Ramping Up Three Mile Brew Pub Beer

Not quite a year into his Three Mile brew pub proprietorship, Silas has decided that it is time to ramp up beer production. 

Silas after putting up the Three Mile sign

Grangeville, Idaho has some thirsty folks in it.  And keeping those pint glasses brimming with handcrafted beers along with keeping innovative grilled fare plated up has certainly been a chore.  Truth be told, more a chore than the original bargain figured.  

But my oh my.  Locals have sure supported Three Mile, God bless 'em.  They have done so with enthusiasm and good cheer.  After all, the cheer, the joy, was always the point of the whole effort.  

Besides, it was never about being just a bar.  The entire premise was to make a place where the greater Idaho County community could meet, converse, share stories, birthdays, unwind--an Ecclesiastes type of thing.  "Eat, drink and be merry."

Creating a community pub was a key part of the vision, that and of course providing an outlet for his true passion for brewing handcrafted beers and grilling artisan burgers. 

Customers enjoying the pub

Oddly enough, Silas has always enjoyed being host.  He is in his element.  That should come as no surprise.  

Many a weekend night throughout elementary, junior and senior high, he had a contingent of friends staying over at "the Whitley place".  So, Three Mile Brew Pub is simply an extension of his apparent inherent hospitality. 

The immediate problem with all that, however, is the drink.  Demand has been at production capacity.  It has "stretched the chalkboard" tap list, so to speak.  Good beer must ferment, rest, age, chill and carbonate...before putting it into taps.  Generally, that process is at least a month long.  Which means one has to produce a couple months in advance.  And releasing seasonal beers, for example Oktoberfest, needs to be timed with some forethought.

Three Mile's beer list chalkboard

In any case, demand warrants a ramp up.  Of course, to do so with the most advanced units practical can be a knee wobbling step...given the amount of real money involved here. 

Three Mile's new brewery line on pallets

A vastly improved brand new line of brewery equipment arrived at Three Mile's loading doors in late September.  Relative to its overall industry (brew pubs), the new brewery line is  high tech, which translates into "spendy".  Incidentally, as I'm on the other side of the "sturm und drang" days of manhood, it's a good thing Silas runs the show.  His knees are far less wobbly.  

The old system was sort of always a "run just to keep up" thing.  Cobbled together by necessity, in the school of hands-on experience.  It was adequate; and sometimes not so much.  

Old boiler preboil "circ" through hops basket

That said, the current "old" system still makes a good beer.  It was and it remains somewhat ingenious given the level of retrofitting required.  For example, an off shelf pump and some food grade heat tolerant hoses to circulate the mash and pre-boil; or simple copper coils to drive the cooling.  (An aside, wort must be cooled quickly to allow "pitching" the yeast.)  

Yet for all their "country boy" panache, the old boiler units with their accoutrement of retrofitted attachments were somewhat dastardly to deal with.  Many a colorful word hath been spaken from "the pit" of Three Mile's beer making. 

Mash circ coil in old Three Mile system

Transfers from the old boilers onto cooling coils and then into primary fermentation, followed by secondary fermentation and ultimately kegging--can cause quality and consistency issues.  

Besides, that's a lot of handling, which means a lot of labor.  With the new production line coming on, however, much of the beer making can be automated.  Exposure to air is reduced.  In fact, these are all-in-one kettles.  The entire process--except for final kegging--can be done in the unit without transferring anything.

Silas testing the mash colander hoist

The old system served Three Mile well.  Once the new line comes on, the old boilers will be pulled off production.  (They already have been even though they were used this week to run a bock beer.)  That said, they will be kept for experimental beers and as relief production should demand next summer continue to increase.  

Old boiler pair under cooling

The expectation--perhaps Dickensian great expectations--for the new system is that it should be capable of producing three 1/2 barrels for every one 1/2 barrel made off the old system.  So a labor savings--if one can ignore the upfront purchase cost of the new production line. 

Speaking of labor, getting the new line up has been work--an exponential work in a way.  There's always something.  And, there's still the pub to run and the restaurant side with the need to push out those 1/2 barrel runs from that old boiler system to meet demand as the new line is being laid in.

Grangevillians are no less thirsty now with winter setting in than they were when the drought turned the soil to powder earlier this summer.  But soon, the "Old Man in the Pit" should start gaining on all the drafts going out.  Getting some keg inventory up is crucial--after all, there's the pending Easter sojourn to Scotland coming up.  And we don't want to leave our neighbors high and dry.  More beer is always a good thing.

Three Mile pale ale with a cubano at the bar