The Cold Room.

I used to enjoy twitter, now I am a believer. It was through twitter I came across a listing on Craigslist for a walk-in cold room for cheap. It had fourteen tap handles (probably more than we'll ever need, but extra space can't hurt) and two glass door merchandisers. Really a prefect fit for our size of operation. Thanks so much @abeeraday for the heads up! 

I called up Iron King on a Monday to begin negotiations and figure out some logistics. We would probably need to rent a 26' truck from Penske and get a car trailer for the ride back. Luckily our good friends came through and we were able to borrow a 12' trailer + a full size pick-up.
He decided to take off some extra cash since we were going to drive out there and pick it up ourselves. So we began our 14 hour journey at 5:00AM on Friday.

Here are some pictures from the journey:

5:00 AM 

Don Quixote would love this place.

Raw Power.

Who?

Bummer!

Rising Up from the Ashes.

7th St, 11 AM.

Almost Full.

By the hair of our chinny chin chins.

Long Distance.

Getting Dark.

Sunset.

I'll be sure to post picture from the build out and the completed cold room. Unfortunately it is going to take us a little long to get everything up since we just talked to the DEH on monday and it turns out we need to install a floor sink, a mop sink, and a hand washing sink. So that will put as at a total of 7 sinks in our small space. We will be sure to have clean hands and pint glasses though!

The Double-Blind Taste Test

One month ago I posted about our "Experimental" Brewing Session; we recently dry hopped and kegged the two different IPAs. As you may recall one used the 1450 "Denny's Favorite" yeast strain that is known for low flocculation and not being very sweet. The other used was 1968 "London ESB Ale" yeast, which has a high flocculation and tends to have a fair amount of fruitiness.

We encountered a little trouble with these brews during the fermentation process, both of them stuck at ~ 68% attenuation. We wanted to get to about 70% for both of the IPAs, we needed some yeast, stat. Luckily our friend Johnny O' from the downtown Rock Bottom Brewery was able to hook us up with a big slurry from his propagation tank. We pitched it that afternoon and we finished out at 1017 and 1018. Right where we wanted them to be.

TASTING NOTES

1450: 7.20%
Aroma: Surprisingly light. Muted, esp compared to 1968.
Appearance: Dark & Cloudy Orange Amber. Light Beige Head.
Flavor: Tart. Crisp. Hoppy. Grapefruit.
Palate: Silky. Smooth & Light Carbonation.
Overall: This one has a bit of a bite. The tartness really stands out.

1968: 7.00%
Aroma: Strong scents of pine and citrus.
Appearance: Dark & Cloudy Orange Amber, clearer than 1450. Light Beige Head.
Flavor: Earthy. Full. Hoppy. Pine. Bitter.
Palate: Dry. Light Carbonation.
Overall: Mellower than the 1450, a fuller flavor. Not as sour.

It is pretty cool how much of a difference two strains of yeast will make on the exact same wort. The 1450 is quite a bit more sour than the 1968, which has more earthy mellow flavors. The difference in aroma is probably even more pronounced than the flavor. The 1968 has a strong scent while the 1450 is barely detectable.

The experiments and the taste tests continue! We'll be doing a much larger sample tasting on the 24th of this month at an event with about 30 volunteer tasters.

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau

Welp, we pretty much got all of our TTB paperwork in line. They ask us about everything from our environmental impact, water quality and sources, trash disposal methods, how we intend to protect our delicious beers from beer thieves and all sorts of stuff you wouldn't think that the Tax & Trade Bureau would care about. Well, I guess in the event someone comes and steals our beer we wouldn't have to pay taxes on it... and that would be a huge bummer for the IRS. This was probably my favorite piece of paperwork that we are submitting to them. I love Google Maps.

After this all we have left to deal with is the Department of Environmental Health. DEH!!! I am really hoping that dealing with them is easier than trying to navigate their website which consists of hundreds of broken links. Although, their Facebook page is pretty fun and informative. Watch out for West Nile Virus Mosquitos and Hantavirus Mice! Hantavirus AKA the "English Sweate" is something you probably do not want. Unless you are a certain Korean dictator looking for a good weaponizable virus. Then you might really like the stuff.

If you ever want to apply with the TTB you can find all the paperwork here or click on the items below:

1. The Brewer's Notice - this tells the TTB you intend to become a brewery. You need to attach a diagram of the premise, a description of the security, a legal description of the brewery, and all your corporate by-laws and articles of incorporation, and your SS-4 Employer ID number.

2. Brewer's Collateral Bond - a bond for $1,000 for the first 4,000 barrels of beer you produce. If you produce more than that you will need to obtain a strengthening bond.

3. Personnel Questionnaire - includes everything you've ever done ever, as well as how much you plan on spending to open the brewery.

4. Water Quality Considerations - you need to tell them if you are going to be poisoning any rivers near by.

5. Environmental Information - you need to let them know how much polution you plan on generating, hopefully zero.

6. Signing Authority - only in the even you are a corporation or LLC.

7. Pay.gov User Agreement - whereby you agree to use their website to pay taxes on the beer ($7.00 per barrel, which is really what all this paperwork comes down to in the end.)

Fictitious Business Name

I was just working on some TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) paper work and realized I never looked into whether our Fictitious Business Name made it through the old bureaucratic machine or not. Turns out that it did and we are ready to start doing business as Hess Brewing Company. *electric guitar shread* SWEET ASS SWEET!

It's pretty cool being able to see our business name up on the old internet machine. Just one step closer to actually being in business.

Today we also finished installing some copper piping, if you are ever installing copper pipes check out GatorBite or SharkBite, they are weld-less copper pipe fittings that make your life so much easier.

