My Grandpa's brewing techniques (funny!)

[HappyDrunk]

I just got back from Easter dinner with the family today, and had a funny conversation with my Grandpa about brewing. He's been brewing for over 50 years now. I thought he would have all sorts of great tips for me and what not, but I was blown away at his techniques, or lack thereof.

First of all, he uses nothing but tap water, and doesn't really give a rat's *** what type of yeast he uses. He even told me how his dad would use the bread yeast my great grandma would use for bread. Then he uses only honey to up the alcohol content and to carbonate. Then came the thing that really freaked me out .. he ferments in his smokehouse (used to dry out deer sausage, etc.) which is about 90 degrees, lol! Also, due to the high temperature, he only gives it 7 days in the primary and 7 in bottles to carb.

The craziest part is that his beers still turn out pretty freakin decent. I did bring him one of my 8% Brown Ales though, and he was amazed by it. I just thought it was funny that after 50 years of brewing (and him being ONE HUNDRED PERCENT GERMAN!) he never took the time to refine his technique.

He also told me about how they used to make beer without any kind of seal on the fermentation vessel. They just put a cloth on top of it. Also, they made 30+ gal batches, and never bothered carbing it, lol! They just drank it straight from the barrel!

Bottom line, I hope I didn't waste your time with this post, but I found his stories hilarious after reading on these forums for months about all the attention to detail and being careful about each and every thing only to find out the way he did things to still come out with decent beer!

Anyway, Happy Easter everyone, and hopefully after reading this you'll have no reason to worry about any minor mistakes you make!

 

[MotivationDedication]

Wow. You know I recall having a similar conversation with my grandfather (also German) who told of his father brewing during prohibition and mistaking carbonation in bottles only for them to burst in my great grandmother's purse while transporting them in public :cross:

Definitely not a waste of time HappyDrunk, I think if we all dug around some people may be surprised to find just how common brewing is in our heritages..

 

[amandabab]

open fermentors were common for a long time and making a small comeback on the commercial side.

I brew with tap water and on occasion have primed with honey

 

[jgln]

My grandmother told me (when she was still here) that my grandfather actually did brew beer in the bathtub.

 

[amandabab]

"my bucket lid didn't seal or popped open and I didn't notice it for days, is it ruined"?

"no its fine, RDWHAHB"

=

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Open fermentor

 

[timdsmith72]

I never seal my fermentation bucket. I just set the lid on top of it. No airlock or anything.

 

[HappyDrunk]

Amazing how hard it is to mess up beer! I've been so careful about everything, but after our talk, I don't think I'll ever worry again.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Great story!

 

[jgln]

I think what you need to remember old timers probably lived during proabition and were not as concerned about a quality brew as they were just making something that would get them drunk.

 

[Jayhem]

Funny story.

Sounds like my grandpa, he didn't brew beer but he used to help my great grandma distill moonshine in their basement during prohibition. Those are also fun stories and their techniques were not to produce quality, only quantity. haha.

 

[BamaRooster]

This is great...thank you for sharing!

 

[pwndabear]

Not a waste of time. You could learn a lot from him still. Even though his technique has not been refined by our "professiona" standards, you can bet that over the years, he has his own techniques and can probably reproduce the same beer over and over again which can really be a challenge for some.

if i were you, i would ask to brew with him. have him make his own beer with you. and then you should brew with him using your up-to-date methods. if you do this, please post the outcome! I really want to hear more.

 

[MikeWI]

Great story! I think it's a tribute to him that he could make a decent ale with whatever he had on hand (bread yeast, honey, tap water, etc).

Mike

 

[kevjl2]

Great Story! Wish my Granpa was still around to share his!

 

[mr_bell]

if i were you, i would ask to brew with him. have him make his own beer with you. and then you should brew with him using your up-to-date methods. if you do this, please post the outcome! I really want to hear more.

+1 to that; that would be a great experience, then to share the beers--priceless.

 

[rhamilton]

Funny story.

Sounds like my grandpa, he didn't brew beer but he used to help my great grandma distill moonshine in their basement during prohibition. Those are also fun stories and their techniques were not to produce quality, only quantity. haha.

My grandpa talked about running a still back in the swamps -- the cops would come by to collect their 'taxes' every week from the booze sales. If you paid they left you alone. If you were short, they beat your still with baseball bats. If you didn't pay at all, they took the bats to your legs. He said his payments were always on time :cross:

He also mentioned throwing raw chicken into the batches of moonshine. Apparently the raw chicken would absorb the 'bad stuff' and turn black. He'd keep replacing the chicken until it didn't turn black anymore then that's when you knew 'it was safe to drink'

Yea some crazy stories from back in the day..

 

[malkore]

So he's making perfectly tasty beer, yet you think his technique isn't good enough?

 

[petey_c]

Hmmm, raw chicken hooch. I guess the alcohol would kill the e coli. Man this stuff was a four chicken batch, where'd I go wrong?

 

[unionrdr]

My grandpa was a German cabinet maker. Grandma made some of the smoothest white lightenin & keg chared sour mash whiskey in this part of the country. She also made this beautiful yet powerful ruby red cherry wine. She served it to us in 16oz glasses! Then complain pop was going to get drunk going to the bar to drink beer with my aunt & me. Guess she didn't think it through. But,on the other hand the buzz you got from her keg charred (that I cut teeth on) begat the phrase "higher than a Georgia pine",as pop so often said. And that wine of hers had a good kick too. It was made from the same tart cherries she went picking every year to can pie filling & make the wine. We always got a kick out of her attitude between beer & her squeezins!:cross:

 

[pigsaarz]

Thats how I used to do it, never a mind about heat or cold we used to put a slice of bread on top of the wort and sprinkle the bakers yeast on top, so as the bread sank the yeast would slowly start to work. Often used to open a bottle still had a few bread crumbs floating around in it.

 

[soberJim]

The temperature doesn't concern me, dad use to brew open up in a shed with 40+ degree celcius days, down to minuses over winter.. didn't have anything too bad and I just use tap water, havnt tried the bread one. Yet... One of the fellas I use to know as a kid actually won silver medal one year for best home brew in Australia, along with a few bronze.. he used a bath to brew in. Shame he died before I began brewing, those woulda been some great hints he had. the main one probably being don't stress I'm beginning to think its near on impossible to totally screw up a batch.. if its all sanitised, no dramas!

 

[grimstuff]

The absolute best liquor I ever had was peach slivovitz made by an 80-year-old Czech in their back yard. I haven't referred to homemade liquor as "moonshine" since. Likewise, I wouldn't turn my nose up at your grandpa's beer.

 

[david_42]

I've heard stories about "going on the barrel".

 

[oakbarn]

The ancient Egyptian were paid in beer that they had to drink with a straw. Open brewing even with wild yeast can be done but modern tech gives consistent results

 

[DoubleAught]

That's a great story

 

[CastleHollow]

I love stories like this! My grandfather was also a brewer & winemaker, he brought the tradition over with him from the "old country" (Slavic heritage.) I think a lot of times we take this hobby and ourselves far too seriously, and stories like this can help to ground us again in the simple joy of brewing.

 

[apparatus]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Be sure to get all the stories from his past while you can. They are priceless.