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