Our 4,000 pound Pro Refrigeration, Pro Chiller, getting installed on roof. This is a top of the line, energy efficient model that will cool our 40 barrel fermentation tanks by use of glycol. In fact, this machine is so dynamic we opted to use it to cool our 20×40x16 walk in cooler - a move that's as green as it gets.
Blue jean Insulation: Yep, you read that right, we're using denim insulation. The product is called UltraTouch, by Bonded Logic (cool name by the way.) Basically, it is made with post-industrial denim and cotton fibers. The product contains over 85% recycled denim and cotton fibers, and does not contain any harmful chemicals or irritants and does not pose any VOC or off-gassing concerns. Bonus! Some of the cotton used is grown right here in the good ol' US of A.
Epoxy: Brew house and bottling room floors are finished- in a non-slip epoxy that will seal the concrete.
Killer Kegs: Bring it On! The project gets "real" when a huge 40' truck filled with 200 kegs appears at Mother Earth Brewing. We now have 100 half barrel kegs (each keg contains roughly 120 pints) and 100 1/6 of a barrel kegs (roughly 40 pints in each.) They're brand new, ready for some sweet brew, and ME logo embossed.
Next week, I'll share a preview of our amazing beer labels and exceptional tap handles. Stay Tuned.
Peace,Love and Beer..................................TM
Did someone say organic hops?? Mother Earth did, and we are currently in the process of growing our own hops right here, in good old Eastern North Carolina.
We planted Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Galena hop rhizomes and they are really taking over. We know it will be a long growing process but we expect them to grow approximatley 20 feet within the 1st year and even more than that in years 2 and 3. We are crossing our fingers on all the hops and are really giving them the tender, love, and care they need. Hopefully, in a couple of years we will be able to use our locally grown organic hops in one of the future Mother Earth brews that are yet to come.
As far as construction goes............ THE WALLS ARE OUT!!!!!!!!!!! The last remaining wall has come down and we will have our windows installed within the next couple of weeks!!!!!
Mother Earth continues to make progress and all our contractors continue to amaze me with their dedication, optimism, and prompt timing. As I have said in some previous post all our corporate offices will be located on the 2nd floor and overlook the brewing area. We have insulated the entire ceiling with soy based insulation. Soy based insulation will give our ceiling a better seal making it more energy efficient and more comfortable than traditional insulation. Soy insulation is also water and soy based which makes it more environmentally friendly.
To take it a step further we are insulating our interior walls with recycled denim/blue jean insulation. Our interior insulation will be composed of recycled blue jeans making it 100% post recycled natural fiber and LEED certified.
Helping the environment is a major interest of Mother Earth and we are working really hard to incorporate new, unused, and undiscovered eco friendly materials and concepts.
We also have wonderful brick masons that have done a great job. Thanks to Marty West and his great crew we have been able to salvage all the bricks that were originally in our building and re-use them. We have really focused hard on salvaging anything original and using it in our remodel. We have bricked around the upstairs windows and they have recently been installed!! We still have many more windows to go but that is a good start!
As you can see a lot has happened since my last blog! We have also installed all our trench drains and run plumbing to them as well. The City of Kinston has been great to work with and has really done so much to make the construction of Mother Earth as smooth as possible. The city installed a 2 inch water line for us that will give us more than enough water pressure to make our great brews. Joe and Ernie got the trench drains set a couple of weeks ago and our plumber, Buck, has hooked to the new 2 inch line and run all the underground plumbing.
We have been working really hard getting all the plumping in place and making sure everything has been completed before we pour all the concrete. We really wanted to "Dot our I's and Cross our T's" b/c once the 12 inch concrete, is poured there is no turning back.
Everything has been completed, the ground has been prepped, and the concrete is ready to go down.
THE CONCRETE WAS POURED TODAY!!!!!!!!
We have really been excited about getting the concrete poured. Getting this massive slab of concrete is a huge step for Mother Earth. We have all our contractors ready to go and everything should start to come together very quickly. We will have windows going in the downstairs within the next week. We will also begin framing our downstairs bathroom, workroom, lab, and boiler room within the next week as well. HVAC is getting ready to start in the next couple of days and the painting started today as well! Electricians have been working diligently for a couple of weeks and we are starting to see a lot of progress in all our electrical work. Thanks Triple R for providing great service in addition to great work!!! We are constantly working in all aspects and will be seeing drastic changes in the building within the next three weeks.
We are also scraping the walls and washing all the brick on the interior of the brewery to bring the original look back to reality. We are really excited about all the things we have done to preserve this historic downtown building, not to mention the environment.
