Wooden keg experience?

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I've long been using canvas buckets to store drinking water at camp. I've noticed a big difference in how cool the water stays in canvas vs. in a plastic bucket. I am guessing this is due to a "swamp cooler" effect where the water weeps through the canvas and evaporates taking heat with it.

Does anyone have experience with wooden kegs/barrels? Do you notice this same effect, of the water staying cool?

If it works, does it make a big difference?

 

[nwtradegun]

no they do not cool water. they are wax or pitch lined to prevent leaks. water is say as if in a canteen.

 

[tenngun]

They are heavy, expensive, and a pain. Canvas buckets are a lot easier to transport in and out of camp. While right for the time they were not a part of every ones camp.

 

[pat i.]

I don't know if it will keep things cold or not but I ordered this a few days ago to use for rum. I think even if the cooling effect is missing my camp will still become a popular place to visit.

Link

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Anybody have a reference for use of canvas buckets in the 18th century? I have a couple, and used them out of need, not correctness.

A wooden keg, kept in the shade, will not transfer as much heat to the water within as will a plastic container, as the wood acts as insulation, but the water has to be noticeably cool when placed in the keg...

The swamp cooler principle works well in low humidity...canvas water containers suck where I live, as the humidity will often reach 100% in the summer...evaporation is very slow at that point.

Had a kid join my Boy Scout troop, moving in from New Mexico...thought he was so smart as he had a canvas water bag and none of us even knew what they were...was confounded when the sucker held water on a weekend hike at a "refreshing" 110 degrees...no evap in the Washington DC area in July... :shake:

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have always carred a 5 gal. keg to ronny. Between uses the wood (oak) dries and allows the slats to shrink. The keg must be soaked for a couple days to make it water tight again. Doing that is a pain but necessary. Once properly soaked it will hold water just fine as long as there is some inside to keep the wood wet. Mine is now many years old and ready for retirement.

Edit: I should add: I began carrying the keg because at a couple events I found reliable drinking water was not readily available. After that I brought my own supply in 5 gal. collapsible plastic camping jugs. These were kept in burlap bags in the shade and used to refill the keg from which I drew my water to use.

 

[tenngun]

They were used on ships, did they make it ashore? :idunno: Ask the guy with oil cloth. They were simple, easy to make and easy to store. But it is no use kicking up a sling-ball starter-bullet board argument. I'm early 19th cent so in the clear for me.

 

[George]

They were used on ships, did they make it ashore?

Don't imagine anyone is interested in the historical aspects of water kegs, but in the 18th century everything you can think of was stored, shipped and sold in kegs, casks, barrels, &c. Wine, beer, rum, pickles lobsters, bread, ship biscuits, ironware, tinware, flour, salt, molasses, sugar”¦. an endless list. Coopers were valuable members of the community.

I only have one reference of what might be a water keg such as is being discussed.

The Pennsylvania Gazette
April 12, 1759
To be SOLD by JAMES WALLACE, At his Store, the Corner of Market, in Water street, RAISINS, Currants, Peppers, Cloves, Cinnamon, Mace, Nutmegs, Rice, Powder, Musketoons , Muskets, Pistols, Cutlasses, Iron bound Water Casks, and some choice old White Wine, in Quarter Casks and a few Boxes of fresh Lemons.

Spence

 

[coloradoclyde]

I wonder if the "water cask" was a way of recycling a keg? With everything under the sun being put into a keg of some form, seems like there would have been a lot of empty kegs lying around. :hmm:

 

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Thanks guys for the input.

I know you can still get barrels that are crafted to be water tight without the paraffin lining. That would mean that the water can soak through the pores of the wood and potentially evaporate out the other side. But it may be that it simply cannot weep through fast enough to cool the water.

However, I was not interested the hysterical correctness of a keg at camp (to be HC we'd just drink from the creek, or drink whiskey only).

To be honest, I was considering this as a means to keep a secondary fermenter cool for lagering beer at home. But nobody in the homebrew crowd has much experience with wooden kegs so I thought I'd come here. ;-)

 

[tenngun]

Met canvas bukets were used on ships not in the place of water cask... sorry i wasnt clear :redface:

 

[George]

Met canvas bukets were used on ships not in the place of water cask...

Yeah, the crew's water casks on ships were called scuttlebutts. Guess where the name for all that gossip around the drinking fountain came from. :grin:

Spence