quick couple of photos

So for starter we have a quick pick of the first mash in the mashtun.








Then on to the underback being busy

Then we have the first filling of the wort kettle

Ok that's some pictures to keep peeps happy and to show I'm no longer just talking about it :)
cheers JK

First brew is in and running nicely

So far we have a mash in (I have been here since 5:50am and the mash only went in at 9am, cleaning and waiting for the HLT to reach temperature)
A recipe was written before hand. Basing the brew on things i have done before but with completely new hops. Which I'm looking forward too!
I also have a clean FV1 which was a bit of chore but its now clean and sterile read for the first wort.
I apologise i will post some pictures here later but for now i seem to be suffering technical problems with my camera
Well cheers for now JK

Well it has begun!

The first brew is underway I'm in the brewery it is very early. HLT isn't quite up to temperature and the clean system has decided to blow a seal but hey at least I'm in a powerful little brewery.
Right more post during the day as this could be a long one!
Cheers JK aka a very excitable brewmonkey

Oh HMRC sent me something for the mid-winter festival!

Ok so it is not a christmas card. But it is a start, my first full Beer Duty Return to fill in. Unluckly i won't be filling it with a lot, as there has yet been no beer made or sold. But we will have a brew very shortly. As i sit here typing this i am waiting for the Hot Liquor Tank to reach temperature and see how long it takes and can i do it on the timer as well? The answer will be known in the morning.

Then we will be going for a hot liquor run through the system and the final little bit or welding which is the building of a underback.

Right better get back to it can't leave my brother sorting the malt order out on his own.

Cheers JK

hahahahahahahaha!

Take the title as a evil laugh of a slightly mad Brewmonkey. We are there the brewery is wired, plumbed and working. Below is the first rise in water temperature the brew has had (ok bar the kettle which has been on over time)

Right i better move or i'm going to be late for lunch more to follow later 

Cheers JK

Oh that's not in the plan.

Well I have done really well with this build. The brewery from plan to completion has gone very well. We have only had four unforeseen problems. Hence why i am typing this at nearly 12:30 on Monday night. So a big thanks to PK, AK, DZ and AW. Thanks guys the help was very useful.
Right time for some sleep and back to this madness tomorrow.
Cheers JK

OK i really want to get the brewery running now.....

But as ever there are few little things I have to finish off first. Utility companies are a royal pain in the arse they have you in a vice like grip and they still like to squeeze that little bit more out of you. Is £600 enough for a start business to cough up already.
Ok grumble over.
Today has been a very good day. I do believe I'm now only awaiting one last order which should be here early next week. Come on Scotland don't let me down. The main delivery today was a little malt. Ok maybe a little malt is not quite right as I had ordered just over 1 metric tonne of mixed malts. Oh Yes!!!
Then there was finishing the water metre installation. Oh and the connections for the cask washer. And of course my current favourite thing the new cask washer all welded up and plumbed. I now just have to wait for the sparky to re do the flex and add a water proof plug. Heres a pic of the beauty
Cheers JK

PS, now off to the Greenman Grantchester Winter beer festival.....beer anyone?

Oooohhh!

HOPS

Oh what a lovely arrival finally some proper hops for the brewery which will be used very soon. All english bar two. Which is rather unusual for me. Oh well must be the welding getting to me.

Cheers JK

Hard days work!

Well today i have had a brilliant day a very chilled day. I started the day with a pile of metal bits and bobs i now have a complete hop seed filter, heat exchanger, Oxygen addition and temperature probe point systems.

Ok so i know there are going to be many of you out there going "what?" and to you people i say sorry but making this stuff from the bits and bobs i started with has made my day. Then of course there is the fact i have a pile of shiney metal things that are adding to my collection.........

Cheers for now JK

Problems of delivery in Cambridge...

As anyone that knows Cambridge will tell you its a nightmare of a city to drive around. Even worse at rush hour. So this week i had a problem when i said i would deliver the Kegerator to its new home. Of course i left it to just before rush hour. So how do you get a kegerator into the middle of Cambridge at rush hour i'll tell you.....
Brewery bike dray you take the said bike and then add a trailer as shown below

You then add a kegerator with a few cargo straps to keep it all in place  and then head into Cambridge

Well then its a bit of hard work. A total of 35 minutes later i'm on mill road central Cambridge. Then its a real nice and easy ride back to the brewery.

 Crazy but i like it.

Cheers JK

another week.....

....gone and i'll still just getting closer. But today i have two bits of news. Firstly the water is on for the rest of the building not just the toilet block. Yeah!!!!!!! the drains also work which is a great relief!
Secondly the stairs to the office are also finished. I do like the brewery colours of black, red and white so i added it to the stairs too

right time to finish the cask washer and get the kegarator to its new home......

