millstreambrewing.com

I just got an email from David Montz. He say that he has a small fermenter for sale. If any of you homebrewers out there would like nice stainless 50 gallon tank, this one is priced to move. He said any offers under 1000$ would be considered.

For those of you interested, I made a page just for it. Click here

And if anyone wants a 300 gallon open fermenter, we have two of them for sale as well.

I went to The Mill in Iowa City yesterday. They now have the John’s Grocery Belgian White ale on tap now. It labeled as “Wheat” though, so ask for that. I talked to my distributor today to see if he could clear that up, because it could cause some confusion. Obviously, no one in Iowa City is going to call it “John’s Grocery” beer. Its also on tap at Hanrahan’s (over by the Hamburg Inn) and its now available in six packs in two of the four Hi-vee’s in Iowa City. This is good progress… Hooray!

It is really dark down here, and quiet. I can actually hear ‘Them’ rustling around upstairs. The only other sounds are the steady drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, Drip, Drip, DRIP, DRIP, DRIP of the ice melting off the glycol lines. A maddening countdown to my doom. Must have more beer, much more.

No idea what’s going on out there. Heard a plane or something a while back. No people. Maybe there aren’t any! Maybe I’m all that’s left. (Now that would be scary.) I wonder how many other idiots are huddling in their walk-in coolers, meat lockers, or even ex-wive’s bedrooms waiting for the inevitable.

It’s getting warmer. Not too much longer now. Perhaps I should just make a dash for it. Maybe not. Here I have beer, at least, and my trusty beer glass. My friend, my final companion. Wait, what’s this, ‘They’ are moving, coming. Coming for my glass!!! Now they’ve gone too far. Where’s that torch, It’s hard to see with only the glare off the computer screen.

‘They’ are in my glass! They’re swilling my beer! As if things couldn’t get worse! Hold on…, they like it. I’m getting a little closer, the glass is full of rather content looking bugs, not too steady on their six feet. Wow, yuck, I didn’t know a bug could do that! (I guess people aren’t the only ones who fall victim to too much too fast.) I wonder if I can find a flashlight or something. (Who knows where Aaron left it.) ‘They’ have come into the cellar but now are just following me. There is a little light coming from upstairs, perhaps I can open a door…

Wow, they REALLY like the beer. They let me go upstairs to the taps where I obliged them by pouring them as many glasses as I could. They sucked’em down fast as I could pour. Wheat, Pilsner, Schild Brau, Oktoberfest, John’s, Stout, they liked them all! Maybe ‘They’ aren’t so bad after all. I put on the music and ‘They’ really started getting into it! They follow me everywhere now. I went outside to see what was what. No people. Where was everyone?

Finally, the sheriff’s truck pulled up as I sat in the beer garden nursing a Schild Brau with about a billion drinking buddies. The expression on his face was worth everything! I told him what happened and he loaded his truck with as much Millstream as it would hold. He reported the whole town was held up at the junior high in Middle Amana. Apparently some farmer was working on breeding these little guys to keep away more vegetarian pests. Unfortunately, ‘They’ developed more aggressive tendencies, not to mention an unchecked libido!

Things are getting back to normal, Aaron was held up with everyone else. Now he is experimenting. We went to the Handy Mart and brought back a variety of beers. In blind taste tests ‘They’ preferred Millstream over any other brand by swarms. (One of the big brands, I won’t mention Budweiser’s name, almost started another uprising!)

Our salesperson turned up, too. Someone found her wandering back along the highway. Damn tourists! Well, that’s enough excitement for now, I’m going home to you-know with my wife. Happy Halloween!
By the way, if you see any of those little orangish ladybugs, you better make sure you have plenty of Millstream beer on hand!

I am writing this from the cellar, on my lap top. It’s the only place I’m safe. Those little nightmares don’t like the cold down here. Neither do I.

