Our brewhouse assembly finally arrived this past Friday and I can’t even begin to tell you how relieved I am to have it home. Obviously, it’s the central element to our brewery and to have it sitting 900 miles away was no bueno, especially considering we bought it back in May. So, when the truck rolled in Friday morning, they couldn’t unload it fast enough. Or so I thought. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
As the guys from Underwood Machine Movers were sizing up the load and making plans, they called me over with a very concerned look – the kind of look you don’t want to see from the guys getting ready to unload your very expensive baby. Essentially, they assumed everything would be on pallets and had just brought a forklift.
The issue?
Nothing was on pallets.
If you’ve ever had large machinery carted around the country and loaded/unloaded, then you know it’s not cheap. Every minute we stood around trying to figure out next steps was costing us money. In the end, they decided they could get everything unloaded with the forklift since the equipment was light. Thankfully, they did an exceptional job, although there were a few moments that Shawn and I had to walk away because we couldn’t watch. After about three hours, the equipment was safely resting in the “brew room.”
We posted the pictures on social media and had a few questions as to why we left the equipment on it’s side. The answer being is that we’re not quite finished moving everything around just yet. The brewery floor needs a special coating that protects the cement from the caustic cleaners used to sanitize the stainless steel after brewing. That involves some diamond plate sanding and a few guys that know what they’re doing. Until that is finished, the equipment will likely stay on it’s side. We also have to work out the final location of the brewhouse in relation to the fermenters, the grist mill, brite tanks, walk-in cooler, etc. Luckily our smart-ass architect has been working hard at placing the equipment and you can see the rendering he forwarded me after seeing the pictures.
Seriously though, we’re lucky enough to be working with an architect who has quite a bit of experience with craft breweries and completely understands our vision. For those of you who plan on attending our invite only beer tasting and building walk through for investors/potential investors, you’ll get a first hand look at the blue prints as well as see renderings that will show our vision for the taproom. If you haven’t requested an invite yet, we have limited space and it’s filling up fast. You can still request an invite by dropping me a line at jeremy@blackdogbrewingcompany.com.
Just to whet your appetite, here’s an unfinished glimpse at what’s in store for the oustide of the brewery. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited as things are beginning to shape up and getting our brewhouse on site was a big piece of that puzzle. For now, it’s back to the rat race of chasing down permits and insurance. Cheers!
course of several years, David and Jacob built the brewery by hand, brick by brick. David, having experience as a cooper, even made the barrels. By WWI, Kuntz Brewery was selling 90,000 bbl’s of beer a year. For us math majors, that’s well over 2.5 million gallons. Unfortunately, the brewery only stayed in Kuntz hands for a couple of generations and was ultimately sold in 1930 to Canadian Breweries, LTD. The Brookston Beer Bulletin did a great article on the brewery which you can check out right 
