Brew Night from Hell

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Bravo11

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Due to family circumstances(softball, birthdays, etc.) I wasn't able to brew last weekend so I waited in, anticipation, for Friday after work to start my brew. I set up my brew kettle and propane cooker on the back patio and filled the pot to 5 gallons. The burners are lit and the batch is heating up. I started to walk out of my shop where I store my brew equipment and just as I stepped off the patio there was one of the biggest Copperheads I've ever seen. I ran into the house and loaded up my pistol and ran back into the backyard. The snake had positioned itself close to the patio where I had just wired some pathway lights. I didn't want to shoot thru my wire so I prodded the snake with a shovel. My wife is urging me to cut the head off the snake with the shovel but why use the shovel when I have an oppurtunity to shoot it. I take careful aim and fire. My wife insisting that I missed while I'm insisting that i grazed him.
Now he's back against the patio and I'm in combat mode. I'm steady flipping him away with the shovel trying to get a second shot while the wife is still encouraging(demanding) me to cut off the head with the shovel.
The second shot is dead on and the verminis thrown over the fence.
Now back to the brew. Just as I get the water warm(nothing in the wort yet) it starts to rain. Not just a drizzle but a full blown dose of what i assume will hit here tomorrow when ike hits Arkansas.
I let the water cool and dump it. I fill the kettle up again and put the burner in the shop and start over. Maybe now I can get this thing done.
It's 9:00 and the boils on.
God be the ones in Ikes path and I'll let evreyone know how the batch turns out. BTW...It's a Dunkel kit from Northern Brewer and my pistol is a Sig 226 9mm.
 
That sucks but at least you didnt lose any beer and you have an interesting story to tell.
You have to name this beer after that snake in someway, if I were clever or quick witted I'd come up with a few suggestions but im not.
 
Great suggestions. I'll have to come up with something good and post a pic of the label.
 
Screw the wires, screw the porch, screw...well...everything, i woulda whent Rambo on that sucker. But then again, i live in michigan and and where i live near Grand Rapids, about the worst snake here is a garder snake... but i still woulda had the 12gauge out.... shooting and maybe even screaming like a fool!....

but great story...

i hate snakes... :mad:
 
Snakes or spiders...90% of people are scared of at least one of them.


Me? I ain't scared of anything.




Actually, I'm not a fan of spiders. I don't run from them or anything, but I also don't capture them and make them my pets. Or stuff them and make them my spider army.


Nope.
 
Snakes don't bother me in the least, even big dangerous ones. But anything with more legs than my dog gets STOMPED! Sometimes with a manly roar... sometimes with a girly squeal... depends on how big it is.
 
Did you use snake loads? I live damn close to the open desert where there are plenty of rattlesnakes. Maybe I should get some .45 snake loads just in case.

However, I don't think my neighbors would react well to 12 gauge or .45 shots....
 
I live out in the county so screw the neighbors.(I'm a good neighbor BTW)
No snake loads--just FMJ, same thing as my carry load.
Now the wife is afraid to go outside. Maybe that's a good thing?
 
My wife is urging me to cut the head off the snake with the shovel but why use the shovel when I have an oppurtunity to shoot it. I take careful aim and fire. My wife insisting that I missed while I'm insisting that i grazed him.

I have dispatched a few copperheads in my younger days; the usual tool was a garden hoe.
 
I fear no snake or spider, but if they are within my comfort zone of 100 ft and I see them, they are dead.
Its not fear; It is a survival of the fittest, and believe me they will not think about killing you, its just what they do.
Personnaly I'm looking for anything that will work, using the latest weapon is not concern. Shoe, brick, shovel, bazooka, WMD. I don't care, it just must die.
 
People put snakes and stuff in vodka, you should've chucked it in the wort and made some snake beer. If it works for vodka, it should work for beer, right?
 
FMJ - Full Metal Jacket
While it sounds bad ass, hence the movie title, FMJ is a target round nowadays. It used to be all one could get. Many feel the 9MM is insufficient, but that was only true when FMJ was the only option. Modern bullets (HP hollowpoints) make it totally effective.

I would recommend a snake load to ensure a shotgun pattern and a guaranteed kill. Also, there is no energy to penetrate and harm your property. I had a skunk in my garage, and it took 3 snake loads to kill his stank azz. I wasn't going to risk shooting a hole in the wall or chipping the floor like Manuel Noriega's horrid vestige.

That being said, FMJ is certainly more sporting. I get the impression that this influenced you, since you eschewed the obvious shovel decapitation option. Your option of course!

For self defense, FMJ is simply unsafe! It will penetrate right through a victimizer (now, happily a victim!). It may hit someone on the other side or damage your property further. All this while doing minimal tissue damage, and failing to stop the threat.
It also will not mushroom like a HP hollowpoint round. Mushrooming is what causes the internal damage that stops all but the most insane or drug addled in their tracks.
I only caution you about this to better defend yourself. I am an armed LEO and shooting enthusiast, lest you think I am bloviating from my posterior.
Firearms rant over and out. Be well, friend!
 
Now you're talking! Blammy!!!

P.S. I am drunk now.

P.P.S. In my Beretta are 16 hollow points. Should I enter the People's Republic of New Jersey, I would spend 40 years in jail. 5 years for every round. They think it is sporting to blast away with those old fashioned FMJs I guess.
 
Living in America sounds so fun! You guys get to shoot skunks and snakes! The closest we get to that sort of thing in the UK is putting a glass on a spider, slipping a piece of paper under, and carrying it outside.
 
Tweaker, Good to see another shooter in the group. I need to put some HP's in that mag I've been carrying those FMJ target loads for awhile now and I need to switch out to expandable rounds for the collateral damage reasons. I used to always think I needed the extra punch thru for a variety of reasons and always thought that shooting when someone good is behind the target is bad. Comes from the training I got growing up that you should always know what beyond your target(indoctrination from growing up around guns).
Now I beleive that if something goes down all that goes right out the window.
 
What the hell, why did you have to kill it? :mad: It wasnt doing anything. All you would have to do is ignore it and it would have gone away. Copperheads
are one of the prettiest snakes around. They are great for keeping mice populations down. The mice which are probably ****ting on your brewing equipment.
 
Someone needs to start a "show us your weaponry" thread. :D I might just have to make the leap to being a paid member to post pics.
 
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