tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post6966267421285986491..comments2024-03-28T13:20:29.156-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Horninglow Brewery, Burton-on-TrentRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-77103473315670242862011-09-04T20:02:05.050-07:002011-09-04T20:02:05.050-07:00I saw one of those hand grenades perhaps 40 years ...I saw one of those hand grenades perhaps 40 years ago in the unused apartment (flat) over a tavern and restaurant in northern Michigan (USA). It was owned by a friend's family. <br /><br />The extinguisher was a hollow glass globe about three inches in diameter that sat in a small wall sconce sort of thing. The label on this holder said to throw the globe at the base of the fire. It also said that it was filled with carbon tetrachloride!<br /><br />Not only is carbon tet highly toxic, but the heat of a fire converts it to phosgene gas. I've often wondered what became of that extinguisher.Jeff Rennernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-2352040576988874482011-09-04T16:36:25.289-07:002011-09-04T16:36:25.289-07:00"Not sure about it meaning maturation casks. ..."<i>Not sure about it meaning maturation casks. By the 1890's almost no-one was vatting Porter, even in London.</i>"<br /><br />That is a bit sweeping. The best stouts, the doubles and triples and those that had brown and/or amber malt in them, were still being routinely vatted up to at least the second-world war, probably much later by some breweries. Stout and porter had long been almost synonyms by that time. Guinness were still vatting in the 1980s. <br /><br />Barnard mentions (not illustrated) two porter rooms at the Bass New Brewery, each containing three 500 bbl vats (and many smaller casks) of stout maturing.<br /><br />However, in <i>A Visit To Bass' Brewery</i> published by Bass in 1902, there is a photograph of the vat room and it contained sixteen 500 bbl vats of stout. From this it could be inferred that Bass were still actively building vats long after Barnard's visit in 1887.Graham Wheelernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-69246961443598199342011-09-04T10:32:59.557-07:002011-09-04T10:32:59.557-07:00Ed, that would be the hand grenade fire extinguish...Ed, that would be the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/1885-Hayward-Grenade-Extinguisher-Pricing/dp/B005DGWQ4E" rel="nofollow">hand grenade fire extinguisher</a>, a glass "bomb" filled with a liquid designed to choke any blaze of oxygen.Martyn Cornellhttp://zythophile.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-47842430334421598652011-09-04T06:07:09.951-07:002011-09-04T06:07:09.951-07:00Graham, you could be right about a second union ro...Graham, you could be right about a second union room. But it doesn't sound that substantial a brewery. And Barnard seems to be scraping around for things to describe.<br /><br />Being honest, I was pretty confused by that stuff about the fining floor. I guessed that it meant racking squares. Not sure about it meaning maturation casks. By the 1890's almost no-one was vatting Porter, even in London.Ron Pattinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-33036402561633752242011-09-04T04:06:05.259-07:002011-09-04T04:06:05.259-07:00The union room that Barnard describes may not have...The union room that Barnard describes may not have been their only union room. It seems that the amount of space that breweries got in Barnard's books was proportional to the subscription they paid. <br /><br />Some breweries, like Bass, got a sufficiently long description to be able to make a separate book from it, as Bass did. Other brewers get a page or two. <br /><br />With some breweries, presumably those that were not that impressive, Barnard struggles to say anything positive and seems to waffle somewhat, often devoting more space to the supposed "eminence" of the family than to the brewery itself. <br /><br />I don't think it is safe to assume that Barnard's descriptions were complete or even the whole truth. As his books were written by subscription he doubtless thought that he had a duty to please his subscribers.<br /><br />The fining floor probably contained what we would call the maturation casks or vats for porter. Fining does not necessarily refer to adding isinglass.Graham Wheelernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-37756076906531369422011-09-04T02:22:23.202-07:002011-09-04T02:22:23.202-07:00How do you use a hand grenade when a fire breaks o...How do you use a hand grenade when a fire breaks out?Edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13844169940650659196noreply@blogger.com