A Good Score?

[Twisted Canuck]

Hi all, I just got back from a family gathering, stayed at my Dad's place for a couple of days. He is past 70 now, and decided he would rather drink the wine I make then make his own anymore, so he passed on a little item to me....a large, heavy clear glass carboy! It is marked on the bottom as follows:

12
1934
G

I'm assuming that this would make it a 12 gallon carboy, manufactured in 1934? Anyone who can give me an educated decipher on that I would appreciate it, rather than assuming on my part....

So, is this a fairly common item/size, or did I score something good here? I've not seen any quite like this one. A friend has some about this size that are green glass, and not as heavy, different shape...Just curious. Now I need to find a bung and breather to fit!

I'm thinking this would make a good carboy for bulk aging, it looks like it would hold nearly 3 of my 23 litre carboys....I'm going to have to figure out what I want to do with this, maybe do some interesting blending??...suggestions?

 

[Tom]

Not sure. I have not heard of a 12 gallon carboy. How does it compare to what you have size wise? If you dont have any then I would add water to see how large it is.
12 gallon would be VERY heavy to move. I hope you have a pump then.
Any time you get FREE stuff its a good score!

 

[Twisted Canuck]

Well, I do have a nice little filter pump that I just used to bottle my first ever batch, and it works great.....so I will probably filter into it and let it sit in place for aging. I'm thinking I'll put it in a cut down garbage pail with heavy rope handles on it for moving it around if needed.

12 gallons does seem an odd size, I will measure it to be sure exactly how many litres it holds.....it needs a cleaning anyway, so I'll report back.

And I believe you are correct, any free stuff is a good score!

 

[Wade E]

It might also be Imperial gallons meaning that it would be about 14 1/2 US gallons. Is it the same shape as a normal carboy or is it more like a demi john? It could also be more of a lab production then a wine production vessel. Thats a great thing you have there if you make those size batches.

 

[Twisted Canuck]

Hi Wade! well, I filled it up and it took very close to 50 litres (49 7/8 +-) to fill it to the top, before it slopped over....it isn't a demi john, it looks like a carboy on steroids, same profile only slightly taller, bigger around. So since most kits I've looked at make 23 litres, it will hold two kits and an extra four litres....interesting. That is equivalent to 11 British gallons, 13.2 US... odd indeed.

 

[Wade E]

HUH! Thats weird. That makes it tough to do kits in it then without using some kind of gas like Argon or C02 to dispace the 02. You could get a C02 tank for this purpose. they arent that expesive as I and many others use them for sparkling wine and beer.

 

[Twisted Canuck]

Yes, I thought of that as well, a gas blanket isn't really that expensive to do, and I have a small C02 bottle for my mig welder at home anyway......

 

[St Allie]

Some of those old, odd sized glass carboys were used to ship acid in, way back in the day.

I picked up a 28 litre one recently and that was it's original function.

Allie

 

[Midwest Vintner]

i'd say nice. it'll give you a good workout to boot! lol

who says you have to put kits in there?