Monday, February 04, 2008
Anchor Brewing
On Friday night I attended a private tour/party at Anchor Brewing in San Francisco. I was a guest of my friend Raj who was invited because he is a member of RockMed. It was really cool to see the facilities at a medium/small-sized brewery. I had a couple glasses of Old Foghorn which is their Barley Wine and is my favorite of their beers.
Here are a bunch of beautiful copper boiling kettles. I can't imagine how much these things are worth just in terms of the copper, let alone the actual value.
There was a room dedicated to storing huge bricks of hops. It smelled great and it's impressive to see how much they have in light of the recent increase in global hop prices.
Here we are surrounded by large beer vats listening to Tom the tour guide. Several of the vats were encased in ice and I asked him why. He said they do it in the last few days before bottling because it forces the particulates to settle and lets them pull out a more pure beer.
Here are a few pictures of the bottling room. I couldn't help but think of the Laverne & Shirley theme song.
Lots of big power switches:
A view of the inside of a boiling kettle. I had no idea there was anything inside of there. I thought it would be empty. This is apparently some kind of stirring arm.
Buttons that control the boiling kettle room:
Some mystery valves in the boiling kettle room:
And here is a picture of me brewing beer in the backyard yesterday:
I'm making an Amber Lager. I can only make Lagers in the winter since they need to ferment at 48-58 degrees. I have the container sitting in my garage surrounded by a sleeping bag. It is at a pretty constant 57 degrees. It should be done in about five weeks.
Here are a bunch of beautiful copper boiling kettles. I can't imagine how much these things are worth just in terms of the copper, let alone the actual value.
There was a room dedicated to storing huge bricks of hops. It smelled great and it's impressive to see how much they have in light of the recent increase in global hop prices.
Here we are surrounded by large beer vats listening to Tom the tour guide. Several of the vats were encased in ice and I asked him why. He said they do it in the last few days before bottling because it forces the particulates to settle and lets them pull out a more pure beer.
Here are a few pictures of the bottling room. I couldn't help but think of the Laverne & Shirley theme song.
Lots of big power switches:
A view of the inside of a boiling kettle. I had no idea there was anything inside of there. I thought it would be empty. This is apparently some kind of stirring arm.
Buttons that control the boiling kettle room:
Some mystery valves in the boiling kettle room:
And here is a picture of me brewing beer in the backyard yesterday:
I'm making an Amber Lager. I can only make Lagers in the winter since they need to ferment at 48-58 degrees. I have the container sitting in my garage surrounded by a sleeping bag. It is at a pretty constant 57 degrees. It should be done in about five weeks.
