Equipment comes to The South Plains Project

Phil & Julienne Munts's old mill farmhouse in Arrie

Haik Avanesian

I got a call Thursday that the truck with my equipment would be on the overnight ferry from Germany and the driver would be in Trelleborg early Friday morning. When I got to the farmhouse in Arrie at 8:00 am, he was waiting for me. Last week I was there with Thomas Fransson and Haik Avanesian to tour the possible location for 'The South Plains Brewing Company'.

Haik is a chef from Copenhagen I've worked with for many years. 

Thomas works at the Malmö Brew-house and runs a national syndicated radio program for artisan craft brewers.

Thomas Fransson

Thomas is also the one that got me to enter the competition in August 2011 when my IPA took the bronze medal. Also he has been just a tremendous wealth of knowledge for me starting up this brewery.

We found some Polish guys with a forklift at a scaffolding company that would unload my truck for a little cash & beer. So the polish forklift driver managed to unload the kettle (500 kilos/1100 lbs) and the hot liquor tank from me and the German truck driver (neither spoke English or Swedish) when I looked down to see oil and water running out of the bottom of the forklift. The 40 year old forklift had broken a axle. The Polish guy went for help and me and the German truck driver muscled the 3 fermenters and the mash-tun off the truck and I managed to lollygag them into the garage..The German truck left and I had my tanks in the garage and the kettle sitting outside.. I then borrowed a pallet jack and jacked it up under the kettle and as hard as I tried, I couldn't move it. And the Polish guys came back and we couldn't move it. Finally I found a old Swedish farmer up the road and after a hour, he came with a ancient Volvo tractor with small fork-blades and was able to put the kettle in the garage. Only took me fours hours but I got it done. Everyone was happy with cash & beer. I feel like I've made a huge accomplishment getting my equipment here.

1200 liter kettle with hand crank sitting on the street on Möllegårdsvägen 12, Arrie

South Plains Project: The Steam Generator

A year ago I had never heard of a steam generator, now I need one. This is the most expensive piece of equipment I've bought, 3320 Euro (29,000 SEK or $4300) with the optional condensation recovery tank. I decided to buy new because I was a little nervous of buying a used thinking it could blow up. The Maxi 60 by Ghidini, just outside Milano, Italy can put out 5 bar of pressure and has a output of 55 liters steam using a 60kW fuse that can give me 51,700 kCal/hour or 81-83 Kg/hour. In short, it ROCKS! I'll be able to power my 1200 liter kettle and 650 liter Hot Liquor Tank and use a steam gun for cleaning. I need one more piece of equipment now, the brazed plate heat exchanger and I've found one I like for a good price, I just need to get the company to build me one and then I have everything for The South Plains Project.

Jennie Liwander's father's 60th birthday party

I wanted to write about a very nice menu I did for Jennie Liwander's father's 60th birthday party, he loves gourmet food so they hired me for the evening.  I started the menu with a seared scallop, on a bed of lemon braised greens with créme fraiche, then gratineed with a wine wine cream sauce & parmesan over it. It's a wonderful starter and sets the tone for the evening. Second course was Lobster Bisque, I made a fond from the shells and used real Canadian lobsters. The father said it was the best bisque he had ever had.Next was one of my favorites, Monk-fish...  I do this monk-fish in a way that is first poached in fish bouillon with herbs, then taken out and sauteed in brown butter with shallots & herbs and sliced so it's brown and green on the outside and white & moist in the center, served on lightly sauteed root veggies and served with a tangy white butter sauce on a bed of sweet polenta....many people have told me it's the best fish dish they've ever had. After they cleansed the palate with a raspberry sorbet, the main  course was fresh Irish Lamb Chops, seared then roasted and rested ½ hour so they are completely pink and very moist. They were served with eggplant caviar, thats eggplant roasted with garlic and thyme, pureed and filled in the roasted eggplant and baked with parmesan, also a cranberry chutney, Pomme Dauphinois Gratin potatoes and a black truffle sauce. For dessert they had the Gateau Basque, a vanilla bean cookie dough filled with  a rich dark cherry-rum filling, served with a red fruits sauce and I make some decorative caramel. It was excellent, and I'll quote Jennie Liwander who said:

Hej Jeff!

Vill bara tacka för en underbar middag! Vi njuter fortfarande av minnet av den utsökta maten och de goda vinerna. Småbråkar om vilken rätt som egentligen var godast....:-)!

Stort tack! 

Jennie 

which translated from Swedish means:

Hi Jeff!

Just want to thank you for a wonderful dinner! We still enjoy the memory of the delicious food and good wines. Small arguing about which course was actually taste the best ....:-)!

Many thanks!

Jennie 

The South Plains Project

It's been a long process since one year ago I decided to launch this microbrewery myself. I have changed ideas, purpose and the scope of this project countless times. After one year of saving & saving (thank you Icopal) I am finally as of this week purchasing my brewery equipment. I spent about 75,000 crowns ( $11,000) on five pieces of equipment. Most are 20-30 years old, I found them used in southern Germany. First my brew kettle:

It's a 1200 liter (317 gallons), steam jacketed stainless steel kettle with a hydraulic pump that can tilt it, mainly for cleaning, it has a conical bottom with a valve. Next my mash tun:

I bought a used 1150 liter agitator vessel that I will modify to use as my mash tun. I'll put in 125 kg of grains and 600 liters of water at the right temperature to get a perfect conversion of malt starch to malt sugar. The agitator propeller helps to keep the grains turning for a better conversion. The fermenting vessels:

I bought three of these to start with. I can use them for primary & secondary fermentation. They hold 900 liters and up to 3 bar pressure but I will fit it with a pressure relief valve I can control at say, ½ bar and keep my beer naturally carbonated. They have a really cool hatch in the top so I can dry hop.  And lastly, the Hot Liquor Tank. Funny name, it's actually a hot water tank but that's what it's called in brewery terminology.

It holds 650 liters and has multiple inlets and outlets and is heated by a steam generator via a inner coil. I'll use it for multiple purposes but mainly to heat the water to sparge (rinse) my mash, Right as I was ready to purchase, the Euro dropped and so the conversion was a great rate for me, saving me alot of money. The equipment is going on a truck this week and on it's way to Sweden