Yesterday went from bad to worse. I got the bright idea to try blasting the bugs with steam. I had a long heavy hose I could connect to a steam line. It worked well. I killed thousands of ‘Them’ as I tried to steam clean the building. Just when it seemed most were driven away or cooked, more came. They swarmed in around the back door, the windows, through any little hole. They didn’t look like they were particularly pleased with me. I would think if you had several million siblings, children, and in-laws you would be happy if someone reduced their numbers for you! I kept blasting away at ‘Them’ until the boiler couldn’t keep up and shut down. They started closing in.

That’s when I got the idea to retreat to the cellar, but I knew I would need a coat, some food, and what ever else I could grab to stay down there for long. They had me cut off at both ends of the building on the main floor. Everything I needed was upstairs, across a squirming sea of ‘Them’. I needed a diversion or something to lure them out of my path.

Just then there was a banging on the back door. Someone was here! I yelled “Be Careful!” to whom ever but to no avail. It was the UPS man. He burst in only to meet ‘Them’ head on. As he stopped to look down a huge speckled mass peeled off the ceiling and covered him. I’ll never forget the look on his face as he turned in horror and bolted back out the door, screaming. But that was the diversion I needed. I darted past the preoccupied mass up the stairs. I looked out the window briefly to see the man running madly through the Colony Inn parking lot and then out of sight.

As soon as I turned from the window, I noticed my blow torch sitting on my bench. Perfect. I grabbed it on my way to the office. I grabbed my coat, some munchies Aaron left out, and this computer. I lit the torch and began the now long journey to the cellar, Indiana Jones style. (I knew watching all those movies would eventually pay off.) The prospect of becoming tiny bits of charcoal seemed to keep ‘Them’ at bay and I moved along. Down to the main floor, past the silent bottling line, through the door into the salesroom. Ahh, chips and salsa, I figured Teresa wouldn’t mind if I nabbed some from the shelves under the current conditions. Oh yes, my beer glass, I knew I would definitely need that!! Then down the stairs to the cellar, a box of stuff under one arm, the torch blazing in the other hand. But a hideous carpet following close behind.

Once in the cellar, I turned down the thermostats in both rooms. The overhead fans whined as the colder air came pouring out. But I seemed to be safe, with lots of beer to keep me company. I did my best to console those full tanks, but eventually I think I just passed out in a blur of relieving numbness.

Today, no numbness, except from the cold. Not feeling too good. ‘They’ are waiting for me out there. Playing solitaire isn’t helping. The thought of more beer, well, I’m sure you’ve been there. Chips and salsa is good, though. I had Aaron’s fancy bagels twice, not so good the second time. Not sure how long I can hold out here.

The lights just went off. Along with them went the cooling. It’s just a matter of time now. One or two days if the weather is warm. Then they’ll come. I’m turning off the computer now, save its batteries. More later, maybe…

All the strange happenings at the brewery were explained today. I bought a new shop vac for the brewery this weekend to replace the one that some how got all chewed up. I came in early (5:30 a.m.) to brew Wheat beer. When I got here those japanese beetles were everywhere as usual. I set the vacuum down to begin running the water for the brew. I ground the grain and began the first temperature rest for the mash. During this time I start C.I.P.’ing (brewery lingo for cleaning in place) the heat exchanger we use for cooling the wort (unfermented beer). After all this was going I had time to do my usual ‘debugging’ with the vacuum. As I approached it, I saw swarms of those beetles all over it. They were chewing it up! Not knowing what to do at first, I continued with my brewing while I thought.

The next couple of hours went without incident. I decided it was time to bring in the professionals since these pests were getting a little out of hand. I called our exterminator, it took a while as the line was busy. When I finally got through, they said they’d get here as soon as they could but lots of folks were calling with similar problems. It could be a few days.

Then Tom called me, he wasn’t coming in today. He worked all weekend and was going deer hunting. I asked if they where having similar problems in their house. He said they were but the pest control people were on their way.

