PRBC Blog

Today's blog post begins with Harvey from River Rock Redi-Mix, now semi-famous and very important in his role in building the BARn at PRBC. In addition to providing much needed concrete, Harvey helped Brian load rebar for the floor out at the concrete plant.  When he delivered the concrete he was very friendly and helpful.  Thanks Harvey! The South side of the BARn will be the main entrance, the stairs to the tap room, the grist room,the office and storage.  We got Harvey's mud, and tonight...drum roll please...we have completed the concrete floor in the BARn. And Reuben was there…

Construction projects just take time.  Sometimes, the construction progress seems to inch along, especially when multiple parties have to coordinate their efforts.  There's nothing slow about a concrete pour, though. Getting ready for it was long and tedious.  First, we removed the manure.  Then Brian dug pretty close to China to increase the headroom in the bottom of the barn.  That led to jackhammering.  Earlier this week Brian added gravel back into the barn floor, and it was prepared for the concrete pour. When a giant truck with tumbler full of concrete that's getting hotter by the minute shows up…

I rounded the bend on our road this evening about 12 hours from the time I left this morning and saw this! Reuben and Sam flat got with it today!   (Not that they don't on most days, but this, the barren barn side, looks pretty impressive.) After Sam and Reuben had a week off to work on another project, and Brian had a week off to fish in a tournament (no, I didn't take the week off...I stained the other window, picked up rocks, etc.), Sam and Reuben returned this week and finished up the roof and the boards…

This Labor Day weekend included some serious labor from the PRBC partners. We completed our application for the TTB (Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau).  The information collected for the application is monumental and daunting.   The TTB application should be submitted when the brewery is 95 days from completion.  When the TTB application is approved, we will have Uncle Sam’s seal of approval to produce and sell beer on a commercial level. The TTB is concerned with collecting their taxes on their beer, and completing the application required meticulous collections of paperwork that took a lot of time.  When our TTB…

Or so the baseball movie went. The saying may be true about microbreweries, too. On Saturday morning, we were up early with various farm/home related work plans.  By 9 a.m. I was in the garden cutting back the raspberry canes and pulling out some spent veggie plants.  Brian was transferring some home brew from fermentation units to kegs and cleaning homebrew stuff on the front porch. About 10 a.m. we both heard four-wheelers on our road, and to our surprise, they pulled up our driveway instead of driving down into the Walnut Grove. Two men got off the four-wheelers, and…

Our first pile of treated lumber has been exhausted, but the BARn has a new face.  Ta-da! "Battens", the skinny boards that go over the seams between the big boards (like the original look of the barn, as in "board and batten" style) need to be added as well as a few doors, but you can see that the new face of the barn is quite nice.  And don't miss the cool window up at the top of the BARn. We climbed up to the loft this evening to take a gander of the window from the inside, and holy…

Sam and Reuben began adding the new wood to the front of the barn last week.  We think it's rather glorious to see, and we have been discussing removing trees so the view to the front of the BARn is not obstructed. Back when we were first discussing the roof on the barn, we found a neat company, Sand Creek Post and Beam, that designs and sells the lumber and other parts to build post and beam barns.  On their website, we found a couple of big windows that were not used in a project and were heavily discounted.  We…

Did I mention that our construction crew is pretty cool? Sam Wolthuis, owner of H-Minus Construction, is a young guy that grew up in the area.  He understand barns.  He appreciates what we are trying to do.  He's proud of the work he's doing.  Sam and the BARn,,,it's a good fit. Sam's helper is his brother-in-law, Reuben.  Reuben also grew up in the area, and he, too, understands and appreciates old barns.  As an added plus, Reuben also does a little homebrewing of his own.  He mentioned a homemade wine made with black walnut and orange peel.  I think Reuben…

Work began on some of the structure of the barn today.  Old oak boards are being removed, and new treated pine from Houston Wood Treating will be put on the outside of the barn. The gambrel style of the barn will be kept, and some new fascia boards have been added on the East end of the barn to replace old boards.  The roof will be brought over to the edge when the new fascia is complete.  We are also adding soffit from treated pine. There are large holes in the East and West ends of the barn where hay…

About 5 p.m. today, Brian and I had a toast with a couple of our personal favorite Missouri microbrews.  With a Boulevard Wheat in my left hand and a Schlafly Pale Ale in his right hand, we toasted red. First, the St. Louis Cardinals finished off the Cincinnati Reds with a three game sweep of the Reds.  The games weren't even close.  Go Redbirds. Second, we toasted 15194.  Yes, today Brian called 9-1-1, and they gave the Piney River Brewing Company an official address--15194 Walnut Grove Drive.  According to 9-1-1, they left room for us to "put in a trailer"…