Four Day Ray Knows Well Crafted
How do you pour yourself into work without losing passion and pure enjoyment? Four Day Ray seems to have the formula down to a science. After connecting through an industry networking site, brewmaster, Mitch Ackerman, and restaurateur, Brian Graham, hit it off and set out to make Four Day Ray a staple in the Nickel Plate District of Indiana. FDR brewed, bottled and kegged around 1,200 barrels last year alone for both on- and off-premise sales.
Tapping into Take the Day
Take the day. Four Day Ray’s motto infuses two legacies – President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the nickname given to rail workers way back when – turning celebrated history and local folklore into a full-bodied brand. Self-proclaimed ‘malt guy’ and ‘hops guy’, Graham and Ackerman, explain the balance of sustaining a successful brewery and gastropub, all while reveling in the process.
“Fishers is in the Nickel Plate District. Four Day Ray is a railway term that’s slang for an employee who would habitually take off work one day a week – nicknaming the guy ‘Four Day Ray’. On the other side of the coin, Roosevelt personified the idea of ‘Take the Day’ and giving your all for the greater reward. He also pioneered the end of prohibition, essentially allowing us to brew today. That’s worth working hard and raising a glass.”
– Brian Graham, Four Day Ray Founder and President
Taking a Chapter from Ray
Ackerman and Graham know their craft and the importance of quality. Every square foot of the brewery was considered and maximized during construction, from the slope to the natural light coming in the building to the stainless steel trench drain systems under the floor surface.
“In 2012 when we started planning the brewery, I picked up a book from the Brewers Association ‘How to Start a Brewery’, added Graham. “One of the chapters was dedicated solely to floors and the drainage system. It occurred to me, ‘hey, drains must be pretty important if there’s an entire chapter in this book’.”
Goes Down Smooth, from Brewing to Cleaning
Brewing isn’t just hard work; it’s hard on drains. There’s more than just frothy beer bubbling under the surface. Harsh chemicals, hot water, and forklift trucks take a toll on systems not up for the job. That’s why, selection matters: slope, material, flow rate, grating…and the manufacturer.
“Brewers are basically glorified janitors,” said Mitch Ackerman, Four Day Ray Brewer. “What we do is clean. Any given day, we’re putting 200 to 300 gallons of liquid down the Zurn stainless steel drains, whether it’s caustic, acid, sanitizer, or hot water. I would recommend Zurn drains to any fellow brewer or business owner. I have not had any issues with them and we’re very hard on drains.”