Cheers JK

where does the time go?

I have no idea how time is flashing past so quickly. But hey it means we are getting closer and closer to doing the first brews. I'm still busy sorting things in the office and fabricating kit. But thats not all the malt, hops and cleaning kit orders are all being sorted as i type. Hopefully have those all ordered by the middle of next week.
Will also be catching up with my designer and web tech to get the website looking as it should not as it does. Yes there is a site out there, but give me a bit before i admit to where it is i'm a brewery not a designer. Thanks to TC and DR for the help and support on the web so far. I must point out at this point i still and always will type this blog. You can tell by the poor english and awful grammar.
I have so may people to thank but i'll go through the full list in the next few weeks as i get closer to doing the first brew.
Right just to keep those how like all things shiney here are a few photos of the start of the fabrication on the  HLT (aka Bertha) and the final fit for the cask washer. Cheers JK

May i introduce....

the cask washer

and another shot

 oh and a overall shot as well

So there you have what i have been doing for the last day and a half. Its my first fabrication job but now i own a brewery it won't be my last. Not completely finished yet but hopefully by the end of the week i should have it all done bar plumbing it up.

Cheers JK

19:10 21-11-11

Well i'm now half deaf and covered in metal dust time to go home and have a shower before doing it all again tomorrow. I'l have photos of what i have been playing with later in the week.
Till then sit back and enjoy a MTB vid from the UK.
BeingFree an MTB video from Nico Turner
I really am going to be riding a lot more next year if i watch videos like this all winter.
Well enjoy
cheers JK

Three days and a lot of work....

no its actually been five days. But what a good five days, we have sorted most of the water plumbing for the brewery. It may not look like much but it's as far as we can go for now. Big thanks to CC for the help.

The plumbing is at the point where i now need to order the stainless fittings and go from there. Which was also done today. That was before my old friend CW pulled up. Took me and CC for a little bite to eat at the Queens Head in Newton. Then back for a little cleaning. We started by building some shelving

then moved on to a general tidy and organisation of the brewery. Which it was in great need of as we haven't been able to do a major tidy since the building work started. So again thanks to CC and CW for the help today has been a great help and is getting me fired up for next week. Parting shot of CW in the space we cleared and the tools he used to do it.

Cheers JK

Well it's been a little quite...

...so i decided to do a little fabrication. I do enjoy fabricating things out of metal but have really only had limited experience. But if you want something done right they say best do it your self. So with a new welder, few lengths of 316 stainless steel, disc grinder and a monkey to handle it...

say hello Dave.

Then with a little time and even less skill you end up with a Brewmonkey and the start of a little project. Should be complete by the end of the week. But for now here is where i have got to

Well till next time cheers JK

Another week gone......

....were do these weeks keep disappering to? Mainly in paint and paper work i believe. But hey its all coming together the brewery looks like a brewery now ok with a few additions like whiskey barrels and carpet cut offs hanging round. But now i'm at the point of finishing touches. Which means finishing the electrics and sorting the final plumbing plan. Oh and the bit i have been looking forward to for months
FABRICATION

if your looking for me in the next couple of weeks i'll be found amoung the sparks and hot metal of the brewery workshop.

Cheers JK

Connected

Well it's another first. This is the first post to be typed in the brewery its self. We are as of a minute or two ago now linked to the inter web.................right back to what i'm meant to be doing. More photos and info to come. Got a full week next week in the brewery on my own getting stuff done.
Cheers for now JK

On the ninth day...

there was the shape of a brewery

I know this isn't a great picture but today the brewery equipment finally moved into place. Most of the building works have been completed just another two maybe three days before the builders finish. Can't believe nine days ago i had a white box and now i have a bunded floor, cold store, office, lights and most of the electrics in place.

excited or what!

Well it's only the end of day two of the brewery out fit. I spent the last two weeks ripping out the old brewery and filling out paper work. Now we, meaning the builders and the sparky and me are putting it back together. And i must say it is looking rather nice.

But then today the building work was over shadowed by the delivery of our first batch of casks. Now i knew what i had ordered but wow when they showed up i was more than impressed they look amazing. I'll give you more details in the future but for now check these beauties out. Cheers JK

busy fortnight?

Well again it has been another busy week firstly we picked up the brewery equipment. It all fitted in the van.......Just

Since then it has been all go at the brewery and we have gone from this 

To this, doesn't look like much but we are getting there.

This week it really goes crazy with builders, electrics and welding work all happening. So till then cheers have a little nap for me i might be a little tired by the end of this week.

Cheers JK

More bike dray

I was going to put up a full spec of this bike but pictures are so much better.....