At 10:00 a.m. it was time to open the salesroom. No one showed up. The town was oddly quiet. I went to unlock the salesroom door to open myself but I stopped in my tracks. As I entered the salesroom, a large black and orange mass moved out of the corners towards the door, covering it. O.K. now I was freaking! The little S.O.B.’s wouldn’t let me open! I knew Teresa would be furious. I tried to clear them away with a broom but more kept coming. I decided to wait for Aaron, he’d be here around noon. He has had more experience with bugs and might have an idea. Meanwhile, things remained quiet.

12:00 and no Aaron. 1:00, still no Aaron. Irritated, I tried to call him. No answer. I called home, my wife, Jerri, answered. I felt a relieved, but only for a moment. I told her what was going on, thinking she’d wonder how much I had drank already (I was beginning to wonder the same thing). Her response, however, was no comfort. She said everyone was being advised to stay indoors but the radio wouldn’t say why. I knew why.

It was time to leave. I shut off the steam, giving up on the brew, and grabbed my stuff. I opened the back door, no problems there. But I went no further. My car was covered with beetles. They were everywhere! I slammed the door closed. Now what?! I picked up the phone again, no dial tone this time. Thoughts about what happened to our missing salesperson entered my head. Could she have been…dinner?

They are leaving me alone, for now. I resumed brewing just to clear my head. I’ll keep recording things as long as I can, its not like I can go anywhere. Things are so quiet…

Wow what a day! I’m just frazzled! Lets see, first, I came in early to transfer two beers for bottling on Tuesday. Its time to bottle the second batch of stout and another batch of White Ale.

Then right when I took over from Chris on brewing, Channel 2 News called up and said they would like to come down and interview us about our GABF Silver Medal. They have been covering the event the whole time, and were even at the GABF when we won the medal!

So they came down during the busiest moment of my day. We brewed Schild Brau today, and I was right in-between the first and second batch. They shot some stock footage of me hosing down the kettle. I was like “I can hose this as long as you would like!”. But a few minutes seemed to be enough.

Then they interviewed me. I tried to be as truthful as possible, without sounding too haughty about the win or dismissive of the award. I’m actually not sure what I said, in retrospect. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I remember trying to emphasize just how difficult it is to win a medal, and to win one consistently. Finally, a local homebrewer, Jeff Schaefer, just happened to be in the tasting room dropping off his samples for the THIRSTY CLASSIC. So they interviewed him too! What luck! He was also kind enough to give Farmer Don a ride home after he dropped off his grain truck. Thanks Jeff!

They said they are going to air the Special Feature on Nov 1st and/or 2nd. Someone please record it for me (I’m sure I’ll be here brewing or something).

That threw off my schedule. But I was just about back on track when Scott and his fiancee Dawn dropped by from the Old Capitol Brewery (formerly Fitzpatrick’s in Iowa City). They are opening up on the 31st of THIS MONTH. Wow! He seemed very knowledgeable about both beer and restaurant business. He said that they are going to try to make 6-8 of their own beers, and they will have many other beers from other breweries on tap on the “old” side of the bar. He mentioned a belgium beer, Mackeson’s XXX stout, and our Schild Brau. He said they have been very busy overhauling the place. All the tap lines have been replaced (about time!). They are considering what to do with Gary’s old brewing system. There just is not enough room in the place as it is, and they are going to tear out the old system and replace it either with grain storage, or with serving tanks. Yes that’s right, there are no serving tanks, so there is currently a heck of a lot of kegging involved in getting the beer to the bar. He agreed with me that it was nice equipment, but monstrously oversized. Its a 20bbl system (we only have a 10bbl). A seven bbl system would have been plenty fine and left more room for more tanks and ingredients storage.

Well I was thoroughly impressed by Scott, and I wish him luck in his endeavors. I really can’t wait to try his beers. It will be so great to have friendly brewpub on board in this area, its like having neighbors again, its been QUIET around here lately!

Finally I just noticed that both the THIRSTY and IBU Homebrewing Clubs have great new websites up… fancier than this one! Congrats! I might just have to try to one up them (but I just finished redesigning this site…)