getting close to Christmas and New Years.

Our first double batch of Manifesto will be appearing soon. It will be the same Manifesto you've always known but we're making about 600 gallons at a time now. Gotta keep up with the demand... Yes, Eclipse is on the move. Kyle and I transferred about 50 gallons from one of the barrels. First taste was pretty darn yummy too. We're carbonating the beer slowly and plan on bottling up about 10-12 cases for Christmas week. There is a lot more to be bottled but we're waiting for our bottling machine to do the lions share. These first cases will be done one at a time by hand.

We have Foggy Goggle and Trifecta Tripel waiting for tap lines so we haven't forgotten you Belgian fans. These beers will be up soon. Once we start seeing the Christmas time visitors I feel these beers will be up soon.

Kyle and Alicia did some brewing while I was enjoying Germany. A batch of Rockslide and Base Camp. Thanks guys!

We had some Concentrated Evil and BART down in San Diego for the Pizza Port- Carlsbad Strong Ale Festival. Heard kind words about our beers down there so maybe SD isn't such a bad place after all... All kidding aside it's nice to have our beer down there for events like that.

Cheers!

Todd

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Germany, a beer tourists dreamland






















I had to think quite a bit about the title, but one thing is certain if you are trying to save money things are cheap here. Well, except for gasoline life is reasonably cheap here. Maybe it is this small part of Germany(Oberfranken) but hotels, food, and beer are all inexpensive.

I'm having a good time though the days are very short and I'm usually calling it early than to brave the very narrow roads at night. My GPS took me on some one car width roads yesterday while it was snowing heavily. Talk about not knowing where to go! Everything is flat and white...not something you want to do after a few beers!

For your enjoyment a few pixs so far...