Awesome Failure

Roller coaster of a day today.  Got into the mill before our target 6:30 this morning, which rarely happens thanks to the traffic in Somerville, and partly Cambridge, then we tanked...hard:

• Realized we left our glycol chiller plugged in, condenser is burned out, no chiller.
• Open tank valve, no flow, we realized the condenser has burned out very recently and left behind frozen lines.
• After reconfiguring the tubing, we start canning, making amazing time for our first few cases.
• I believe the last words before the canning machine broke were, "time me on this case, I think we're crushing"
• We spent the next 2.5 hours taking apart the machine (unlike Watchusett, we have no engineers), going to Home Depot, and getting very ornery.
• Finally got going just before 11.
• Canning line breaks again, 30 min. delay
• All 4.5 CO2 tanks run out at once, have to go to gas store, 45 min. delay.
• When we eventually got going, we invented a new technique for canning, saving 1-2 seconds per can, which is a couple hours per session...

All in all, a fantastic day.

15 hours from end to end on the day, 120 cases, new record.  Going for 150 cases tomorrow to open up Friday afternoon for golf and shenanigans. Anyone wanna join?  Call us.  We have a company phone number now.  207 2007 DEC (get it? DownEast Cider).

as some friends once said,
Peace, Love and Cider
--Downeast