Back to reality

Wow, do I ever have a lot of catching up to do at the brewery this week.

There's a massive pile of kegs in the cellar that need cleaning. I set up the keg cleaning machine so the caustic would be hot by the time I finished the weekly draft line cleaning routine.

Keg pile, before and after cleaning

While I was cleaning kegs, I also cleaned the empty bright tank #5. While that cleaning cycle was running, I kegged off the small amount of Hefeweizen remaining in bright tank #4, then cleaned that tank. Now I can filter the Maibock and the (completely-inapropriately-named) Schwarzbier into those two tanks on Wednesday.

While continuing to clean kegs, I transferred 14 barrels of the root beer that I made last week into the two empty root beer tanks in the cellar.

While continuing to continue to clean kegs, I ran four bags (200 pounds) of rye malt through the mill in preparation for tomorrow's brew. The mill is in the brewhouse on the second floor of the building. The keg washer is in the basement. I got my exercise for the week.

Then I finished cleaning the kegs...well, almost. The machine decided to quit working with five kegs left. I think it just got tired.

I was told that the health inspector was not at all happy about the mold in cellar. It seems to me that if he'd come do an inspection when I cleaned it, we'd all be happy. Instead, he prefers to do these surprise inspections for some reason. I'm going to have to add "mold scrubbing" to my weekly line-cleaning routine.

The root beer orders continue to stream in, and the stream will only get bigger as May 20 approaches. This is my busiest time of year. It wouldn't be so bad if there were some beer involved, but it's all that stinking sugar water.

By now my back was telling me that I was done for the day. A couple of Stouts at the bar, and I walked home.

Tomorrow: Brew Rye Lager, Dump Brown Ale. The rest of the week looks busier and busier.