Update from Joe Short, Beer Farmer
Folks. It’s been a while. Pardon my tardiness. I have wanted to catch you up on life at Short’s for some time now. Inspiration and affordable time have been at an all time low lately. But here I am, ready to get everybody up to speed.
My enthusiastic multitasking, AKA – ADHD, has kept me very busy to say the least. I’m sure we’re all curious about the new brewery, so here’s the skinny:
SBC Production Facility (June 08) – The current status of the new brewery is slow and painful. We hope to be pushing water and steam through the new system sometime in August. On Wednesday (June 18th) the floor coating will be applied to the new floor. Finally the 28 days of waiting for the concrete to cure are over! Coating the floor with a urethane mortar system takes about 3 days, costs and arm, leg and most of your soul. This put us over budget significantly, but seeing how this is my “do over” brewery, I am taking the necessary precautions from the floor up. Of course this delays the whole project and much needed cash flow, but hey! How else are we going to keep beer on the shelf once we get it there? Hopefully by doing things right the first time. UGH. So far we have ripped out over 4500 sq. ft. of concrete, re-plumbed and custom built a sloped floor into a trench drain, poured a concrete pad for the new silo, built a small room for milling, and have dealt with months and months of bureaucratic forms, compliances and yes more forms and compliances to get those forms done, and applications and permits and oh yeah a series of catch 22’s that makes you go “hmmmm….”. In reality, the energy we’ve put into this section of our business could have already produced 10,000 cases of Huma by now, but I suppose we hall have a freedom that does not come cheap right?
Almost all of the equipment is in the Elk Rapids location. I’m still trying to figure out sizing of a boiler, chiller and cold storage, and how to pay for them. On top of the actual equipment and beer processing we’re also trying to figure out the bottler, labeler, paper for the labels, glue for the labels, and designing six packs and labels. The new facility also has lots of physical construction indoors that is needed, landscaping, and lots and lots of cleaning. It was formerly a machining and manufacturing building so it’s pretty dirty. There are also several overhead cranes we have yet to remove. To say the least, there is a long list ahead of us before we can start prying the tops off of those first bottles of Huma.Expansion Update (July 08) – looks like I never polished the first update to get it out in time, so I’ll do a quick refresh. Well the floor is done in the brewery/production area and most of the tanks are in place. We’re still hung up on sizing the boiler and making an addendum to the plans for a small boiler room addition. I’m hoping to get this figured out by the end of the month. Some of the tanks need some additional fabrication and the brew house still needs to be plumbed. Looks like the well drillers have come and gone, but it does not look like they are finished. The giant mound of concrete out back (the old floor) is currently being hauled away. I have a pretty good plan for the glycol chiller, more to develop today (7.15.08). We have most of the bathrooms finished and laboratory in good standing. There is still a bit of cosmetic work needed on the floors in the bathroom, lab and front reception area. The reception area is also in need of a re-model from the classic 70’s paneling. The master office still needs new flooring and there are still about a half dozen birds flying around the whole building shitting on everything. Once their babies leave the nests, they’re gonners! The cranes are likely to be removed next week to make room for the new cold storage room I still have yet to resource. The Silo should be here sometime in August and the mill room doors will be arriving soon so we can finish the mill room construction. Our packaging engineer Rich Bigham is learning more about how the labeler works every day. Inch by inch we are getting there.
Later in July 08 – What is actually happening in Elk Rapids? Our Elk Rapids expansion is to simply produce beer and lots of it. We have no plans to provide a tasting room, pub, food or retail outlet. For a few reasons:
1. We are zoned Industrial so we can’t have the retail component without a bunch of bureaucratic meetings, special permits, approvals etc. even if we wanted to.
2. We don’t have the money or resources to pull it off right now.
3. Not sure if the idea of a hospitality segment in Elk Rapids plays the role in our lifestyle strategy.
4. The idea of the expansion is to produce more beer (bottles and cans) in less time with the same amount of people with lower overhead and fewer headaches.
5. If no. 4 works out the way we want it, which means we gain more free time and the pursuit of a better quality of life outside of work can be achieved.
The Pub and Bellaire Brewery (June 08) – Life here never really seems to simmer, but we roll with the punches. Over this past year, our Bellaire location has undergone serious improvements and continues to see more of them. Last fall we installed a new cooler for the pub/deli operations, which gave us more room for brewery cellar tanks. All 20 of our cellar tanks now share one cooler, have their own carbonation stone and sample valve and are now on casters so we can move them more easily for cleaning. Those 20 tanks hold about 31,000 pints! During this cooler and tank overhaul phase we also stripped the old beer lines out of the cooler and replaced them all, along with a central manifold that allows us to manage the beers more efficiently without starting another snake farm. The Bellaire brewery is currently supplying all of the pub beer and distribution beer. We employed a whirl pool which allows us to brew two batches a day. So any given day we’re usually brewing, transferring, packaging, washing kegs and cleaning fermenters. Bellaire Brewing operations are commonly known as the beer circus. Managing 30 tanks and 20 beers is pretty impressive out of this facility. We’ve got several hundred accounts scattered all over Michigan right now really putting the squeeze on production. We are very excited about getting the Elk Rapids facility on line.
Just recently we have installed a pass through glass washer in the pub. Coming soon, we had a custom rack made to hold another two ovens to increase Deli efficiency. Lastly, we’re working employing a POS system and fountain soda! This should all help for a smooth summer and better service efficiency.The Pub and Bellaire Brewery (July 08) – We made it through another crazy Fourth of July. The pub brewery is cranking out some serious beer and the public are drinking it faster than we can make it. Summer festivals and beer functions are taking a bit more of my time than I would like, but it’s a good excuse to get out of the building(s) a few times a week. The Nautique is helping with the stresses of all the insanity that is Short’s Brewing Company and highlighting the reason why we do what we do and where we do it. Northern Michigan Rocks! Hopefully the next time we do an update we’ll have bottles of Huma rolling off the line.
May the Short’s be with us all………………………..
Joe
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Short's Brewing Company, located in downtown Bellaire, Michigan (MI), is a fine craft brewery serving up innovative brews and delicious deli food.
To find Short's near you, visit our Beer Locator Map.
121 North Bridge Street, Downtown Bellaire • 231-533-6622 • www.shortsbrewing.com