Let the brewing begin...aka how one brewsystem, 3 fermenters, 1 CLT, and 1 bright tank arrived from China on September 5
Ok, as many of you know, the brewers here at Sketchbook have had white knuckles for weeks, as the progress of our brew system (from China, across the Pacific, across Canada, through customs) has unfolded. We thought we'd share this saga...especially since the story includes a unicorn, team-work, forklifts, pizza and...a happy ending.
First, we cleaned and cleared the decks:
and then we waited for the truck to arrive. Here's Cesar directing the driver, via cell, precisely how to navigate our wonderful alley.
And here's Shawn and Ces taking the first peek at what they ordered so many months ago..
Next, comes the unloading, aided by a forklift courtesy of Few Spirits! The forklift (which Cesar had way too much fun operating) came complete with a unicorn mascot, which we considered good luck.
A gang of friends (and people who just couldn't quite imagine how we were going to fit all these gleaming vessels into our space) collaborated to get the truck's cargo unloaded.
and the crew from Backyard Brewmasters were documenting along the way (look for some riveting edited footage coming from these great guys soon!).
It turned out that getting everything off the truck was the easy part. Our nano-space has nano-doors, so we had to figure out how to gently tilt each of the vessels onto their side! A lot of measuring was done.
The first tilt, transfer via dollies, re-tilt, position and lower procedure took about an hour. The last one--around 11 pm--took about 15 minutes. And every minute of the way we were thanking our Kickstarter fans who made much of this purchase possible!
After a Candlelight pizza break...we finished up. And when we looked around, our room-in-a-building-ready-for-anything space had turned into...a brewery!
Thanks to everyone who helped--and everyone who will drink our beer--we're doing this for you...and remember to stop by any Sunday in September to taste our latest brews, 2-5 pm.