Hiatus

Man, it's been a while since I posted here!  Since last posting I've had a lot going on, although I have been steadily brewing.  I haven't brewed as many batches as I'd like, but I've been brewing a larger quantity.  How is that you ask?  Well....my buddy Scott and I built this:

That's right...we now have a functioning 1.5bbl brewhouse.  We can now brew 46.5 gallons of beer at a time.  But why would we want to do that?  After all, isn't that a lot of one single beer to brew at once?  Don't homebrewers like experimenting and creating all sorts of awesome new beers to be continually changing things up?  Well, yes, we do like brewing a lot of different beers.  And yes, that is a lot of one beer to brew at once.

The reason we've built this and sold/salvaged our old systems is because we've decided to go for the gusto and try to go commercial.  There are a number of "successful" home based breweries in Portland right now and we decided to go for it.  Pretty much all of these small operations are brewing on a 1-3 barrel system and then kegging their beer to be sold in taprooms, restaurants, and bars throughout town.  We're planning to go a little different route and bottle in 22 ounce bottles.  We feel this will help to distinguish us in the marketplace as well as allow us to make a higher profit to save towards our dream of having a taproom and larger brewhouse.  Time will tell if this happens...

So here's the specs on the system.  We've gotten three 55 gallon drums from Bubba's Barrels and had Practical Fusion weld some tri-clamp fittings on the HLT and Boil Kettle.  We're running an electric system that we modeled after The Electric Brewery.  We'll be fermenting for now in a 110 gallon plastic conical (so we could potentially brew back to back and have 3bbl fermenting at once).  Here's a pic of that:

We also have a simple designed hood vent with an 8 inch inline fan that blows out the window.  So far we have had no issue with steam buildup or condensation on the walls in my basement.  Now the sweet smell of mash and boiling wort is another story...

So that's why I haven't been posting here lately.  Lots of planning, projecting, and pondering for our new venture.  You can check out Brewery 26 on Facebook here or our simple website here.  I'll try to update our status as we begin applying for licenses and permits and all that fun stuff.  And someday before too long hopefully you'll be able to get a bomber of Brewery 26 beer at a bottle shop near you (so long as you live in Portland)!

Cheers!