Oh i do love a bit of shiney metal!

Cheers JK

Dray but not as you know it.....

Well all breweries need a dray. OK a dray is a vehicle which is used to deliver beer. The name is a kick back to when horse use to pull carts. Over the last centre it has mainly been vans and trucks. But now for i believe the first time in a long time, a brewery will be using a bicycle as a dray.
So i'd like to introduce the BlackBar brewery dray bike

This is a custom build which i have done specifically for the brewery and the job of delivering beer within five miles of the brewery and the City of Cambridge. I'd like to thank the following people.

Llyod, Pat and Stu at ID for the Surly, gusset parts and the chats and banter that always comes with working with them. 

Mark from Madison for all the lovely Shimano drive chain and brakes.

Also thanks to all the team at Station cycles for the support over the last ten months and helping me finish this build.

So for now this is the bike, if you see me around Cambridge say hello and join me for a pint were ever you see it parked. There is more to come but i don't want to show the finished and full dray bike and trailer till its all ready.

Well cheers for now JK

At last.....

On the morning of Thursday 29th September 2011 BlackBar brewery was offically....

that's right people BlackBar has been given planning permission to go ahead to its all go. Apologise for not updating this earlier but Friday was spent in the brewery (its amazing to be able to say that) waiting for the electrician to remove some old electrics. Then the weekend was spent seeing friends and working. But there is more to follow.......

For the un-sheep of us out there......

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary. Cecil Beaton 

Well what to say.......

The last few days have been a little crazy. We heard there may be problems with the planning. There is a worry about an increase in traffic along the road that accesses the industrial estate the brewery is planned to be moving into. I know it sounds odd that you have a industrial estate build down a narrow road but welcome to East Anglia. It is still capable of having heavy farm machinery go along it and we have seen articulated lorries along the road....... basically to cut a long story short the Planning Officer from SCDC emailed me to say that the problem is dealt with and we will have our reply from planning with in the time scale. So we are still on target of having planning back on the 30th September 2011.
So on the 1st October 2011 I'll be in London having a beer with old friends from OCB. I may be celebrating, i maybe be drowning my sorrows.
But till then there is better news NEW SHINEY TOYS! Cheers for now JK

              

Well......

... the equipment is ready, just got to finalise the last few bits. Then its on to building plans, thats next week. Electrics is under control and then we are off to sort paint and bits. The brewery bicycle dray is ready for building along with its trailer. Then i think we are there. Just waiting for the planning as ever....... sorry the planning has just possible been delayed........ this brewmonkey isn't seeing why this is funny!

Another busy week!

Well again the blog hasn't been up dated due to my work load. But it has been an amazing week.....sorry eleven days since my last post. Well what have i been up too well first there has been a few beers recently, which have been very good. Check out the Old Cannon Brewery Beer Festival Four here; www.oldcannonbrewery.co.uk another great beer festival with some wonderful beer again. Then there has been the kegarator project.....
Step 1: find a fridge and a few bits

Step 2: drill some holes and dodge all the important cooling systems on the way. Remember to cover all the exposed insulation and connect up all the gas lines correctly. In the end we have a kegarator......

.....not finished yet but hopefully by the middle of september it should be in working use. I'll let you know when i have it running. 

On a another note we have ordered our kit and should have the equipment sorted by the end of september. So now we are waiting for the planning and a few other hundred little jobs to get done. One day i'll put up the list of jobs but right now i just keep adding to it....?

Well cheers all

JK

The advantage of trail blazing....

...is that you never know where your going to end up. I took off today to go do some shopping for the brewery. Knew what i was looking for, size, design and cost. Well i came away with nothing solid. But thats because the plan changed. Saw another idea and the plan has changed. Thats what i like about going your own way you can do what you want.
Well i've been out on the road for 9 hours today and it's time for a beer. So thank you to Pa for driving while i was sleeping, scheming and generally being a kid in a sweet shop. For those in the 'know' here's some shiney kit.......

Cheers JK

Friends are great....

Well again I've been busy in the real world, so hard luck for not posting here. The good out of the wait is that we now have a date for the return of the planning permission! Yes the planning stage will come to an end (fingers crossed) on the 30th September 2011!!!!!!
So i will let you know when i do.
I'd also like to say a big thank you to all the friends who have supported me so far, you now who you are. This comes after receiving an email from a friend i haven't seen in years wishing me the best and leaving me with another more 'northern' version of the brewery quote, have a read below.

You shall thank your gods,
if they force you to go
where you have no footprints
to trust to.

You shall thank your gods,
if all shame on you they pin.
You must seek refuge
a little further in.

What the whole world condemns
sometimes manages quite well.
Outlaws were many
who gained their own soul.