One thing I never realized was that concrete is one tough SOB. I'm pretty sure that our warehouse will survive the nuclear Armageddon. We went through four drill bits just putting in fourteen holes into the concrete walls.


p.s. get stoked for the the new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia! September 17th!

The Shining of the Sink.

This is just me cleaning a sink. Nothing special.

The Continuing Story of an ABC License.

Today we visited the San Marcos branch of The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Twice.

Twice because we forgot to bring our corporate paperwork (secretary of state filing number, stock issuance, etc...) so we had to go back down to our offices to get them. Luckily they were not busy today and we were able to schedule an appointment for after lunch.

Once back we talked to Vicky, the friendly ABC worker, for about twenty minute. After updating some information, correcting a few details here and there, we were done. Just had to wait for them to enter the info into the computer.

While we waited we headed downstairs to talk to the Board of Equalization (in soviet russia-board equalize you) to talk to them about getting a seller's permit and whether we need to obtain a surety bond or not. Turns out they have no idea...

Headed back upstairs and they presented us with this pretty little piece of paper we need to post for 30 days. Overall a productive day.

This Storefront (is a figment of my imagination)

Imaginary Store Front.

This is my vision for a storefront in the near future. Since we are not on the street we are going to have to have a good amount of signage so people can actually find us in this industrial park. Once we finalize our logo and brand direction we can get a sign up there. I don't know whether I should make it by hand or outsource it to a professional... or have one of my art student friends make it? Too many decisions.

Today it got pretty darn hot in this joint, up to 135 degrees on the bay door. I need to figure out a way to harness all of that power.

We had the guy from Culligan's Water come in today to with our water test results and to talk about what kind of filtration system we are going to go with. Luckily our water is pretty good quality, not too hard and not too soft. It is a little bit salty though, which is odd but easy to correct.

We have a meeting with the Alcoholic Beverage Control on Monday. Hopefully all of our paperwork is in order and we can get licensed. After that only a couple more governmental agencies to work with and we can start brewing!

The Equipment Is Getting Setup

We moved the equipment in on Wednesday and are working on setting it up at the moment. Lots of cleaning to do. Lots of plumbing & electrical work to be done as well. Contacted the planning department since we will need permits to change plumbing lines and add more drains. We are good to go since we are in a IL 2-1 zone.

We are in the process of acquiring some larger fermentors and brew kettles, looking at a couple different vendors: PBST Beer, Bitter Creek, Stromberg Tanks, and a few more.

It will not be too long before we can start to brew. We finished the Alcoholic Beverage Control paperwork today, and we will be setting up an appointment to meet with them next week. Now onto the TTB & DEH paperwork!

Label Design

We are beginning to talk about branding and direction our brewery is going to take once we are up and running.

Today our good friend and excellent graphic designer got us five drafts for our label concepts. Unfortunately I cannot show you the designs quite yet, since I would have to kill you, you see? I can say that they are going to be great.

As with any alcoholic beverage we will need to eventually get the designs approved by the FDA/"The Man" before anything is final. This involves showing the alcohol content by volume, recycling info, net fl.oz, that no animals were harmed during the making of, etc...

Once we are more sure of the direction this place is going to be headed I will be sure to share it with you. Until then... CLASSIFIED.

The Blueprint

Today was a busy day. I got the electricity, WiFi, and telephones up and running. Once all of that was set up I was able to begin working on drafting a blue print to comply with the DEH, TTB, and ABC.

Today I was just worried about getting the scaling right on all of the objects that are going to be in the warehouse. After that I can begin to focus on how they are going to be arranged. Also, we are not 100% sure of the size/capacity of the brewing equipment quite yet.

I'm just not sure how the ABC is going to feel about a pool table and shuffleboard being in the space with us.

CA Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control

There is nothing more fun than working on paperwork when opening a new business. Especially if you are going to be selling alcohol. There are about 15 different licenses/permits/agencies that you need to work with and each of those have enough paper work to make you get carpal tunnel syndrome.

Here is a shot of the ABC paperwork on my computer.

That is 22 pages worth of questionnaires, diagrams, financial and personal histories. I have yet to figure out how much getting this license will cost us, but I know they can be a little pricey.

I do like that Arnold is on the ABC's homepage. I imagine he drinks fine hand-crafted beer and not ABInBevSABmillerCoorsMolson Conglomerate Fizzy Water. I cannot believe Obama drank a BL at the beer summit.

Home Sweet Home

WE MOVED INTO THE OUR WAREHOUSE!

This is the biggest move forward we have made to date, besides registering our fictitious business name.

I am excited to get this show on the road and actually having a space to call home will help push us in the right direction. Next up, dealing with the DEH to pass codes and whatnot. I hear that is going to be the toughest/most costly aspect of getting the business up and running.

I'll be sure to post more pictures once we actually have the place set-up. It might not look like much right now, but give us a couple months and you'll be surprised how great the beer this little place will be putting out.

Just remember, it's not the size of the brewery that counts. It how you use it.

What Hath God Wrought?

Well, well, well... it looks like we are about to go on a bit of an adventure.

In three days we will be moving into a warehouse, which in turn will allow us to start dealing with the Health Department--eventually get our Type 23 ABC license, TTB approval, Fictitious Business Name, Seller's Permit, and so forth-- needed to become a legal commercial nanobrewery.

So grab a beer, relax, and enjoy me bloggin' & tweetin' and usin' whatever social networkin' tool comes out between now and our grand openin'.

It is sure going to be a wild ride, probably very similar to Splash Mountain, consider me your Br'er Rabbit.

I hope this blog will be useful to anyone who hopes to open a business of their own someday. I will be writing about all of the hardships, triumphs, and pitfalls of opening a new brewery in a very competitive industry.

Consider this BUS101 for beer.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah