Brewers Nightmare

Bruce LeBlanc stopped in this morning. Bruce reviews beers for the Up Next supplement for the St. Cloud Times. Bruce is also president of the Cloudy Town Brewers home brew club and all around great guy. Anyhoo...Bruce informed me he had stopped in Friday night to try the three brews we have on. He confessed something strange was going on with the beer. He didn't go back for seconds on any of them. Bruce has always been very kind with my beers, so I'm like oh crap! Whats going on?! We went to the downstairs bar and I let Bruce sample all the beers again in a glass that I had washed and he was impressed! "These do not taste like the beers I had Friday night". The culpret? Too high a concentration of cleaner in the glass washers-aarrgh! Now, I sample everything I put on tap many times (tough job eh?), but I apparently did not use the glassware that was served Friday-geez who knows how long it was used-egads. Anyway, we are on top of the situation and it is being resolved with the glass washer company. It just kills me when things like this happen, but they are a reality in the brew pub world. I really feel for brewers who have to ship out their beer and lose all control of it. I'm not sure if this situation had anything to do with the person who commented in the last post or if it is just a matter of different tastes, but I do hope they come back and give us another chance. I care a great deal for my product and I want to make sure that folks are enjoying it. Hopefully this will become just a bump in the road to a great future for our little local brewery.

Growlers Now Available

Stop on in and pick up some McCann's brew to go. Growlers are now on sale. Half gallon containers of the freshest beer around.

Got Beer? We Do!

Three of the five brews are now on tap. Yeah!
Fresh beer in St. Cloud!
Deep Seven and Prairie Porter should be on the middle of next week. Thanks for the patience.

Roll Out the Barrels

If the stars align the High Bank Amber, McCann's Golden Ale and Little Abbey Ale should be on tap tomorrow afternoon.
I hope to have the Deep Seven IPA and Prairie Porter on earlyish next week.
We recieved our growlers today. I'm hoping for state approval soon so we can start selling them.
Thank you all for all of the support leading up to this. I hope to share a pint with you all soon.

One More to Go

I've been brewin' like crazy all week. Just the Prairie Porter to brew tomorrow and then we wait.

I brewed the Deep Seven IPA today and it was a back breaker. Three English malts and four hop varieties (two U.S./two English). Gravity clocked in at 1.067-yee ha! Five full 44 gallon buckets of spent grain to the farmer.

Another thanks to Jon W. for the High Bank Amber logo.

Brewing Pictures

The mash.

First runnings off the mash.

Top view of vorlauf (mash recirculation).

First runnings into brew kettle.

The sparge.

Wort boiling.

In Other News...

We have just been approved by the St. Cloud City Council to sell off sale growlers. They should be here by the time the beers in ready to pour.
Wow, it's been a good day. I even got a new song written this weekend. Things are looking up.
Off to bed to get some sleep for tomorrows brew day.

Approved!

I got word today we are approved to start brewing! Thank you all for your patience during this lengthy process.
Stay tuned for brew day photos and lots of news in the coming days.

While We Wait...

Since I'm twiddling my thumbs waiting for approval to brew I thought I'd show you some photos from a recent trip to New Ulm, MN.

I just love seeking out old breweries. They ooze history to me. This is the old Hauenstein Brewery. It is now a rental space. It's nice when you find a old brewery that has been kept up. Sadly, most are in disrepair.

The brewery started in 1864 and continued operation until 1972.

Another shot.

Could this outlet possibly be a spent grain chute? I could imagine a truck underneath loading up.

More Hops!

My second shipment of hops came in today-Yeah! Maybe I can sleep a little better. We are looking pretty good hop wise now and I have one more shipment of imports coming.
Now if I can only start using them.

Brrrr!

-14 F this morning. Looks like we actually have a real Minnesota winter this year.
Sorry for the lack of updates , but there hasn't been anything new to report. The government gives us a list of items it needs-we send them in-then they ask for more. It's really been a frustrating process. They say we should be approved to brew next week, but I've heard that four weeks in a row now. I'm trying to stay sane.
I'll keep you posted on any new developments. Have a good weekend.

Winterfest Sold Out

Well, it took 52 minutes this year. Tickets are all gone. Hope some of you were able to get some.

Let it Snow

St. Cloud recieved it's first measurable snow yesterday. Time to get the studded tires on the bike for my brewery commutes. I love winter riding. I'll take cold over 90+ degrees anyday.
Reports are we were very busy at McCann's over the weekend. Thanks to all who came. I hope the new staff wasn't overwhelmed.
I'll keep you posted on brewing news this coming week.