Well folks, if you missed last week end's adventures, you missed an
interesting trip executed with German precision.
Bandana Brewing Company is up and running. Dave is barely keeping up
with demand. Just imagine what may happen if he starts selling
growlers! All of his beers were very well produced using a neutral
flavored yeast (aka 1056). Quite the nice setup with mash over HLT,
kettle energy recovery (vapor used to heat HLT). The brewery is fired
with low pressure steam boiler using steam traps, vented condensate
tank, and a makeup pump. The boiler fits into a separate room keeping
excess heat energy out of the brew haus.
The special beer of the day was a wit and it was very pleasantly
spiced. We dropped off some old bottles of LSBW that were produced
using a similar recipe and his actual yeast. Later that evening, back
at the camp ground, Dave received a call from Bob (head brewer at Hops
Eden Prairie) who told Dave that he placed two beers at the recent beer
contest. Make sure you stop by and congratulate Bob for his
accomplishments.
Next day, we kicked it into high range. The bugler found his bugle and
bungled revile. We then headed out to Kasota and Scott was very helpful
with best route. About 15 minutes later, we went into Mid-America
Brewing and were very pleasantly surprised. You just can't believe the
quantity of varieties of malt they carry. And, they pack it in from
floor to ceiling. They have a very strong "can do" ethic and supply
bagged malt, rebag malt after crushing, provide measured malt containers
(grist mixed, measured, crushed).
Much of their malt arrives on Semi-trucks and it is off-loaded into a
chute, lifted into hoppers, and then metered into bags. Like I
mentioned, the variety is almost endless and countries of origin include
USA, Canada, Germany, England, France (freedom malt) Belgium, and a few
others. They even had some original "Special B" but it was over two
years old and lousing quality rapidly. It is not available for brewing.
They also supply hops and have a large selection of pellets. We toured
the room and thought we would be overcome with aroma. Amazing how
little aroma occurs if everything is sealed. They break down hops into
smaller packages and flush every bag with C02 before heat sealing.
From here, we went to New Ulm to brunch at the local
German restaurant.
Food was great but the "Premium" had an off flavor -
sort of cidery.
Next stop was Schells. The tour was great. They have produced a new
video spotlighting the new brewery. The tour guide was great and she
identified many new aspects of the old brewery that may have been
forgotten. Unfortunately, we did not tour the new brewery or see the
new fermenting vessels. We mentioned the cidery flavor at the local
restaurant.
Next stop was wine country. Ted's brother has a 10 acre farm and is
busy planting grapes, chasing critters, and making wine. He has an
amazing selection of wines that are produced at his facility. He
supplements his grapes using his own grown and purchases various
varieties from all over the country. Wines range from a sweet ice wine
to a very dry and tart dark red. I believe there were about 15
varieties between the ends.
We were rapidly running out of day and time so we headed back to the
campground. Tried the remaining beers (only had about 13 kegs) and
purchased food for the BBQ. It was so amazing cooking a BBQ without
rain.........almost thought about hitching up a garden hose and a
sprinkler.
So there is the field report from Mankato. No accidents or mishaps.
Next club event is in Chicago and the guys and gals are planning on
getting a little wild and crazy. Unfortunately, not all can make it.
The next official club event occurs next month on July 18-20. Cocato
campout. Let's hope for a repeat of the nice weather.
See you in July or earlier.
Rick O