<h4>Book 3: Chapter 15: Inspector Gadget</h4>
You know, this is a pretty heavy bit of deja-vu. I surmised, watching the inspector as he fiddled with a dial on the stainless-steel pressurized fermentation tank. Well, it <i>looked</i> like stainless, but it was actually a special alloy made with <i>shellback </i>shells.
Whuzzat? The elderly dwarf in the ck robes of a senior Master Brewer grumbled. Master Brewer Blunt knocked the tank with his fist a few times and frowned, his white beard and moustache twitching with disapproval.
This is tha second time this year Im bein inspected. Though tha first time was an auditor.
How long ago was that? Start o tha year?
Aye. Doesnt feel like it, though! Phew! The Octamillenial isin up fast!
Not surprised yer bein inspected so much. The inspector grumbled. By Barcks Beard, I dunno what halfa this junk is! Shiny though! He iled his arms in exasperation and gestured at our shiny new brewroom.
I took a slight step away to dodge the stench of onions that wafted off him. It seemed some traditions were universal in Crack, including onion-bearing overbearing Master Brewers.
Its all brewing equipment. Top of the line. Itll make enough beer to make yer moustache curl! I said.
Hah! Yer just lucky ya finished it with two weeks ta spare! Ifn half tha tales Master Brewer Malt has been sharin with tha Guild are true, itll do <i>somethin</i> all right!
We shared augh, though mine was a bit forced. Malt! What were you <i>telling </i>them about us!? Annie and I were going to need to set aside time to visit the Kinshasa Brewers Guild now that construction was done, before it was toote!
The Guild inspector was visiting to ensure we were ready to represent Minnova for the Octamillenial celebrations. They were just two weeks away, and the energy around the tavern was <i>electric</i>. As soon as he was gone we were going to fire everything up and have our first brew! We couldve just provided the inspector with a fresh beer to prove we were ready, but we really wanted to show off.
The past three-and-a-bit months were a blur, with <i>unending </i>work to prepare our new Thirsty Goat for prime time. Wed started with gutting the main building and installing a multi-tiered seating area, with arge number of bolted down tables, and a small stage for performances. A stone firece had been set up in the center, providing a nice cozy warmth no matter where you were in the dining room.
Id managed to convince Annie to put a double hinge on the front circr door for ease of dwarf-tossing. Now it went both ways, just like Freddie Mercury.
The back furnace and workshop area had been transformed into our new brewroom, and it was full to the brim. We had auter tun, a mash tun, a boiler, a hopback, ten enormous shiny new pressurized fermentation tanks, and more. It looked almost exactly like a modern day brewery, with a chrome finish to nearly every surface. Pipes in the walls lead to a dozen maturation tanks in the basement, wheregers or matured ales could spend a few months before being piped back up.
This left zero space for an actual kitchen, but Annie hade up with an excellent solution.
We simply bought out the bakery next door and added it on to the building. Dwarven [Mattershapers] made it as easy as pie, and the previous dwarven proprietor had been more than happy to sell. Hed been worried about all thepetition from the Octamillenial contestants, and had been thinking about leaving town. We provided the gold, and he provided two feet out the door. The bakery was now seamlessly attached to the restaurant area and converted into a well-appointed kitchen, with half the wall between them sted open so patrons could watch the chef at work.
Bran said he hated the attention, but he also kept <i>posing</i> when he worked recently.
The hardest part had honestly been all the running around. Between City Hall, tradesfolk, and some basic exploring, I had a <i>lot </i>of new milestones and quests.
<strong>Quest Complete: Its All About Brew!</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Youve created, designed, and built a new kind of brewery!</i>
<i>Gained 0.4 Charisma! Your new Charisma is 17.8!</i>
<strong>Quest Complete: Owning Property</strong><strong></strong>
<i>You now own property in the biggest city in the country!</i>
<i>Gained 0.6 Charisma! Your new Charisma is 18.4!</i>
<strong>Quest Complete: Fully Explore Kinshasa</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Youve used your new [Map] to fully map your current location.</i>
<i>Gained 0.4 Vitality! Your new Vitality is 19.4[23.4]!</i>
<strong>Milestone Gained!</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Walking over 800 kilometers under your own power has given you the ability to choose a Milestone!</i><i></i>
<i>Milestone Chosen: [Long Stride]</i>
<strong>Stat Increased!</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Your Agility has increased from 13.2 to 14.2.</i>
<strong>New Quest: Cracks Greatest Brewer 1/4</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Take the first step to true greatness! </i><i></i>
<i>Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.</i>
<i>Pass the Octamillenial National Brewing Contest Preliminaries: 0/1</i>
<i>Rewards: +0.6 Charisma, +0.6 Vitality</i>
[Long Stride] was an overpowered hiking Milestone for day to day life. It increased my Agility by 4 for the purposes of walking, which I did <i>everywhere</i>. It essentially made my travels 1.5 times faster and I loved it to death. Added to my usual 14 Agility, I was now just over twice as fast at power-walking as an Earth human, and it showed!!!
If theres anything in particr you dont understand, let me know! Id love to talk about it! I piped up, like an apple developer desperate to show off his new ipad.
The inspector continued hiszy circle around the brewroom floor, but seemed bereft of words. I followed him between some fermentation tanks and had to duck under a little blue elemental that was cleaning the ducts with a jet of steaming water.
Another big change was the two new workers running the inn side of things. Rosie and Darrel Digger had shown up one week after wed left, hot and ready to fight. Theyd calmed down upon learning that we hadnt kidnapped their erstwhile son, then had a group huddle. They then managed to convince Annie and me with a bit of pushing from Bran to hire them all. Darrel was our new sous-chef, Rosie was in charge of running the inn, and Bando was being Bando.
