I’m sure you’ve heard the term, “I’ve got a few of irons in the fire right now”.  While this suggests that someone’s got a lot going on at any particular moment, it doesn’t really tell you how hot the fire is burning now does it?  I bring this up because I’ve had some interesting discussions over the past few weeks over potential job opportunities.  First, there is a group of gentlemen that are planning on building a production brewery in a nearby city that are looking for a head brewer.  Sounds good so far.  The catch is that they’re only in the planning phase (I’m guessing at least 6 months out) and are also looking for someone to be a capital investor as well.  Could be risky, could be beneficial.  We’ll see how that progresses.  

Another opportunity I applied for was a brewer position at a small place in Montana.  The response I got was encouraging, but then I was sent a pretty long questionnaire which is supposed to narrow it down to 6-8 candidates due to the large response they got.  I didn’t realize there were that many brewers looking for work out there, much less ones looking for it in big sky country.  I then learned that one of the brewers from Stone left to become the Head Brewer at a smaller local brewery here in San Diego.  He seemed like a cool guy when I was doing my internship there, so I contacted him.  He replied and informed me that they were in the process of building a new facility and it should be finished in a month or two.  They might need a new brewer once it’s up and running, so that seems to be the most promising prospect so far.  

I also got an email from an old college buddy that he and some other people are looking to open a pub in the Sacramento area.  For whatever reason, they need to produce their own beer on site to get a liquor license in a timely manner.  This one might be a longshot, but they are going to need someone to make the suds for them if it gets past the planning phase.  (Fingers crossed)  Not to perpetuate the cliche, but it appears I’m poking a few irons around some sort of fire.  That being said, my sneakers aren’t melting at the moment, so it looks like I have some more work to do to get that sucker white hot.

On the homebrewing front, the execution of my 4 planned brews turned out fairly well... with one exception.  Tell me if you have heard this one before.  It’s August and 95F outside when you are attempting to cool down your wort using an immersion chiller.  A side affect of this warm weather was that the tap water itself was probably around 75F,  which causes it to take an excruciatingly long time to reach the ideal temperature for pitching.  You decide that it would be a good idea to crank up the pressure on the faucet that’s feeding the your chilling contraption and speed up the heat exchange.  The thermometer reading begins to drop a little faster.  Success right!?

Not so fast buddy.  What’s that sound I hear?  Splashing water?  Uh oh.  You rush over to see what the heck is going on and tap water is now flowing into your kettle.  The tubing has gone and popped off due to a combination of high water pressure and your impatience.  Oops.  Having no clue how much H2O got in there, I dreaded the ensuing gravity check.  Looks like we had a 20% drop in estimated O.G.  My poor Milk Stout got thinned down to an English Mild.  Live and learn I guess.  (It still turned out good, just more sessionable!)

That particular beer aside, the rest of my brews are now ready for entry into some local competitions.  First and foremost will be the 2010 Pacific Brewers Cup in Long Beach, about 100 miles northwest of where I live.  It appears to be the usual format with a couple BJCP certified judges scoring 2 bottles with an extra reserved in case you win your category and are then admitted to the final round to give you a chance at “best in show” or whatever other grand champion label they come up with.  

Secondly I will be entering the 2nd Annual Holiday Wine Cellar Competition in Escondido.  For you people that have been reading this blog since the beginning, this is the very same event that I received 3rd place overall last year.... losing to the infamous beer “Liquid Sex”.  I was happy to place at all last time around, but now the mission is to take the whole enchilada.  The grand prize is getting to brew your beer with the guys at Ballast Point, the 2010 World Beer Cup Best Small Brewer of the Year winners.  I find that just slightly motivating.  I’ll be making a particularly special beer for that one....

Questions or Comments?  Feel free to email me at beereaucrat@gmail.com