He who is forced to wild wood
looks on all with new sight,
and he tastes with gratitude
life's bread and salt.

You shall thank your gods,
when your shell they break.
Reality and kernel
the sole choice you can make.

Sorry if it reads a little odd but I'm no translator. Thank you JH for that. Made me smile. 

Cheers all JK

Planning, GBBF and more.................

Well its been ten busy days since i last posted. As you'll know (or not) the brewery pre planning application came back with some good bits of advice and plenty for me to do to complete a full Planning Application. It also took a long time to come back, was poorly supported and has more grey areas than a middle management decision meeting.
Well I can say that for ten days i worked on the Full Planning Application (hear on known as FPA). OK only evenings as i do have a full time job to cover the bills. But on Monday 1st of August with the help of CC and my fathers driving I handed in the full planning application for BlackBar Brewery site. In triplicate and with copies for friends that are due to be joining this run of new breweries. So we now have eight weeks to wait before we will hear back about the FPA. So its now back to the accounts before starting to pull the kit together. Oh I'm starting to get excited!!!!!!
So the timing of handing in the FPA was good as it allowed me and Pa to go down to the Great British Beer Festival. The worlds largest beer festival in Earls court London. Now i have been to the GBBF several times before and i usually go to meet industry colleagues and this year was a bumped one. Meeting Mattias from Compassbrewery.com and his new sales man Greg. Watch out for their beers in the Oxford area. Then out of the blue Rhys from the uni course both me and Mattias attended was also at GBBF. He is now the head brewer of the Harbour brewery in Cornwall due to open in the autumn. (I'll put up some links for the two breweries in the future). Also meet with Chris W. the now head brewer at The Old Cannon Brewery in Bury St Edmund's. Nice to see a guy who was my old assistant running the brewery i use to run.
GBBF world largest beer festival and yet i wasn't impressed it was all cask ale not a bad thing but not the only way to serve beer. Be nice to see some of the best brewers in the UK included in the UKs' biggest beer fest but because its CAMRA run the beer has to be in cask..... if its from the UK, but if its foreign its OK to be in Keg. Bit weird that, but here is the view of the ever subtle brewdog boys on real ale and craft beer
http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/craft-beer-v-real-ale
BlackBar is a CRAFT brewery as in we aim for quality, consistent, flavoursome beer above all. Plus i know there is more than one way to skin a cat and the same is true on the way beer is severed, stored and brewed.
Right that's enough of that back to work and BlackBar project......
Cheers JK

Pre Planning Application.......

Well as i said the application was due to be returned on the 15th July. It was by Email i had to wait another four days till the paper copy came back. But we got it back and it only took 20 working days. (not bad for something that is meant to take 10 working days.) So now final after nearly a week of farting about I'm settling down to complete the full planning application for the brewery site. So as long as i can get this in early August we should be able to start building at the site in mid October. I would like to say I will have a beer ready for the Mid Winter Festival (MWF) but that will be pushing it. As i have a lot of equipment to source, modify and  install. Plus last time i looked the budget wasn't looking good. But life is for living so I'll just live while i get through this paper work rough spot. As soon we'll be on the spanners and hammers work and the BREWING!In the mean time i have Kegerators (check the photo below for ideas) and Nano brewers to build........... pics to follow when i have some.
CHEERS! JK

ST weekender

Well that was one of the best events i have ever done on a bike. Just plain fun.
So these last few days i have been away in the heart of England meeting up with a good riding buddy of mine, who along with me entered the Shimano Singletrack Weekender. Of course one event over the weekend wasn't enough. So we first meet to go for an XC loop with RLS XC (www.facebook.com/groups/rlsxc). Which leaves the Bike Yard ( www.thebikeyard.net) in Royal Leamington Spa at 18:45 each Thursday evening. What can i say other than wow what a laugh, need a night out on the bike in RLS make sure you check out a ride with this lot. I showed up early at the Bike Yard to be welcomed with a smile and a hello. After mentioning i was around for the XC ride, the smiles broadened and the banter kept coming. Its great to see a local bike shop with great service and a real world feel, there are many shops/bars/companies out there that could learn form this. I would love to keep harping on about how good the Bike Yard is but this isn't the time for it.
The rest for the weekend was spent in Lee Quarry in Lancashire at the Shimano Singletrack Weekender event. I'm going to keep it short and let the pictures do the talking. Basicly loads of riding, plenty of good beer, more than enough heckling (cheers AM) BIG WELL DONE to CC, great riding with you and amazing weekend!

Before......

 ....and after, the brakes rub, the gears grind and i can't get the silly grin off my face from whizzing round like an idiot!
  Right back to the beer and brewery aka BlackBar
     Cheers JK