The Brewing System has arrived!

It has been a very exciting and tiring few days for us, but we're very happy to say that the brewing system arrived in good condition and is in the Tap Room being installed.  The excitement began on Sunday morning, December 12th, in the bitter blowing cold when the flat bed truck arrived outside the doors of the Tap Room at 16 E. Scranton Ave in Lake Bluff.  The tanks were loaded standing vertically on the truck, and we had our trusty engine hoist to get them off and into the building.  500 lb doesn't seem like a lot until you're trying to grab hold of a four foot diameter tank and lay it down onto the bed of the truck without damaging it or yourself.  Once we laid them down, getting the straps around the tanks and getting them off the truck wasn't too bad.  We pushed the hoist and tank (one by one) up the sidewalk and then came the fun.  Our carpenter had removed one of the front windows and jambs to allow the tanks to go into the Tap Room sideways, and we made up some supports for the tank to rest on.  Getting a 500 lb tank through a window with about a 1/2 inch of clearance was a bit tricky, but luck was on our side (along with a few great helpers - thanks Brett, Kurt, Dave and Bruce!) and we made it happen without any damage to the tanks or people.

After a couple hours of work, we had the truck unloaded and tanks inside the Tap Room.  There was a brief sigh of relief until we realized just how much work we still had ahead of us.  Sunday night involved painting and tiling in the kettle room, and moving all the brewing system tanks and supplies out of the way so the drywallers could finish their work on Monday.  Monday night we moved the tanks into the kettle room which felt really great seeing them in their final location and Tuesday began the work of getting the utilities installed.  Our great plumber, Steve from 3Q's, connected up the gas to the kettle on Tuesday and our electrician is working on the control panel, temperature sensors and burner control today.  I'll be back there tonight getting some temporary venting setup while our stainless vents are being fabricated.

The big news is that a technician from Premier Stainless should be arriving Thursday or Friday to help with the final installation, cleaning cycle, and brewing our first test batch over the next few days!  Will keep you posted on that, as it's still a bit tentative.  Cross your fingers!

Cheers,
Rodd and Dave