Breaking Up, Heading to the Big Blue

Nearly five years on and our original brew floor is in pieces. It's odd to think that at startup we kitted out the entire place for around £90k. The brew kit we got for a song from the manufacturers because we'd just hit covid. The brew floor was cobbled together with some not-so-hot substrate and what we came to know as a light covering of nail polish. We've been filling holes for four years.

So, it's adios old brew floor as we restore our old place back to how it was...

Get in touch if you'd like a commemorative chunk of where the first ever Bongo and Juicy AF was made.

...and onwards to BIG BLUE.

Big Blue is the name of our new, nuclear-proof brew floor. It'll cover most of one of the units at our new site in Burgess Hill. Above is the floor plan for it. We're building a raised floor to enable deep drains and new levels of cleanliness and efficiency - that's a breeze block surround, with embedded drainage paths, topped off with a fat screed and an impenetrable BIG BLUE polymer layer.

Here's that in a nice architect-style drawing, with Big Blue in light blue. Once it's up and running, our brew kit will be to the right and our fermentation tanks will line up on the left. Our new taproom will sit in front of this, so that guests can enjoy a beer and a burger overlooking all of our stainless steel.  

Detail: this is the bit below the screed - lots of insulation blocks and a plastic cover.

Detail: this is a very strategically placed drain.

Detail: this is the very solid screed that sits directly underneath the Big Blue polymer top layer.

We're very excited about Big Blue. She's going to be bright, buff and beautiful and very different from our previous brew floor... a lovely centrepiece for our new chapter.

Next up - I'll share the new site backstory ...why we chose this place in Burgess Hill, and why we're very excited to be #Hillians.