Scrupulous sanitation is a crucial for brewing good beer. As such, as I transition back into the role of brew mistress for PVB, I am taking the time to meticulously strip down every piece of brewing equipment, cleaning, repairing and sanitizing it before I put it back into production.
This week's endeavor was to tear down the secondary Sarsaparilla tank and get it ready for a fresh batch of Sass. I also did a test run on the brew kettle and pumping system and discovered the pump was leaking like a sieve. Thankfully the portable pump works just fine and I was able to MacGyver together a system to get the Sass brewed and pumped over to the freshly cleaned and rebuilt tank. So, yeah! Started simple with a batch of soda, but at least we will have that in the pipeline. I just need to get it carbonated before the last batch runs out.
My big quest this next week will be tearing down the brew kettle motor, sourcing parts to get that rebuilt. I will also be ripping apart the entire brew house manifold system and heat exchanger to clean, repair and sanitize all of that system. So, if you see me at the brewery this next week there is a good chance I will be tangled up under the work platform with my hair stuck on something.
The down side of taking the time to do this is we will be running out of some of our house made beers. I will likely need to put some guest beers on tap for awhile until I can get everything rebuilt and sanitized to my standards. The good news is I have the flexibility to buy beer to put on tap until I can get our beers back in the pipeline.
Cheers to good squeaky clean beers!
Stop in. Say howdy and hey... hand me a wrench. :)
PennyPink
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