Mother Earth continues to work hard every day to make sure each and every one of you will have some unbelievable brews to drink within the next couple of months. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and that makes me extremely happy! We are constantly thinking of new ways to preserve the environment and provide all of Mother Earth's friends awesome brews that will give every one the passion and love for Mother Earth that all the members of the Mother Earth Team share. I will be blogging again soon with all the exciting updates that will be going on in the next several weeks.
Peace, Love, and Beer..............................TM
Mother Earth was one of the many craft breweries to attend the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference in Boston. We had a great time and got to meet so many great people in the craft beer industry. We had an unbelievable time with Rob and Alan from Premier Stainless (pictured above) and the knowledge we took back to Mother Earth is irreplaceable. We are getting our brewing equipment from Premier and it was really enjoyable spending quality time with Rob and Alan. We are looking forward to having them in Kinston in about 4 weeks to do our install!!!!
The Craft Brewers Conference is a really fun and educational experience. There is a big trade show that allows you to meet vendors from all over the world, plus a ton of seminars taught by colleagues in the brewing industry. The CBC gives new breweries excellent perspectives of the exciting times that are yet to come.
Back in March Josh and I went to Delaware and spent a couple of days with our friend Sam Calagione at Dogfish Head. It was really great to see Sam again in Boston. Sam has been so helpful to us and I can't thank him enough for all the advice and support he has given us, not to mention this delicious Burton Baton I am sipping on while I type this blog! Thanks Sam!!!!!!!
On Thursday night of the CBC we went to Harpoon Brewery where they had 60 beers from different Northeast breweries on cask. For those of you who don't know, cask beers are often referred to as "real ale". Cask Beer is brewed from only traditional ingredients and matures naturally. This unfiltered, unpasteurized beer still contains live yeast, which continues conditioning the beer in the cask which is known as secondary fermentation. This process creates a gentle, natural CO2 carbonation and allows malt and hop flavors to develop, resulting in a richer tasting beer with more character than standard keg beers. Cask beers are served room temperature without any extraneous gas, usually by manually pulling it up from the cellar with a hand pump or beer engine. Ahh...Cask beers are so yummy!!!!!! Mother Earth is looking forward to serving some of our beers on cask in the Tap Room so get ready for a mouth full of flavor.
Anyway, it was a great time at Harpoon and we were able to spend some time with Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing and this year's CBC keynote speaker. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Greg. I think he has done a lot for the craft brewing community and he is so eager to see the craft beer industry succeed. If you have not seen the video Greg made to kick off his CBC keynote speech I highly suggest you watch it. It shows the respect and camaraderie that all the people in the craft brewing industry share. http://www.vimeo.com/4298464.
Greg was really excited about our project and even sported a Mother Earth sticker during cask night at Harpoon!! Thanks Greg for everything you have done for Mother Earth and the craft brewing industry.
It is always great to see familiar faces when you are traveling but also great to meet some new faces along the way. The CBC gave me the opportunity to see some old friends but also make some new friends. Cask night at Harpoon seemed to be the night that everyone was talking and getting to know each other. I don't know why??? It could have been the 60 cask beers?? Anyway, I was able to meet a North Carolina Colleague who I had a great time with. Thanks to a mutual friend sending me a Facebook message, I was able to hang out with George Allen of Bison Brewing in Charlotte, NC. I had a great time with George and really enjoyed the information and feedback we gave each other about the North Carolina craft beer scene. I look forward to a long relationship with George and Bison Brewing in Charlotte.
I would also like to thank Sam again for this Immort Ale that I am now sipping on since the Burton Baton is now gone.
Sam, do you make a beer that is not unbelievable???
Well, since we have gotten back from the CBC we have had all kinds of things going on with the building. I feel like things are really starting to move and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. All our sub contractors are lined up and they are all eager to get the project finished. The boys at Ernie Everett Site Prep are still working away and I can't wait to post another blog and talk about the progress we are all making. This week we poured part of the cement slab that will support our 40 BBL fermenters and Uni tanks, which is just the beginning to all the concrete we will need to support all the our brewing equipment.
Mother Earth is dilige
ntly working and things are starting to shape up. All the down stairs window openings will come out next week and the remainder of the concrete should go in next week as well. We have a wonderful carpenter, Tony Hughes, and he is working on getting the Mother Earth corporate offices, lab, and workroom framed up. Tony is on the ball so we should have some updated pictures very soon! Needless to say, the next few weeks at Mother Earth are going to be really exciting!!
Peace, Love, and Beer.............................TM
