Golden Opportunity

Belgian season has begun. Our first Belgian-style of the year is in the fermenter as of this afternoon, Golden Opportunity should come in at about 6.5% and hit the taps in three weeks time. This beer has many distinctive firsts for me here at Franklin's, but the most interesting one is that it was the first beer that I got to use my new grain hopper on. Previously mashing in required two people, one in the cellar pouring no more than one 55 pound bag at a time of malted barley into the hopper which dropped into the mill and was then sent two stories up to the brew house and one at the mash tun controlling temperature and water flow. Now thanks to Papa Franklin and the boys over at Metal Fab Inc. who built us a stainless hopper that holds 1000+ pounds of grain,I can pour the malt in the night before and be ready to mill in the morning without the need for additional help. Here are some pictures of what she looked like on arrival and after being set up in place.