It's still July, Right? Yes? Good.

The days are flying by so quickly.  I barely have time to enjoy the fact that we've made it this far. I have to take a deep breath every day and reflect on the experience we've had building this brewery.

With every waking hour, we are getting closer to making craft beer in downtown Santa Ana. How exciting! The last really substantive blog post covered the initial phases of construction - mostly demolition. That was May, and this is July. Construction always takes longer than you anticipate, especially on a project like this, but rest assured we are pushing forward at a rate we know will produce a divine finished product.  So, I guess you're curious about what we've been up to...

We poured a new concrete slab near the end of May.  It takes 4 weeks for concrete to cure (dry out) even though it's hard as a rock the next day.  Oh the thrill of seeing water flow down the slightly sloped concrete floor towards custom formed trench drains.  It's the little things that are exciting in a process like this - the visual cues that offer insight into how the drawings in a plan set will take form in the physical realm.

Rebar and trench drain forms prior to pouring the new concrete slab

Starting to pour the new concrete slab

Concrete finishers slope the slab before the concrete dries

The slab is finished off and left to cure

With the concrete slab in place, we set the plumbers loose on water and vent piping.  The natural gas service was another story. At least I was aware that the natural gas would be a hurdle from the beginning. But, I never could have anticipated the roller coaster of events that ensued. Our building has not had gas service since the 1980's, so we had to install a new gas meter and house line. The gas meter would be installed in a meter vault embedded within the sidewalk in front of our building, just as the gas company told me time and time again for almost two years leading up to this past June.  In May I reinitiated contact with the gas company. The gas company sent out a project planner that was assigned to my project - he told me the same thing I had heard for two years, gas service would be initiated from a meter vault in front of the building.

Weeks went by and I heard nothing.  (Oh, the frustration of waiting for others!) I started badgering the gas company again to move this process forward - after all, it didn't make sense for us to install the internal "house line" without knowing where the gas service would be initiated. Finally, after weeks of no response, I was able to get a regional planner to return my call and we set up a second meeting on site.  This was when they delivered the shocking news: gas service would not be provided via an underground meter vault originating in the sidewalk. Instead gas would be conveyed from an above ground and existing point of service on the North East corner of an adjacent building.  The challenge I was faced with was that the existing gas meter, which serves a restaurant around the corner from us, would require our house line to traverse two different basements under different ownership and require review of a revised house line layout by the City. Each basement is already packed full of water, gas, electrical and mechanical systems servicing the buildings above, presenting physical routing challenges.

In a mad rush, I had our engineers, plumbers, and my contractor on site to review the proposal. We walked through the basements to see if it could be done, identifying obstacles along the way.  Within days, the engineers had redrawn the plans. During that time, I had several meetings with the owners and tenants of the buildings to explain our proposed plans and construction clean-up procedures. With revised plans, I had several sets printed and scheduled an appointment with the plumbing plan checker at the City. The City was very diligent about making sure our review was quick and painless. After all, we were merely requesting a change in house line alignment and meter location, and delays in review could cost time and money in the long run.  Within weeks of finding out that the world had been turned upside down, we were fully staged to install the house line, and over the course of a weekend (because the gas line would traverse multiple properties and tenant spaces) the new gas line was installed.

Concrete cores 3-inches wide were drilled between each basement for our gas line

Since then, construction has been relatively straight forward. We installed roof supports for a glycol chiller and, after the framing inspection, dropped the glycol chiller on the roof with a crane. We installed polyurethane floors on top of the new concrete slab - an industrial product that is both extremely durable and slip-resistant. The electricians have been on site for the last couple weeks, installing a new breaker panel, outlets and disconnects. We passed our most recent plumbing inspection - house gas line, hot/cold water and air vents.

A crew prepares the concrete for polyurethane

Installation of the first coat of polyurethane

Lifting the glycol chiller to its final resting place, the roof

The glycol chiller awaits the opportunity to control fermentation temperatures 

On the equipment side, our heat exchanger was delivered, although, they sent the wrong model (we requested a two stage water/glycol heat exchanger, and they sent a single stage water heat exchanger). They are going to be shipping out a replacement soon. The glycol plumbing is going to be delivered tomorrow and installed over the weekend. David, my brother Bryce, and I drove to Buellton about a month ago in a big Penske truck to pick up a load of used red wine French oak barrels. In retrospect, we should have waited to get the barrels closer to our anticipated fill date, but it was too good a deal to pass up. We ordered a bunch of clamps, gaskets, hoses, process pipes, fittings, and valves, among other brewery gadgets. Some of the tasting room accommodations have been made - chairs and tables are en route. Railings around the brewing area are also expected to be installed relatively soon.

We are quickly approaching a final inspection... Stay tuned.

