My Best Brewday!

September 2009 was the first batch of beer I ever brewed.

It took this long to talk my little brother into brewing a batch with me. He loves stouts so we brewed a Double Chocolate Milk Stout (Youngs-ish). That got his interest.

My Aunt and Uncle just moved here from California and my Uncle sat in on the brew as well. He was born in Germany and loves beer. He liked everything on tap (my wine too) and it was great to have him.

Also, my Dad was here for the entire brew for the first time. He was actually impressed with what goes into brewing. I think he thought of it as sort of a waste of time before today.

I just wanted to brag a bit because I didn't think brewing could get better. It IS better when its an awesome day spent with family!

I will be attaching a pic of a 1940's case of swingtops my Uncle brought me today. He is a bit of an antique collector. There are only two of the original bottles front left in the photo (stingy guy has like 30 cases). I need to find replacements for these tops. They are larger diameter than a Grolsch bottle...any ideas?

Here's the old case of bottles.

Awesome picture man, I always love seeing old bottles. What makes it even better is the wood bottle case. It's always great to share a brewing session with somebody, especially when they start to see why we do what we do!

Teromous said:

Awesome picture man, I always love seeing old bottles. What makes it even better is the wood bottle case. It's always great to share a brewing session with somebody, especially when they start to see why we do what we do!

Click to expand...

Right on man!

Wow. Best smelling ferm chamber yet. Like a chocolate donut.

Sell old stuff. Buy much more new stuff. Profit!

Check the internal neck diameter. You might be able to cork and cage them ala belgians if you can't find replacement flip tops. Sell a gift from your uncle...Shame!

Fantastic! I wish I had some close family interested in brewing!

I think I've seen replacement wire for swingtops, but not sure if they will fit those old bottles. It would be HARD for a regular person to cut and bend the proper Stainless wire to make some from scratch too.

I'll see what I can find.

http://morebeer.com/view_product/15639//Swing_Top_With_Washer



Maybe this would fit??

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I assume the morebeer tops are the "standard" size like on Grolsch bottles? I tried a top from a grolsch bottle and the neck on the old bottle was too big for the washer to seal.

I think so. I was afraid of that. They are the only ones I have found.

The cork and cage suggestion is a good one as an alternative.