Month: May 2006

Nearly 3 years ago, I found an empty 7.75 gallon keg in the scrap metal bin at my local recycler. Someone had evidently found it in their garage and didn’t know, or didn’t want to bother with getting a deposit back, so they pitched it. I saw possibility, and absconded with it. My intention was to make a brew kettle with it – one that could hold a full wort. Before I could make one though, Michelle got me a 10 gallon kettle.

So it’s sat around for 3 years, and yesterday we finally decided to repurpose it as a planter. We took it over to my parents and used my dad’s hammer drill to break in to it (after bleeding off any nasty trapped air), then used a reciprocating saw to cut the top off. It worked very quickly to our surprise, and was still spotless inside. A few drain-holes later, and we had a planter.

Michelle and I were struggling with what to put in it until we walked by a series of pots with ornamental hops in a variety of, uh, varietals. Most had been abandoned by hop farmers here, (Mt. Hood, Liberty, Kent Golding) but they also had a few active varietals. I picked Nugget over Willamette because I like the way the cones look, and these would probably be more for aesthetic than for brewing. So the hops are now planted and will be starting to climb soon. Kind of a cool effect – assuming that 7.75 gallons is enough root space.