Story and Photography by Thee Beer Book

Our friends over at www.theebeerbook.com have done a great job profiling our brewery.  I encourage you to check out the story and the amazing photographs of all the junk in Brandon's garage!

From Brian:

After touring his home-brew set up and tasting one of my favorite IPA’s to date, we moved over to The Good Beer Company’s location. To say I am excited about this brewery is an incredible understatement. This will be one of the raddest breweries/tasting rooms around.

The full story is posted here.

Visit www.theebeerbook.com for more great photos and the full story!

Under construction

That's right, we're under construction now!

When I last wrote a blog update, I was waiting for electrical plan check at the City to complete their review.  Our electrical situation has been a thorn in my side so far, and I imagine it'll be that way for many years to come.  But, through some careful engineering and refinements, we put together a functional craft brewery that fits within our electrical limitations.

In the last couple months, I've had many accomplishments:

• Plan approval by the City Building Department
• Completed application and received approval of our ABC Small Beer Manufacturer's License
• Purchased a glycol chiller, heat exchanger, brewery hoses, and 120 half-barrel kegs
• Pulled building, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing permits for construction of tenant improvements
• Started construction

Plan approval was a big step. I had worked for almost two years with the planning and building agency at the City, my engineers and architects, to fit a brewery into our amazing building.  It is an amazing building, but it comes with some less-than-amazing limitations, like our electrical capacity.  Nevertheless, we found a way to make our brewery fit into our limitations, without substantial sacrifice.  So much of planning and design is about getting everyone to understand all of the different elements that go into a brewery.  

An early look at our tasting room tables

In February, I submitted applications to the ABC and TTB, the state and federal agencies that regulate and tax beer production.  I heard back from the ABC near the end of April, and we were approved as a Small Beer Manufacturer.  Under this license, we can operate a brewery and distribute to local bars and restaurants.  We are also able to operate a tasting room in which we can sell beer by the glass or growler direct to the consumer.  We have a great space and I can't wait to share it with you.  I'm still waiting on the TTB to approve our license.

The crazy Butfering machine that levels our tabletops

The glycol chiller, heat exchanger, brewery hoses, and kegs were some of the key major elements that I had not already purchased.  There are still lots of little nick-nacks that we need to run a brewery, like clamps, gaskets and tools.  The last element I'd like to add to my brewery is a variety of wine or spirit barrels, and I'm actively soliciting California wineries and barrel brokers to track down a variety of barrels.  If you walk by our building, you'll see the pile of kegs in the window.

With plan approval, we pulled building permits for all of our tenant improvements.  Immediately after pulling permits, we started construction.  I now have a big hole in the ground with new sewer lines tying into the existing sewer.  I am regularly posting photo updates on our construction to our instagram.com/thegoodbeerco and I would encourage you to follow along.

Picking up kegs in Industry, CA

Electrical approval outstanding, Plumbing and mechanical approved

A quick word about our plan check.  As we've previously mentioned, our electrical plan check is complete.  But the City has a list of corrections we need to address.  Our project engineers are working their way through the corrections.  The good news is that we received plumbing and mechanical plan approval this week.  That means we can pull permits from the City for these two applications.  I'm going to pull the permits as soon as our electrical is approved - might as well take care of everything at once.

Plan Check Update

We received Planning, Public Works, Building, Fire, Police and OC Health Department sign off on our architectural and structural plans earlier this month.  Our electrical plan review is complete, but we're waiting to move on that approval.  And, last week, I received an email indicating that the plan checks for our mechanical and plumbing plans are underway.  I haven't received comments yet, but we are getting construction queued so we can move as soon as we receive approvals.

I'm also working on the paperwork for the ABC and TTB applications. Wow! There are a lot of forms to fill out!  I can't wait to get down to business and make some beer!

Year in review

What a big year! We are still a ways off from brewing professionally, but the last twelve months have been very productive.  Here's a recap of how twenty thirteen shook out:

Early this year, we had the brewery conceptually approved by the Santa Ana Design Review Committee (DRC).  The DRC reviewed the proposal and compared our brewery plans to the California Building Code.  There was a lot of back and forth, tweaks and redlines, but we arrived at a plan that was worthy of approval.  The plans were then referred to the Zoning Administrator (ZA).

Because breweries don't pop up all the time, and we were the first to ever propose a brewery in the City of Santa Ana, the ZA had very little experience with permitting a brewery.  Our proposal includes production brewing, tasting room and retail sales, in addition to the existing office use, a combination you might not find in your average neighborhood brewery.  Also, the Phillips Block Building that we are moving into was built in the 1880's.  The building was a livery back then, housing horses and their feed.  There is a gigantic gear/pulley that used to be mounted in the rafters of the building.  The gear was used to lift bails of hay to the second floor for storage.  So the combination of a new brewery, pairing of production, tasting and office uses, and a historical building posed a small-but-not-insurmountable puzzle.

