What goes into operating a distributing microbrewery in Minnesota?! So. Much. Stuff. This week’s blog will dive into some of the chaos we see on a week to week basis just in the brewhouse!
Andy, Zach, & Russ mashing in
A very full kettle of wort AKA baby beer
Monday: Canning (2-6 hours depending on how much & how many), kegging, cleaning, sanitizing, transferring beer from fermenters into brite tanks, sometimes brewing; inventory management like ordering grain, hops, yeast, cans, labels and organizing the cold room as space is freed and refilled
Tuesday: Typically brewing, cleaning, organizing
Wednesday: Sometimes brewing, cleaning, potentially canning, clean the taproom draftlines
Thursday: Sometimes brewing, deep cleaning projects, washing and sanitizing kegs
Friday: Misc task day like transferring, kegging, cleaning, receiving shipments of cans, grain, etc
Everyday and/or as needed: Monitoring fermentation (taking specific gravity readings with the hydrometer to determine how much sugar is left for the yeast to eat and gives us a general idea on how far along we are in the fermentation process), tasting beers off the tanks to check for off flavors and flavor development, yeast harvesting, dry hopping, labeling, recipe development, label and beer registration, sending THC seltzers out for lab testing, etc.
TLDR: Lots and lots of cleaning and moving things around in a very wet environment.
The Wonder Twins Zach & Russ
Even though we have a lot of fun there are still a lot of administrative duties that need to happen while the fermentation does its work! Making sure all the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted can take up an immense amount of our time and we’re extremely lucky to have a great crew ready to do whatever needs to be done! With being a manufacturer that makes intoxicating beverages, we are highly regulated by several governmental bodies we have to inform what we are doing, when, and why, and pay them for the privilege - it is a lot of paperwork every day.
Andy taking a sample
Collaring the kegs for their new home
If you have any questions, feel free to email Tasha & Andy at beer@klockowbrewing.com!
Fermentation kicking off
Next week we’ll share more about sales and self-distributing our products! Prost!
Big Russ teasing Andy from the taproom
Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, 6/3 - 12pm-6pm & Wednesday, 6/4 - 11am-3pm: Memorial Blood Drive
Sunday, 6/8 All day: Board Games & Records Day
Tuesday, 6/17 6pm-8pm: Third Tuesday Trivia
Wednesday, 6/18 2pm-5pm: Northern Lights Mystic Market
Beer (& Seltzer & NA) Drops 5/19-5/23:
Local:
Pokegama Plaza Liquor
Eagles Club
Pickled Loon
Zorbaz on the Lake
Boulder Taphouse
Super One Liquor
Eagle Ridge Golf Course
Smoke on the Water
Sammy’s
Pokegama Grill
NoPo
Hotel Rapids
Ely:
Mike’s Drive-in Liquor
Ely Liquor
Zup’s Liquor
Boathouse Brew Pub
Marcell & Bigfork & Talmoon & Deer River:
North Star Lake Resort
Big Fork Wilderness Bar
Hayslips
Frontier Sports
Antler Store
Balsam Store
Winnie Trading Post
Up The Range:
Crossroads Convenience
Super One Liquor Virginia
Super One Liquor Hibbing
Keyboard Liquor
The Great Outdoors Bottle Shop
MJ’s