Brewing with Food

My first attempt at brewing with cherries - a 5-gallon batch of cherry porter - was slightly disappointing. Here's what I did:

-Fermented the base beer for four days.
-Mixed 10 lbs of cherries with enough water to cover the fruit.
-Mashed the cherries with a giant perforated spoon.
-Pasteurized the mixture at 140 degf for 5 minutes.
-Cooled the fruit and added it to the beer.
-Fermented the beer for another ten days.
-Transferred the beer into a keg, leaving the cherries behind.

The finished beer wasn't bad, but the cherry contribution was pathetic. It should come as no surprise that the spent cherries were largely whole when I removed them from the fermenter. Next time, I'll either need to mash the cherries before adding water - both so they don't "swim" away from the spoon and so I can watch my progress - or let the beer age on them for months.

The next beer I brewed was a Belgian "Pumpkin" Ale. Spiced beers require fresh spices, so I bought new cinnamon and ginger the previous day. As a firm believer that pumpkin doesn't contribute any flavor to beer, I used butternut squash instead (credit for the idea goes to Mike Ball, a gifted Madison-area homebrewer). Butternut squash is a joy to work with: just cut it into cross-sections, cut off the peels, grate the meat with a cheese grater and add it to the mash. No seeds, no guts, no hassle. I chose not to roast the squash because I don't think it accomplishes anything. The beer is still fermenting, so the final outcome is unknown.

Electronic Filing

To the Securities and Exchange Commission:

-If your software is only compatible with Internet Explorer and Netscape, your electronic filing system shouldn't be mandatory.
-If you require duplicate paper files with notarized signatures, your electronic filing system shouldn't be mandatory.
-If you accept faxes and uploaded PDFs but not emailed PDFs, your electronic filing system shouldn't be mandatory.
-If your software doesn't recognize file paths on Macs, your electronic filing system shouldn't be mandatory.
-If your tech support person says "this happened yesterday" but doesn't even pretend to care about knowing how to fix it, your electronic filing system shouldn't be mandatory.
-If your signature page doesn't contain space for a notary's information... well, that doesn't really have anything to do with electronic filing.

Hopefully Jane will be able to upload the required file from her PC.

Work/Life Balance

I take care of Mia, my 3-month old daughter, on Mondays. Today, while holding her on my shoulder after a feeding, I had a phone conversation with a banker. It went something like this:

Banker: Thanks for calling me back. Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to...
Mia: BAAARRRRRFFFFFFF!!!
Banker: give you a loan due to your equity...
Mia: BAAARRRRRFFFFFFF!!!
Banker: situation and the...
Dog: lick, lick, lick, etc.
Banker: state of the economy.

Thanks for telling the banker what I was really thinking, Mia.

Swimming in Money

Well, not really. We did receive some funding last week, though. The city's Community Development Authority approved our application for a facade design assistance grant. Once we renovate the building, the city will give us some money to offset the costs of designing the facade (50% of the design cost or $5,000, whichever is less). We also deposited our first investor check*. Woooo!

*I need to submit a Form D to the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

That Time of Year

Rachel and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday. After a great dinner at Sardine, we drank our 4th bottle of anniversary beer while the baby slept. Once again, the beer had improved after a year of aging. The fruit flavor had subsided to the point that it tasted like part of the ester profile, and the color looked more like a beer than a wine. Our first glasses were remarkably clear, but our second servings were hazy with yeast. Operator error!

Airtime

I'll be on Beer Talk Today tomorrow. The station is 91.7 FM, aka WSUM, and the show starts at 9pm. I'm looking forward to finding out if my voice still sounds like Mickey Mouse.

Lenders

Thanks to a new Sun Prairie connection, I was recently able to talk with a woman who works at the Small Business Administration. She was surprised that my latest loan application was rejected without being submitted to the SBA. When I told her the bank's primary concern was a lack of collateral, she basically told me that was crap because the SBA isn't a collateral lender. The SBA is currently guarantying 90% of each loan they approve, and they've waived their guaranty fees until at least the end of the year. What that means (I think) is if a bank loans RePublic $850K and the business fails, the SBA will give the bank $765K. The $85K in bank losses could easily be recovered by selling the brewing equipment, which is in high demand these days, and the building. Buzzards will take the restaurant equipment.

Following the advice of a banker, I went on a lender-contacting bender last week. I'll be meeting with two of them next week, another two are reviewing my business plan, and I'm waiting to hear back from a bunch more. I need to be careful, though, because the SBA will automatically reject multiple applications for the same business. Hopefully I'll have to sign some government documents to authorize any applications to the SBA. Too many banks wanting to work with me would be a funny way to fail.