Id gently reminded Annie about her speechst year about bringing in too many new people at once, and shed grumbled something about this is all new anyways.
I could faintly make out the sound of Rosie yelling something at Bando in the pub and it was music to my ears. For once, <i>I</i> wasnt in charge of the chaos that was running the day to day. I could finally focus on my brewing!
One whole wall of the brewroom was taken up by bottles, and we had to skirt around them. A conveyor belt ran from the stack to a series of ss and metal boxes. I noted the Master Brewer squinting angrily at the dangerous pile; that was a health and safety hazard that Id need to fix.
Whistlemop had managed to figure out the location of the sspany that used to own this building. Theyd moved to arger nt in Yellowwall, where they were shipping ss to all over Crack. They were located as far away from Deepcore as possible, on the other side of Darkwater Gorge, so they barely had any monster attacks. Theyd provided all the sswork in here, and would be providing our bottles as well.
Whats this? The Master Brewer asked, running his hands over a pair of <i>very</i> long and wide oblong boxes sitting on top of the conveyor belt.
Im so very d you asked! I cooed, rubbing my palms together anding alongside him. Im very proud of this. This is the result of a coboration with Engineering Professor Copperpot, Healer Richter, and myself. Its a <i>Nether Infused Bottler </i>followed by a <i>Tunnel Pasteurizer</i>!
Hoy! Master Brewer Blunt backed up, his eyes wide. Yer usin <i>NETHER </i>in brewin!? Yearns Wrinkly Yams! Are ya mad!!
Hush, its perfectly safe. It was approved by two senior [Engineers] and even if it loses containment, the worst thatll happen is a strong breeze. Just dont stick your hand in there Dont stick your hand in <i>any</i> machinery. EVER..
A <i>very</i> strong breeze, but I didnt care. That tunnel had been a masterstroke of genius on Richters part, advised by yours truly, andpleted by Copperpot.
Itd even gotten Richter a Blessing from Barck. Combined with his Blessing from Archis, hed chosen to be a Titled <i>Healer</i>, muttering something about keeping us all alive. Itd also gotten me a new Milestone and stat boost to boot!
<strong>Milestone Gained!</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Designing a new Arcano-Mechanical Device has given you the ability to choose a Milestone!</i><i></i>
<i>Milestone Chosen: [Infuse Mana]</i>
<strong>Stat Increased!</strong><strong></strong>
<i>Your Intelligence has increased by 1, your new Intelligence is 17.4!</i>
Richter hadughed at me for choosing an Ability I couldnt use properly without [Manasight], but once I got [Petes Poor Manasight], we wouldnt need mana stones to run any of the numerous enchantments around the building! Id be a portable mana battery! Maybe one day I could use it to put on a golem suit and go fight crime. Id call myself Mithrilman or Steelman or something else equally non-copyrighted.
Youll need ta exin it to me. Before I can approve it. Master Blunt grumbled, peeking inside. The sides were made of ss to ensure we could see what was happening, with a conveyor belt running through it. Each end was covered in rubber tabs to prevent foolish fleshy fingers. An important safety feature, among several, because <i>not sticking your hand in working machinery</i> was a hard concept for some people.
Sure. You know how beer goes bad when exposed to air?
He gave me a glower. Yes. Im not a <i>journeyman</i>, <i>Brewer</i>.
Just askin. Well, you might have noticed from the tanks that none of our systems are exposed to the air. The problem was, how ta bottle the beer efficiently without exposin tha beer to oxygen. Our old industrial bottle stick system just wasnt going ta cut it anymore.
The main way bottles were filled on Earth was a Counter-Pressure Filler. It sted all the oxygen out of a bottle with CO2, then re-pressurized it with beer from the tank. Unfortunately, even with aetherstones, we hadnt figured out an efficient way to do that on Erd. Then Richter had surmised that since the problem was an Aether, why not simply negate it with Nether.
Nether was an Element on Erd, the Element of that without form, and it epassed the concepts of vacuum, dark matter, and forces. Vacuum Bottle Filling was absolutely a thing on Earth, though not usually on an industrial scale. Vacuum was <i>dangerous</i>. Nether, on the other hand, could be used fairly safely as long as you didnt try to touch it.
That was all the background. All Blunt needed to know was this. This enchantment fills that entire space with Nether. We dont need to contain it or anything like that, because the enchantment simply fills the <i>box </i>with Nether. A bottle goes in? The air is eliminated, to be reced with Nether. A special nozzle bypasses the enchantment and allows beer in to fill the bottle. The bottle is immediately capped, and exits the box, having nevere into contact with air! Tadah! Oxidation bypassed! And since we no longer needed to do bottle-fermentation, we were using actual bottle caps now!
Interesting and innovative. I would like ta see yer designs. I was unsure about this Octamillenial thing at first, but this seems to be an incredible advance in brewing, young Brewer.
Of course! And I meant it too. I eventually wanted every brewery on Erd using these machines. Theyd go a long way to improving the consistency and taste of beer.
What about this next part? The <i>Tunnel Pasteurizer</i>? Blunt asked, pointing to the next box on the conveyor belt.
Ah, yes. Let me tell ya the story of <i>Louie Louie</i>. Wow, Richard Berry <i>and</i> Freddy Mercury references in a single sitting? I was on a rock and <i>roll!</i>
Who?
Its a long story. Lets go grab a drink in the pub.
I dont suppose you have any True Brew ?
.... no.
Pity.