hist-brewing: barrels

[ulfin at mail.portup.com]

wade/Gille writes:

>What _I'm_ looking for is a wooden tub to mash in.  You'd think that
>somebody still sells a wooden wash-tub.  Anyone have any info?

As am I.  I was looking at a tub offered by Jas. Townsend & Sons,
until I realized that it was really tiny.

Lately, I've been eying the half whiskey barrels the garden
shop sells as planters.  Unfortunately, they're $40-60 -- a lot
more than I want to pay for something in such obviously poor
condition.  Worse yet is that they're charred, which means
that I would have to disassemble it, scrape the staves,
re-assemble it, and hope it holds tight.

Duncan & Acton (whom I'm sure you all know from _Making Mead_)
address the issue of halved barrel tubs in _Progressive Winemaking_.
They say that such tubs should sport an extra hoop at the top
for reinforcement (the garden-variety planters do not have the
extra hoop) and that the staves tend to dry out and fall
apart.  I'll probably talk myself into a couple anyway.  I want to
use them as a mash tun and a fermenter at SCA events this
summer.

Dan



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