I got my Excise number issued by the local Customs and with that comes the right to sell beer from my premises, offsales only.
The duty isn't bad at all, 1,38 euro per %abv per 100l of beer. So on 100 litres of my Biere Artisanale - Cascade Pale Ale at 5.4% abv the duty is 7,45 euros or about 6 quid.
So, some more bits and bobs have arrived and I've started on my Mash Tun. The HLT is now insulated and ready to go.
I ordered a 500mm square piece of perforated stainless steel from Metal Offcuts UK but before committing to buying the square sheet, and having to cut it to a circle myself, I got in touch with John at Metal Offcuts to see if he'd cut it for me. He gave me a really good price for cutting the sheet to a circle for me, it arrived a few days later and is a perfect fit in my 80l thermo pot.
I've now drilled a few 6mm holes for a stainless steel handle and some bolts to act as support legs for the false bottom.
Here are some pics.
And a couple of pics of my crossover beer, a pale ale that's intended to appeal to the hard and fast lager drinkers around here. It looks like a lager, has familiar aromas of lager from the French, Aramis hops but has the body and mouth feel of a real ale.
My next problem is that I haven't even finished my 100l boiler yet from early indications of interest and feedback from customers, I think i need a 400l boiler, very soon. And bigger fermenters, conditioning tanks... oh bugger.
Happy new year to you :)
Steve.
Arti Brassage 87
