Family Time

I was watching a movie with my wife and kids tonight. It was Swiss Family Robinson. I thought about what it would be like to be marooned on an island. I didn't think about the supplies, food, shelter, or being rescued. I kept trying to figure out, "what would I have to scavenge for to be able to make some sort of primitive brew setup?"

I'm beginning to think I have a real problem.

Problem???? No not at all... I would call you an innovator, a planner, a forward thinker.

I bet you could make alcohol out of coconut milk and whatever wild yeast is available. In fact...find a log and hollow it out. Crack a bunch of coconuts into it. Catch a fish and leave it on the beach for a day or so...skewer the fish on a stick and stir the milk around and let it sit for two weeks. Send the kids into the forest to play and **** your drunken wife on the beach.

Sounds like a lot of work. I would just dig around until I found a case of DHARMA beer, personally.

I too have thought of this. Of course there are certain essentials that must be dealt with prior to working on creating the beer (or other fermentable).

1. Fire for sanitizing water
2. Fresh water
3. Food Source
4. Shelter from elements
5. Latrine
6. Method and ingredients for making beer-like beverage
7. Method for effecting rescue

Well, fire ought to be easy. We've all seen Survivor or those survival shows enough to figure out how to rub two sticks together, or how to polish the bottom of a pop can to make a reflector for focusing the sun's light. Of course you'd need or want some fire for boiling the wort.

The water is essential for both survival and for making beer.

After that, the order of things really comes down to personal choice.

I grew up watching this movie, its a classic.

Having a mild alcoholic beverage would be beneficial for a lot of reasons besides just getting drunk, much like ale was important in the dark ages due to unsanitary water.

Brewing would definitely be one of many priorities on a deserted island.

I think you're being a responsible adult looking out for your family's dietary needs. Remember back in the old days, beer was seen as food, even called "liquid bread," and you boiled, 'cause the water was bad. And of course you partigyled so that the kids would have a lo-acloholic safe to drink beverage made from the third runnings.

And you made a nice mid range session beer out of the second runnings for yourself, and give the really strong first runnings to wifey.

So you could then send the kids into the forest to play and **** your drunken wife on the beach.

Sounds like a lot of work. I would just dig around until I found a case of DHARMA beer, personally.

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Or just stick to the heroin in the airplane.

Surely you could find the means to make some sort of distilling device as well..... but purely for distilling water and essential oils of course!

HA....can you imagine a rescue team coming to save the day and you say, "I have to get this wort cooled to pitching temp and then I'll need to hang around until fermentation is complete. Come to think of it, why don't you guys come back in about six weeks. And bring some bottles!"

Think a coconut shell could hold the pressure of carbonation?

Cheaton said:

Think a coconut shell could hold the pressure of carbonation?

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I'd say it definitely could, its spherical shape would be able to equally distribute the pressure.

PBS had just such an incident. They placed families (yes kids) in the wilderness to live as folks lived in mid 1700's. There was a trading store that they could trade chickens for seeds, cut wood for cloth, etc. It was bona fide 1750.

The father in one of the wilderness houses made moonshine. Copper still, potatoes, the whole shebang. His family got kicked out for some other infraction, but still this guy did it. The show made him look like a heel. I thought he was funny as hell.

Wish I could remember what that show was. Looked a lot like Little House on the Prairie.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the Zombie Apocalypse, and the preparations I need to make for just such an occasion.

On top of the typical survivor gear, I have the following on my list.

- Multiple varieties of yeast slants
- Hop rhizomes
- A guide to growing, cultivating and malting your own barley

I'll have plenty of time to figure out the rest.

Look up Chicha - you chew up something with potential sugar in it, spit it into a vat and your saliva starts to break it down to where the wild yeast can ferment it. mmmmmm.

I remember the great Swiss Family Robinson movie as well; but I also think of the WHAT IF in a post-apocalyptic scenario such as in the show Jericho. No contact with the outside world, no LHBS or Austin via Al Gore's i-net. How would I brew a nice drink to sit back in and watch the world collapse (rebuild itself).

I think this goes back to some of the great threads from "You know your a homebrewer if..". Drive past a farm recently and saw those silo looking fermentors and think man that would make a great fermentor... just got to sanitize it.

But I think if I was stuck on tropical island the first thing I would make would not be a beer; but a friggin margarita or a pina colada! I mean for the scene and all....

SkewedAle said:

I'd say it definitely could, its spherical shape would be able to equally distribute the pressure.

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Well there ya go then! Coconut Cask aged ale!

passedpawn said:

PBS had just such an incident. They placed families (yes kids) in the wilderness to live as folks lived in mid 1700's. There was a trading store that they could trade chickens for seeds, cut wood for cloth, etc. It was bona fide 1750.

The father in one of the wilderness houses made moonshine. Copper still, potatoes, the whole shebang. His family got kicked out for some other infraction, but still this guy did it. The show made him look like a heel. I thought he was funny as hell.

Wish I could remember what that show was. Looked a lot like Little House on the Prairie.

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it was called colonial house. i only ever saw a few episodes but it was a really good show. too bad about them being kicked off, you can't remember what it was for?

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse/

edit:
apparently there was also: frontier house, manor house, 1940s house, texas ranch house, 1900 house which were all either standalone shows or series on PBS or their british affiliate. now i'm not sure which one it was that i watched.

Hah this is awesome, I think of a similar situation all the time. As I mentioned in the other thread, I think what it would be like to be with the first colonists on Mars and brewing the first beer on another planet, and making it for all the other colonists.