Its great when work and hobby get to mingle. Got called out to Firehouse Brewery in San Diego, to take care of a bee problem.
Grant and Brian at the brewery were gracious enough to offer a guided tour of the place. Firehouse has reciently moved into a larger building and are working hard at ramping up the production. All the guys there were friendly and inviting, especialy after I mentioned that I was a homebrewer. Brian took me out onto the brewery floor and showed off their 650 gal MLT, the 900 gal steam jacketed boiler, and those amazing 2 story fermenting tanks.
So here we are standing in the middle of this awesome brewery just talking homebrew. Brian was great to talk to and freely offered tips and info for a fellow brewer. They still have the sculpture that they used to use for homebrewing right in the center of the brewery floor. They still use it today for test brews and experimental recipies.
Once finished with the brew floor we stepped over to the filling machine. Brian said that short of the BMC factories, their Italian filler is the fastest comercial filling machine available and they have one of only four in the US. They can spin out 120+ bottles per min. Last stop on the tour was the keg room. I was very impressed, beer as far as I could see.
The guys at Firehouse said that they are planning on putting out 18k barrels this year. They currently only offer a pale ale and a heffe, but Brian said to expect a new IPA on the shelves later this year. The tour finished off with a gift of a 6er of their hefe and an open invite to stop by again and say hi.
If only I had known where my day was going to go, I would have made sure to keep the camera in my truck.
Grant and Brian at the brewery were gracious enough to offer a guided tour of the place. Firehouse has reciently moved into a larger building and are working hard at ramping up the production. All the guys there were friendly and inviting, especialy after I mentioned that I was a homebrewer. Brian took me out onto the brewery floor and showed off their 650 gal MLT, the 900 gal steam jacketed boiler, and those amazing 2 story fermenting tanks.
So here we are standing in the middle of this awesome brewery just talking homebrew. Brian was great to talk to and freely offered tips and info for a fellow brewer. They still have the sculpture that they used to use for homebrewing right in the center of the brewery floor. They still use it today for test brews and experimental recipies.
Once finished with the brew floor we stepped over to the filling machine. Brian said that short of the BMC factories, their Italian filler is the fastest comercial filling machine available and they have one of only four in the US. They can spin out 120+ bottles per min. Last stop on the tour was the keg room. I was very impressed, beer as far as I could see.
The guys at Firehouse said that they are planning on putting out 18k barrels this year. They currently only offer a pale ale and a heffe, but Brian said to expect a new IPA on the shelves later this year. The tour finished off with a gift of a 6er of their hefe and an open invite to stop by again and say hi.
If only I had known where my day was going to go, I would have made sure to keep the camera in my truck.
