Bottling Beer

I've been very busy the last couple of weeks. Besides recovering from the worst flu known to man, I taught the first brewing class of the year in San Miguel and brewed, got a logo designed, bottled and labeled several batches of beer.

The brewery logo - thanks Susan!

I've realized that I will need to schedule and get attendance for regular beginner and all-grain brewing classes if I'm going to be able to afford to stay here permanently. Although I'm brewing a lot of beer and working hard to get people interested in buying it, it's a slow battle and from my projections, will not afford me a living for quite a while. So, I have to be realistic about this project and put more emphasis on getting Beer School attendance.

The first all-grain class only had two students but they were enthusiastic and seemed to have an enjoyable experience. We brewed together, an IPA that when complete I'm hoping will be for sale at The Beer Company in San Miguel. The brew session went fine with the exception of a stuck sparge. Together we managed to dump the wet grain into a couple of buckets at which point I switched out the braided hose for a slotted manifold. This solved the problem and we continued on with the brew.
Both students spoke English which was a good thing considering my Spanish is no bueno. Fortunately, I met an interpreter that wants to help with the Spanish speaking students in future classes. Next class up will be a beginner (malt extract with steeping grains) class scheduled for January 20th. and I'm looking forward to having Mexican students in the class and having the experience of working through an interpreter. Naturally I'm studying my Spanish and should be able to go it alone by next year.

Students eager to learn the all-grain process

There are other things I've managed to accomplishment  in the last couple weeks while enduring what could only be referred to as the Mexican flu from hell. I brewed two more batches of pale ale and an IPA which are now in kegs and I've got another pale ale in the fermentor from a batch in which I acidified both the mash and the sparge water. Oh yeah, I've got a reverse osmosis water filter limping along that could provide the brewery with soft water at a rate of about five gallons a day. This I'll use to dilute the extremely hard water. We've got a water sample sent off to Ward Labs as of today and next week I will be able to use the information from that report to determine the dilution ratio needed for the tap water in the brewery.

Beer! Bottled, labeled and ready for shipping

Oh, by the way, if you pledged money for the Beer School project during my Kickstarter promotion last year and were disappointed that we didn't make the goal and you're still itching to donate, I'm totally open to accepting it anyway. Just click on the Donate button on the side bar. It'll be put to good use, like the purchase of a white board. Cheers!