c72
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- Aug 23, 2008
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Visiting with my grandmother I let slip that I had started brewing beer at home.
Turns out my grandfather and great grandfather brewed beer, before WWII, I'm guessing, with local ingredients. Apparently this part of WI used to produce a bit of hops (you can still find "volunteer" hops as you walk around my stepfather's farm) and my grandmother recalls they made some good beer and "applejack". Apparently my grandfather was very attuned to the sound of bottle bombs going off in the basement and would wake up upon hearing them and go down and drink what he could salvage.
Then she mentioned she still had some crocks and stuff in the shed so I went and had a look. I didn't take a picture but they look like this:
4 jugs in there. They are pretty filthy, one is pretty large, maybe 8-10 gallons? The others look to be about 5 gal. Pretty gross, full of bugs and stink and dirt, but structurally in good shape. There was also what I supposed was an airlock, a piece of curly copper tube stuck through a dry rotted cork.
If I could manage to clean these up would they be worthwhile fermenters in this day and age or more trouble than they are worth? I'd sure like to use them at least once.
Turns out my grandfather and great grandfather brewed beer, before WWII, I'm guessing, with local ingredients. Apparently this part of WI used to produce a bit of hops (you can still find "volunteer" hops as you walk around my stepfather's farm) and my grandmother recalls they made some good beer and "applejack". Apparently my grandfather was very attuned to the sound of bottle bombs going off in the basement and would wake up upon hearing them and go down and drink what he could salvage.
Then she mentioned she still had some crocks and stuff in the shed so I went and had a look. I didn't take a picture but they look like this:
4 jugs in there. They are pretty filthy, one is pretty large, maybe 8-10 gallons? The others look to be about 5 gal. Pretty gross, full of bugs and stink and dirt, but structurally in good shape. There was also what I supposed was an airlock, a piece of curly copper tube stuck through a dry rotted cork.
If I could manage to clean these up would they be worthwhile fermenters in this day and age or more trouble than they are worth? I'd sure like to use them at least once.