Things are moving along in the background this week. We hired a plumbing contractor and that pushed the permits to the construction board for review. I am told that this process usually takes from five days to two weeks.

       A different contractor will install the lift station, force main and doghouse manhole. They will be handling everything that has to do with exterior exhaust to the city sewer. We decided to split it up based upon our mechanical engineer's recommendation.

        I have been drawing in the placement of non mobile components on the blueprint to make sure that we are on the same page with the electrical engineer and to also double check that we have everything that we need to get this brewery up and running. There are so many things to consider with this and I have had the support of my close friend Jeremy (head brewer for Auburn Alehouse in Auburn, Alabama) to try and fill in all the gaps. Jeremy also played a key role in helping us get a pump for our cold liquor tank (thanks man) and helping me to put together a revised budget (if you have read my previous entry then you know the mood I have been in...it is finally starting to look up and make more sense now). It was frustrating but realistic for Jeremy and I to sit down and go through the process of a brew day to a packaging day and make sure that all the raw materials and various equipment supply lines etc. were in place to make sure that the revised budget would hold up and get us into production. He was like the gnat that wouldn't go away until the budget was more concrete.

           Joe is letting me handle the label design for our Guava Grove label through our new marketing team. We reviewed around 20 different designs earlier this week and I have sent my comments back to the team for updated designs. Looking forward to see what they come back with. It has been easier to review the designs online without anyone standing over me. It lets me focus without worrying about hurting anyones ego so that we arrive at the design that we think works for our beers.

            I am meeting with the electrical engineer today to see where he has placed the items that I have sent to him over the last couple of weeks. I will be able to compare my drawn in blueprint with his rough schematic to make sure that the process is moving forward and the power is placed in the appropriate places in the building for the right equipment.

             I checked into tankless hot water supply on demand units recently. This will allow us to double our brewing capacity without the purchase of a free standing hot liquor (or larger hot liquor) tank. I was thinking that electric would suit our needs until I realized that they were temperature rated for taking a nice warm shower but missed the mark by a long shot as far as reaching a temperature of 180F. So off we go to natural gas and isn't it convenient that we are using natural gas to fire our boiler. This will be used to provide more hot water for double brew days and parti-gyle days. When all is said and done, we will probably have about 1.5K in the hot water supply on demand vs buying a larger hot liquor. This will save us about 8.5K compared to the larger tank. The unit works within a range of 100 - 180F and will flow at 7 gallons per minute on the hot end. Oh, and thanks to Bob from St. Somewhere for consulting with me on this and verifying that my suspicions were correct.

              The barley wine is once again fermenting. The High Gravity White Labs yeast took off and is still attenuating as I type. The yeast is supposed to be alcohol tolerant to 21% ABV. Can't wait to see how far it takes down this troublesome wort. It has done a hell of a lot more than the 3 pitchable packs of champagne yeast that I administered to the fermenter.

                Oldsmar Tap House will be hosting a BA get together sometime in September. I am considering putting the Capricho Oscuro on tap during this event but Joe and I haven't completely decided if we are going to do it or not. It has been on wood since mid July. I really don't think that we will have to worry about the wood character being too mild. It is definitely there. I am considering blending some of the barley wine with the other 5 beers in the Capricho Oscuro to cut back on some of the wood character and to fight some of the oxidation. Anyone want to verbally twist Joe's arm to help me get my way? Email him.

                 I would like to thank Filip from Belgium for the very kind words about my beers. I know that the commercial beers will shadow the pilots and I am looking forward to making them.

                 I would also like to thank everyone else that has chimed in on Beer Advocate (Groups - South Atlantic) regarding our pilots, anyone that has sent name recommendations for the Double Nut Brown and any of you that have posted comments on our blog site. Your interest and support is greatly appreciated. All of you are nurturing the onset of startup and the quality of our beers. You are all invaluable to our efforts!

                 With that being said, I will close. I will write more as we receive new equipment and start construction. One final note before I finish, we will be attending the Atlanta Cask Fest next year (Jan. 20). If you are interested in going then try and acquire tickets as soon as possible. I would love to put together some sort of caravan or bus/van trip up there with a bunch of beer enthusiasts but I haven't discussed it with Joe yet so we will post on this matter later. Email/comment if you would like to take a trip up to ATL for this event in this format and who knows...it might actually happen (I imagine a bus with CCB beer on tap and at least one CCB pin or firkin on board).

                 Take care,

                 Wayne Wambles

                 Head Brewer

                 Cigar City Brewing