With a puzzling proposal, the ZA had little choice to refer the proposal to the Planning Commission (PC).  The PC is an elected commission that reviews zoning and permitting proposals.  Up for approval was our Conditional Use Permit (CUP).  I gave a presentation to the PC, showing images of local breweries and their tasting rooms, in case the PC had the same questions as the ZA.  But, the PC had some experience with breweries and our proposal was approved with staff-recommended conditions unanimously.

Once our CUP was approved, we began developing plans for the building permit submittal.  That's when an email fell into my lap - a used 15-barrel brewhouse was for sale in San Diego.  I immediately expressed my interest and drove to San Diego as quickly as possible to see the system.  The brewhouse is arranged in a two vessel layout - one direct-fired kettle and a "combi-tank," which features a hot liquor tank and mash tun that visually appear to be one tank but function independently.  The combi-tank layout is ideal for small brewpubs where space is at a premium.  We ended up purchasing and moving the system, but the bonus was that the seller also had four 15-barrel glycol-jacketed conical fermenters, a grain mill, grist case, auger, and a couple pumps.  It's almost every piece of equipment that a brewer needs to turn sacks of grain, hops, yeast, and water into delicious local craft beer.  What's missing? A glycol chiller and glycol distribution system, heat exchanger and a cellar package (hoses, valves, etc.).  It was a deal we couldn't pass up.

So, with a majority of our equipment purchased and moved to storage, it was time to shift focus back to obtaining a building permit.  With the help of my dad (he's an architect), I began developing the architectural drawings.  We hired an engineering firm to design the electrical and plumbing improvements.  That's when we hit a major hurdle.  Our electrical capacity was grossly undersized for the proposed brewery.  More back and forth ensued - this time, between me, the electrical engineer, and the glycol chiller manufacturer.  The chiller is the biggest electrical consumer in my brewery proposal, so manipulating the chiller size is the easiest way to adjust our electrical loads.

Then my engineer quit.  See ya later, I can't do this, your f------ed. I quit.  Blown away, we were.  I basically had to start all over with a brand new engineer.  I searched for a while to find an MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing engineer) that had experience in downtown, with old buildings, and with the City of Santa Ana. The new MEP reassured me that the proposal would work without any major manipulation.  We tweaked a few things, brought on a structural engineer to distribute the load of the roof mounted, finalized the plan sets, and submitted drawings to the Santa Ana Building Department in October.  There were four separate reviews - (1) architectural and structural, (2) mechanical, (3) electrical, and (4) plumbing.  I also submitted the revised plan sets to the Orange County Health Agency - that approval came a few weeks later.

It took the Building Department several weeks to get around to reviewing the plans. And in early December, I received comments and redlined architectural and structural plans.  There were a few adjustments that needed to be made and some elements of the proposal that needed to be justified using the California Building Code.  We made the necessary adjustments and resubmitted to the Building Department.  I spent a few hours with the plan checker going over the changes, a meeting that concluded with a big fat "APPROVED" stamp.  The approval was contingent on approvals by the Planning Department, Fire Authority, Police Department, Public Works, and Orange County Health Agency.

That brings us to where we are today: Last week I received planning department and public works approvals.  The necessity of the Fire Authority review is dependent upon the Building Department review, and with Building Department approval of our proposal, the Fire Authority review is no longer necessary.  According to an exchange with the City's Fire Authority plan checker, we should receive a refund of our prepaid inspection fees.  That leaves the PD.  I was unable to cross paths with the PD plan checker last week, so that approval is still outstanding.  We are that close to approval of our architectural and structural plans!

There are still mechanical, electrical and plumbing approvals outstanding.  We received electrical comments, but it doesn't make much sense to proceed with those changes without knowing the mechanical and plumbing comments.

We started cleaning out the space recently, and it feels good to see some physical progress made.

Building Department

It has been a roller coaster ride trying to get together engineering documents worthy of the building department.  I've brewed a bunch of pilot batches during this time, with each beer being better than the last.  I also recently stepped into blending beers, which has been exciting and full of surprises!

So, without further delay, today I submitted architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing drawings to the building department.  The plans were approved by my project planner at the City, then delivered to the building department with a big fat check.  They are estimating that the initial review will take up to 6-weeks to complete, so we'll check back in around mid-November. I will need to submit a separate plan set (and big fat check) to the Fire Authority because Santa Ana contracts with OCFA for fire services.  I also plan on dropping a revised plan set off at the County Heath Department to get that review underway.

While I'm waiting for the building department to complete their review, I'm going to jump into the California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control and Federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Marijuana Tax and Trade Bureau licenses.  Wish me luck!

We're getting close now!