Renovator's Delight...

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Andrew

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Just a quick update to the cats out of the bag thread a couple of months agotime flies when you are having fun. I often have the forum on in the background but never seem to have a lot of time to add my 2 cents worth

The latest developments
The Development Assessment Commission (planning SA) received no complaints about the brewery application. We are now awaiting the official final nod in writing.
Had another meeting in council this Thursday with the council building manager and architect to sort out a few minor details. Renovation work by the contracted builder has started! :)
The adjacent toilets are nearing completion. Pretty well all that remains is to make them look like a wrecked, beached barge (dont ask). :blink:
Equipment sourcing is on in earnest. Many thanks to lots of people linked to this forum for their leads/input. The wort-pig and I (jleske swapped to nonicman, hmmm... maybe I should change my handle on the forum to sparge chicken? brew-dog? kettle-rat? mash-cow? Must stop.brain now hurting) have lots to follow-up work to do. The pig has already found a rig or two worth a look and I am trawling about in bottling line quotes.. :beer:
The Steam Exchange Brewery website is still under construction, the boffins are working on a site design that looks stylish not kitsch and loads rapidly. Hopefully its phase 1 version will be operating before the end of the month with a link to this site, of course.
Recipes recipes recipes. As you know, we are aiming to have four specific beers constantly on tap (and bottled) plus one or two special or seasonals in rotation. Even though Ill have a real brewer in to do the job, Ive been brewing every week, personally focussing in on a few particular styles. The fine-tuning on my pilot rig continues.
The Southerly Buster (for want of a better name) is already a huge fav among the volunteer testers. A very simple yet dangerously drinkable affair, (Maris otter, dark crystal, roasted barley, Challenger and EK Goldings). A decent Kolsche is also on the cards. These are the two that I am personally concentrating on the most at the moment. As ever, the interesting path between producing beers relatively easily accessible to megaswil palettes and beers to get more discerning palettes enthusiastic, continues. With the onset of cooler weather, wort-pig now has a bit of work to do here yet!

Had an interesting conversation with a 71 year old 5th generation brewer from the Dusseldorf/Dortmund(?) area of Germany a few nights back, but will post stuff from that in a new thread.

Thats about it at the moment. Will post some pics of the building renovations soon.

Cheers.
:beer:
 
Excellent Andrew! Next time I am down south I will have a peek!

Looking forward to sampling those beers!

Jovial Monk
 
I'm so jealous. Got any jobs? :)
Wonder if the missus wants to move to SA???
 
Hey John,
My missus is from QLD originally, too.
Generally they aren't particularly enthused about moving south...

Cheers!
 
Good onya Andrew sounds fantastic.
Make sure you keep us all posted and get some photos for us to drool over :beer:

Hoops
 
OK for those (few!) brewers who aren't based in SA, here are a few pics of the brewery before renovations begin in earnest.
I've trimmed them down to less than 100Kb each so as not to annoy those not on broadband.

one.jpg

Pic one is the eastern end of the Railway Goods Shed - soon to be Brewery.
The tanks will be removed, the door will go to the other end of the building and be replaced with double doors. There will be a large outdoor platform (L-shaped so that the steam train can pull up along side) extending out towards where the cars are parked, and stairs across its full width and wheelcahir access ramp.
To the left and across the road are the toilet blocks currently under construction.

two.jpg

Pic 2.
This is a view of the brewery from the infamous Hindmarsh Island bridge, taken during the Wooden Boat Festival a couple of weeks back. The festival packs in around 12-15000 visitors in one weekend.

three.jpg

Pic 3.
A view towards the other (western) end of the shed.

four.jpg

Pic 4.
Another view from the easten end, but from the other side of the bridge.

five.jpg
Pic 5.
View from the northwest. It doesn't look too bad from a distance...
six.jpg
Pic 6.
View that customers will get from the side doors of the shed of the River Murray/Goolwa channel down towards the barrage.

These are the 'nice' pics. I'll post the nasty close-ups showing why the building needs several hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to renovate later.

Cheers!
 
Andrew, i have nowhere near enough brewing experience to even think about doing what you are, but even my limited brain can understand that you obviously picked a f&^%$#g good spot to put a brewery mate!, you've obviously got location, you're going to have shitloads of people on holidays visiting ( and we all know how easy it is to spend up big on holidays!!! ), not to mention the many fine beer conneiseur's in SA!!. Congrats, and good luck!!.
 
Andrew

I hope between the "Steam Exchange Brewery", "Gulf Brewery" and Grumpy's we can develop and push the micro produced beers acceptance in the market in SA.

I don't see us competing in the same turf (yet :D ). There are a few minor players at the moment, and we shall have to wait and see if they are serious in the market.

So, it's a toss up between you and me who has to cut the most red tape and have the most hassles in getting our ventures off the ground.

I like your location and it would be nice having a shed like that. Are you going to have a bedroom put in so you can sleep near your beers? :p

Cheers
Pedro
 
GulfBrewery said:
I hope between the "Steam Exchange Brewery", "Gulf Brewery" and Grumpy's we can develop and push the micro produced beers acceptance in the market in SA.


Top sentimnet! We all hope this will happen. Adelaide has very little choice in most of it's pubs, so a growing and diverse alternative would be greatly appreciated. I wish you all the best of luck and pray to the beer gods that your ventures are accepted by the wider public. I'll do my share and drink a few pints if and when they hit a bar near me.

CheersMAH
 
MJE1980 (helluva name, what, were your parents robots or are you on the run from the police?) I don't honestly consider myself to have the brewing experience either. That's why I'm getting Wort-Pig in to run that aspect.
It's important to remember that as important as the brewing obviously is, production is only a section of the whole thing - the everyday running of a business, red tape, ATO, construction, equipment, marketing, sales, etc etc....blahblahblah the list goes on, and will require a lot of attention from me to actually make a living out of this.
You're also right with site selection.... location location location, a golden rule that must be obeyed.
Peter/Pedro, I don't mean to rub it in, but I can't help myself here in bragging that the bedroom is at the other end of a great bike-track to Middleton. Absolute beachfront, walk out the front door and you are on the front dune. Sorry. Don't need a bed there, though the missus has suggested a fold-out sofa in the brewery just in case I'm too hammered to ride a bike home...

Cheers and all the best!
 
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