Day 25: I've been working in a brewery for 25 days!

Today was a great day! Well, everyday is, somedays I just don't realize it. Today I was self-sufficient! Here is a schedule of my day:

6:59 AM: Wake up to my alarm on my cell phone. I had a text from the boss saying "Come in at 9, see you then!"
7:00 AM: Went back to sleep
8:15 AM: Woke up (next to my hottie gf) and got ready for work
9:03 AM: Decided to grab a breakfast sandwich on the way to work... yummy!
9:15 AM: Arrive at work, Steve says "Hi"
9:26 AM: Made fun of Steve for clogging our spray ball after trying to clean FV3... wow it is dirty!
10:45 AM: Commenced kegging the Steep N' Deep Winter Ale
11:30 AM: Finished kegging the Steep N' Deep (by myself)
11:33 AM: Steve leaves for the rest of the day!!! OMG I am on my own!
12:05 PM: Started cleaning BT2
12:56 PM: Lunch, leftovers from Kelly, YUM!
1:17 PM: Started cleaning FV3 with leftover wash from BT2
1:38 PM: Emptied CIP cart, refilled to clean FV4... OMG I'm up on a ladder 15 feet in the air and the CIP spray ball is burning my hand!!!


2:21 PM: Start cleaning FV4
3:00 PM: Is it time to start drinking yet? No
3:15 PM: It's Beer Thirty!!! I start with an ESB and finish up cleaning FV3
3:18 PM: Finished with the ESB!!! haha jk
3:18 PM: Again cleaning FV3 with leftover wash (this time from FV4)
4:05 PM: Finish cleaning FV3, time to get more beer, this time Hopfest '09, and get ready to leave!
4:45 PM: All tanks are open and sparkling on the inside! The floors are scrubbed under them! I'm ready to relax (and drink beer #3, the Headplant Pale Ale!)


5:01 PM: Walk out into the brewery and find my friends waiting for me! I sit down and relax!
5:05 PM: I realize that Kelly's Buffalo Chicken Pasta Recipe got added to the menu!!! Wow, Congrats babe!


7:15 PM: Blog writing for all you out there... how are you all doing?

I had some questings asked yesterday in the comment section about the gross yeast video:

"Do you wash that before next use?" No, this is waste yeast. Notice the environment is not exactly conducive to sterility! When we collect yeast from the bottom of a fermenter we use a sterile yeast keg (dedicated to yeast), a scale (so we know how much we collected), and a sterile hose. If we are going to be using this yeast within a day or two we don't worry about acid washing. If it is to sit around for a week or longer then we wash it and feed it.

This is before we harvest yeast:


And this is after:


"Do you have a lab where you can test the yeast for health?" No we do not, we have a simple layout and not much space. We test the yeast by the "scratch and sniff" method, i.e. smell, color, and feel. We also track how many generations the yeast has been used and what beer it was in.

I'm excited to relax this weekend! Gallatin County Fair here we come!

Cheers, Prosit, and Skoal!