Shoveling

I don't know why I haven't posted about this activity yet, but it is something I have done twice at the brewery and which I quite enjoy. The activity is shoveling spent grain from the lauter tun (vessel where sugar is rinsed from the barley which has just come from a process called mashing. A process in which long chain starches are reduced by several enzymes into sugar) into bins to be collected by a farmer to feed to his pigs.

What this entails is putting on rubber boots, climbing into a big metal vat and shoveling the spent grain with a large shovel. The process takes about thirty minutes.

Why? you might be asking yourself, would a college graduate enjoy work so menial. For three reasons. First and foremost it is warm, and in a country where a lot of the buildings (my house) are not insulated and don't have central heating (my house again) and where (in dunedin at least) the cold is a nasty penetrating damp sort of cold, being warm, genuinely warm, is a rare thing. Secondly, it smells amazing. Maybe it is some baser part of my brain, the part that instinctually yearns for carbs, but the smell of baked bread and cooked oatmeal which rises off the warm bed of grains is pretty awesome. And finally, it is good exercise and makes me feel useful.

Anyways, this is probably something I will do frequently and i look forward to it.