July was another very busy month. The brewery build progressed and Orkney did itself proud with its hosting of the 20th International Island Games in a week of perfect weather.
The electrics are nearly done
This month saw almost all of the electrical work done on the brewery. I was very impressed with the work done by local firm Fraser’s and their attention to detail.
The installation is very neat indeed and I really appreciated being closely consulted as it progressed. The new electrics will make life much easier during brewday. I now have power to run both the main brew kettle and also the smaller pilot kettle which will be used for recipe development and will be able to double as a sparge water heater.
There are some small items to finish off, such as the earth bonding for the plumbing I’m running in at the moment, that can happen once I’ve completed the pipework and tested it.
The walls of the brewery and the adjacent store will be skimmed and finished with scrubbable emulsion to allow me to keep everything nice and clean.
I’m hoping that I can get the brewery sink drain installed soon as that’s the largest infrastructure task remaining on the build.
Orkney 2025 Island Games
Aside from the ongoing brewery build, Orkney put on a tremendous show with the 20th Island Games running from the 12th to the 18th of July. I’m not really one for sport, but there was such a buzz about the place during the week. It was great to see such enthusiasm and energy from the nearly 1000 volunteers who gave of their time to help make this event happen. All really quite uplifting and in recent times I can’t remember so many sunny days in a row.
I was helping out a bit with the sailing down at Hatston during the week. The volunteers down on the slip were working like a well oiled and tightly coordinated team dealing with boat launch and recovery. It was very slick and satisfying to watch.
The legacy that the games will leave for sailing and other sports in Orkney cannot be understated. The new ILCA (Laser) boats that were delivered for the games and raced during the week will be distributed to the local sailing clubs. These are going to be such great assets to encourage folks to take up the sport.
Certainly the club I’m a member of, Holm Sailing Club, could not be more welcoming and encouraging of young folk starting out in sailing and to old fogies like myself who would like to get back into it before the knees give out.
What’s next?
As the warm afterglow of a fantastic summer subsides, I’ll continue to crack on with the brewery build throughout August.
In Orkney, this is now agricultural show season. It heralds the start of the change in the year as we now look towards shorter days and the violent autumnal weather that will lie ahead.
Folks visiting from South for the games did not believe us when we said that such a long spell of sunny and stable weather was not normal.
Storm Floris will come through Scotland today by way of a taster of what the weather can really be like here. In Orkney, the short summer is coming to an end.
