Another Month Gone

Another month down and another month closer to opening.  I will get to the construction updates in a minute, but first, some other stuff.  The brewery website is now live, but before you go rushing off to check it out, I have to warn you about some things.  One, it is awesome and two, it doesn't have very much information on it yet.  I am working on writing everything to fill in all the blanks.  The problem is that I am not very good at writing professional sounding pieces, I excel at lighthearted BS.  At some point soon, the blog is also going to transfer over to the site as well, but I need to get up to speed on how to work it (blogger is idiot proof).  Here is the link: www.payettebrewing.com

Where I left off last time, the sewer was missing.  Well I found it, right where the second company told me.  I still have some issues with the company that did the initial camera work, they are giving me the money back for the work they "did" but I will still never use them for any work in the future.  The remainder of the rough-in plumbing work went smoothly, passed inspection and got filled back in.

Actual sewer line with all the new stuff going into it

View of the plumbing work from upstairs

The concrete guys came in and got done in a hurry.  The guys were great and I enjoyed them doing the work, I did find it funny how the whole job worked.  They worked their butts off to get the concrete from the truck into the holes, but then, had to sit around and wait for it to set up for a while so they could go smooth it out, then do it again.  It looked like the definition of "hurry up and wait."

Early morning concrete delivery

Its nice not to have any holes to fall in anymore

Trench drain and waste water sample port

Part II of this post will go up tomorrow (maybe Thursday), it'll give you something to look forward to

Concrete Removal Pics

My arms are dead from jackhammering up the floor some more, so now is as good of time as any to get some pictures up.

                Not as fun as it looks                     Concrete saw, easy but messy work

We thought we were done...Future trench drain on the right, connection to the keg washer on the left

Where the sewer was supposed to be

I have more pictures and will post them as I get time and get them loaded on my computer.  Now it's time to dig to see if I can find the sewer...

Real Work Begins and So Does the Rework

The following is the information that two different plumbers gave me based on snaking a camera into my sewer:

Guy #1: 3" line, 12" deep, runs straight out to the street
Guy #2: 4" line, 24" deep, runs right for 15 or so feet, then turns towards the street

Based on the information above, who do you trust?  All that information tells me is that someone doesn't know what they are doing, but nothing else.  I'm not a plumber, but would assume that a plumber knows his job well enough to do this small task correctly, so I didn't actually have two plumbers do the same work, until today.  I assumed the first guy was right, I mean why question someone who is doing a job you know almost nothing about.  I then based  a lot of my construction plans based on the assumption that the sewer was where the first guy told me it was.

Fast forward to today.  Concrete was cut and removed over the weekend based on the plans so my plumber (different guy than #1 and 2) could get working on everything.  I start digging in an area that supposedly intersects the line, no sewer at 12" and no sewer at 24".  We actually get down about 3 feet with no luck.  For the record, this ditch was at least 6 feet long, so it is not like we didn't try to the left or right of where it is supposed to be.  Obviously we are wasting time and energy, so bring out guy #2 to camera the line.  Low and behold it is nowhere near where we are digging.

Two good things came of this new information.  First, my sewer is deeper than I thought, which is a good thing for running drains.  Second, I got to use my concrete cutting skills again and tomorrow get to fire up the jackhammer again...oh wait, that stuff isn't fun...

Lesson #60: Lease a building with plans, it should eliminate the guesswork

Pictures from the first few days of work will be up probably tomorrow either here or on the Facebook page.

Update for the Week

Probably the only post for the week, but wanted to pass along some updates.  As I look back at the process I have been going through to get the brewery open, I remember sitting on the other side looking in following other blog's about opening breweries.  On multiple occasions I thought to myself "man, it doesn't seem like they are really doing much" or "you would think they would be open by now."  I am working my ass off to get this going, but at times even to me it looks like nothing is happening.

The much talked about building permit is very close, in fact I could have had it by now, the problem is that I question everything.  I didn't agree with an assessment they gave me, talked through it with them and they are going to take a look at it.  In the end, I lose some days, but might save some money; worth it as long as the assessment doesn't go up for some reason...please no.  I expect to have some awesome jackhammering pictures up early next week.  Most of the work is should take about two weeks (four +) and there are six weeks until my equipment arrives, so I am feeling okay about it right now.

I attended the Boise BeerFest on Friday, I enjoyed it except the part about the car getting towed.  That is an entirely different rant though.  The complaints about the crowds that I heard prior to attending were a non-issue on Friday.  Probably just the right amount of people there from an attendees perspective, never had to wait in line, had plenty of space to walk around and talk with people.  It was great to hear a lot of people who probably don't drink craft beer get excited for different beers and get exposed to a bunch of different breweries, great for the industry.  Call me a snob or whatever, but personally it wasn't the type of festival that I like attending, more the type of festival that I would like to serve my beer at and talk to people about beer.  The festival was great for what it was, which sounds like a total slight, but I assure you that is a compliment.  I already like the sound of my own typing too much and now is not the time for me to write a dissertation on beer festivals.  Reading back over what I wrote, I sound very critical, but I did think it was a great event and should shut up and be happy we have a great festival here.  Thanks to Rick at Brewforia and everyone else that helped for putting the work into the event, can't wait to pour beer next year.

Stuff 'n Things

Oh the elusive building permit...where are you?  I might have a better understanding of everything before I post this, but right now it is still in the City of Boise's hands.  My architect is meeting with them this morning to go over some things, which is a personal point of contention because I found out about the meeting on my own, nobody bothered to talk with the guy paying the bills.  I did hire an architect to deal with this stuff, so I understand why they talked with him, but 95% of the problems so far have stemmed from a lack of understanding of how breweries work.  So far, I have been the only person with the ability to shed light on that aspect of building a BREWERY, so am eagerly awaiting the fallout from this.  All I really want to do right now is get a jackhammer and go to town on some concrete...frustrated much?

The logo is new, you probably noticed unless you read the blog in Google Reader or something.  Individual beer logos, tap handles etc are all in the works and will be shown here first...or on facebook...or twitter.  An actual website is getting built, so everything will seem more "official" soon enough.

Boise Beer Fest starts tomorrow, I recommend everyone attend, but I have never been before, so don't know what to expect.  Comments I have heard from people hit both ends of the spectrum, so we'll see tomorrow.  I will put up my thoughts on it sometime next week including the answer to the question on everyone's mind..."Why aren't you doing anything at the Boise Beer Fest?"