Helping Out at Laughing Dog

I woke up very early last Friday morning so that I could make it from my girlfriend’s house in Newport to Ponderay, Idaho in time for mash-in for my first opportunity to assist with brewing at Laughing Dog. I arrived a few minutes early and Skip was already there getting started on cleaning kegs. Dave and Duane were soon to arrive and after some preliminary work with the hot liquor tank, Dave and I went upstairs to open up the bags of grain and start mashing in. I made sure to keep the hopper for the mill fed while Dave tended to some other things downstairs but we switched as the mash tun was nearing full so that I could hand-stir the last bit of grain as it hit the water. Fred had arrived as we were mashing away, but he was busy preparing for a visit from a group of representatives from the distribution company based in Virginia that is handling Laughing Dog’s East Coast accounts.

Dave and I began the transfer over to the kettle, adjusting the flow rates accordingly and then I assisted Duane in reclaiming yeast from a fermentation tank. Many commercial breweries reclaim and re-pitch their yeast for numerous generations before the little guys are worn out but it is not something that I have done whilst homebrewing. A pretty straight forward but important process, the reclaiming went quickly so I was next sent up a ladder to dry hop an earlier batch of Pale Ale. When I was finished with the task, Fred and Skip were getting the CO₂ line ready to bleed off the bourbon barrels they were opening that they had been aging their Imperial Stout in for nearly a year. Meant to impress the Virginia boys, we brewers and assistants were also allowed a taste. Being warm and un-carbonated, the resiny bourbon taste was intense and the heat of the alcohol hit my ears and cheeks quickly but you could tell that things were headed in the right direction and with just a little more tender care, that beer will be a beauty.

The transfer was completing, so Dave weighed out the boil hops but allowed me to add them to the kettle. With no hops to add until the end of the boil, it was time for lunch. The Virginia crew left after a tour of the new brew facility Laughing Dog is building and will be moving to by the end of summer and I got to share a few words with an exhausted Fred. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the crew returned from lunch and it was back to work.

Dave and I set to work cleaning out the mash tun, greatly aided by the paddles. As we filled large garbage cans dedicated to the purpose, Dave would then load them on the forklift and dump them into a trailer set out back for a local farmer to come pick up. The paddles could only the get the mash tun so clean, so I was set to work with the rake and hose. I didn’t get myself too wet and the mash tun was clean in no time, but due to a slight variance in the floor lay out, I then had to squeegee the grainy water that was surrounding the mash tun on the floor.

Clean up was nearing an end as the boil completed and Dave set to transferring the wort to the fermentation tank that already had a batch of the same beer from the day before in it, bringing it to a full 34 bbl. It was Friday, so extra cleaning was in order. Donning our protective glasses and gloves, Dave and I handled the caustics and cleaned the brew house, plate chiller and all of the hoses.

Some well-earned beers were in order, so a move to the tap room out front ensued. A family was visiting from Houston, so I accompanied Dave and Skip as they gave them a short tour of the brew facility in back and finished up my pint. A little bit more beer geek talk and then I got back on the road to return to my girlfriends house, smelling of wort and hops like a good man should.

If you are in the Spokane area (or on the East Coast) in about a month and see a Laughing Dog IPA on the shelf or on tap, I invite you to sample the product of our labor. Sláinte!