She sells......

I agree, lets hear from the mystery person in the Seychelles. It would be wonderful if you could (whoever you are) get in touch via the contact us page. I can honestly say that I have never corresponded with anyone in the whole of the Indian Ocean let alone the Seychelles. On a similar note it would also be great to hear from the Japanese party. Get in touch whoever you are and if your name is Bruce get in touch doubly so. In fact, if anyone, anywhere in the world is reading this blog then why not contact us and share your thoughts. Everyone is welcome. Now that should open up a can of worms!

Today was a curates egg. Nuff said.

Hits From Round The World

We set up this site a few weeks ago and launched it on an unsuspecting public. Martin, Ray and the Barn Raisers (this is the army of unpaid helpers who turn up in some random way, most days, to ensure they finally have beer of a quality worth drinking) have been making fabulous progress on the Brewery and we all hope to be drinking the high quality ales by Christmas (No pressure chaps!) . We were looking at the stats on hits for the site, by country and were amazed at the countries represented. How did they find out about the site in the Seychelles, for instance!!! Anyway, Martin keeps blogging, so keep looking, wherever you are.

More than you can shake a big stick at!

I don't know where to start. So much has been happening and I'm also feeling guilty about not having added to the blog for so long. Anyway, here goes,

All, and I mean all of the boarding has been applied to the ceilings and the stud walls. Also all the surfaces have been coated with the white plastic sheeting so it looks lovely and clean and hygienic. The only problem with it is snow blindness. Dark glasses will be provided.

The sparky has been in and has connected quite a few of the lights and will soon be concentrating on the sockets etc. The boiler is complete apart from the flue and is now connected to the hot liquor tank and the copper. Massive amounts of thanks must go to Neil, Paul, Mark and Rob for this. It ain't easy threading, fitting and levelling two inch iron pipe and they have done a superb job. Also thanks to Steve and Haggis for ordering all the bits and the loan of the threader etc.

The painting is all pretty much done now thanks to Tom who carried on where most would have given up out of sheer boredom. I'm still wondering how he managed to get so much paint on his hands.

Jess has been a source of great support to us and has helped out whenever he can. He's not that pleasant after a night on the curry though.

The laggers arrive tomorrow with Phil who will start the process pipework. There will soon be shiny vessels to reflect off the shiny walls. We're off on a course tomorrow to enable us to get our personal licenses for the sale of alcohol. Back to school.....

Once again, heartfelt gratitude to all that have helped us. Without them we would be looking at months rather than weeks before the first brew. All being good and true our first trial brew should take place in a couple of weeks. It's going to be fun, fun, fun!

Wow! What a stud!

Loads has been going on over the past few days.

All the stud walls are now in place. Some have been boarded out while others are still in their skeletal state. This will all change tomorrow when Ray and I have a blitz. The boiler room is complete, as is the malt store. Poor old Tom has been wielding the paint brush constantly for three days now and has that rabbit caught in the spot light look. It must be the PVA glue.

I suppose that the thing that caused the biggest cheer was the 100% completion of the ceiling. Our rousing cheer was answered with a Tarzan cry by the body shop people in the unit down the hill. As long as it doesn't go any further this is OK. This weather is not suited to skimpy leather loin cloths!

We had a visit from Ray's Mum and Dad and a heart felt vote of thanks to them for all their support. THANK YOU CHRIS AND LYDIA.

We have had help from many people over the past days but particularly from:
Paul Carrington
Neil
Jess
Mark
Tom
Rob
Little Stewart
Steve and Haggis

Coming soon........

PIPES!

The intro and the outro

Today starred:-

Tom on paint brush
Neil on stud walls and pasties
Mark on stud walls and mitre saw
Jess on ceilings
Ray on ceilings and pipe threader
Little Stewart on paint brush

Also with thanks to Planet Rock and The Bonzo Dog Doodah Band

A day of........

We've had a day off!

Vessel or vassal?

Well both, actually. The mash tun, copper, hot liquor tank, three fermenters and a conditioning tank are now in situ and gleaming in all their stainless glory. As far as the vassal bit is concerned, I feel totally in awe of what we are creating here. A bit like a medieval serf stood in the shadow of his lord's castle. Perhaps a beer called Serf? I think not. Far too washing powdery.

Other goings on include the construction of stud walls to separate the conditioning room and the fermentation room, this work being done by two of this land's finest engineers (bloody perfectionists), also the completion of the ceiling, the final insulation of the cold room, the installation of a telephone (you would have thought that after all these years BT would have got their act together) and of course the launch of this wonderful web site for which we must doff our hats and tug at a long vanished fetlock in gratitude to the sterling work of Tom, Ben and Rob.

In the very near future the final delivery of two more conditioning tanks, cask washer, underback and other ancillary bits will occur. Pipework (both process, steam and services) will commence as will the lagging of vessels. Perhaps we could also consider the lagging of vassals as it's getting a bit chilly.

Once more I feel that we should voice our thanks to everyone that has contributed over the last few days. These include the afore mentioned computer nerds but also Jess, Mark, Neil, Michaela, Greasy, Brenda and everyone at Wallops Wood. I know there are more but I have a crap memory.

Foot in a bucket?

Since our last missive there have been buckets of things afoot! Just about all of the ceiling has been boarded out and about two thirds has been clad with white plastic sheeting. A lot of the walls have been clad and the outside walls of the cold store/conditioning room have been insulated. The ceiling of the boiler room has been clad in special fire proof material and when the walls are constructed they will be covered in the same material.

One of the conditioning vessels has been delivered and we are moving it and all of the other vessels into the building tomorrow. We can then build the dividing walls and start on the pipe work and complete the ceilings. Today Ben and Tom did a fantastic job of throwing paint around and Rob turned up with Michaela and helped out with general stuff for a couple of hours.

Once again thanks to all of the people who are helping us get this off the ground. We couldn't do it without you.