Odds ‘n Sods:

This might be just what the doctor ordered for the old BOV. Teardrop Trailer . – MKP

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Journalists will face jail over spy leaks under new security laws – T.P.

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More information emerges about the young Muslim woman who sparked a passionate response from a panelist on the Benghazi Accountability Coalition hosted by the Heritage Foundation. It puts the whole conversation in an interesting light. Muslim Student Who Ignited Media Firestorm at Benghazi Panel a ‘Family Friend’ of Convicted Terrorist. – P.S.

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You’re most likely to be wiretapped in this U.S. state. – D.S.

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MS-13 Member Arrested in La Grulla. – P.M.

Notes for Wednesday – July 16, 2014

July 16th is the anniversary of the death of Hugh John McCall, in Rhodesia, in 1979.

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Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.

Round 53 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Preparedness and Practice… RV Style, by A.S.

A few years ago two different activities came into the life of my family. First, we started prepping. We began the process of preparing ourselves, physically and mentally, for whatever potential disaster we might face in the future. Second, we purchased a camper and started taking regular weekend camping trips during the summer. Sometimes these trips were three-day weekends, and a couple times per year these trips are extended to four-day weekends or an entire week vacation. The topic of “practicing your plan” and being familiar with your supplies and equipment has been covered many times. It occurred to me that we were doing exactly that, just by doing our normal camping activities. This is a breakdown of some of those activities and how they can be helpful to overall preparedness.

At first, I wondered why more people weren’t looking at RV’s as a prepping tool. My first view of the camper was as a self-contained, short-term living quarters in case of emergency. Whether this be due to the loss of primary housing from fire or natural disaster or the result of one willingly abandoning the domicile or “bugging out”. Our camper stays full of supplies necessary for survival. The on-board water tank holds 60 gallons of fresh water, and we store additional bottles of water. We store plenty of food of the non-perishable variety that requires no immediate rotating for freshness. Tools, spare parts, and outdoor tools are kept ready for wood cutting and other necessary work. Solar panels keep the 12-volt batteries charged and ready for use. If needed, we could get in at any time and be ready for a weekend trip or to live for a couple weeks, with no additional supplies needed. This would be seen as a temporary survival tactic, due to the RV’s light skin being less than optimal for defensive purposes and also its small size making it a challenge to live in for any extended length of time.

However, during our weekend trips, I really started seeing the benefit of our camping activities. We were exercising skills and learning things that fit right into our preparedness mentality. Once this became apparent, I started making a conscious effort to pick activities that would bolster our preparedness and help everyone in the family practice these skills, even if they weren’t aware of it at the time.

We prefer to choose sites that are rural, wooded, and somewhat secluded. Being in the woods gives us a chance to practice skills such as wood gathering and fire starting. No matter where we camp there is a fire pit that allows us the opportunity to try different methods of fire starting and fire building. We can build a fire for cooking, or we can work on the technique of building a fire that will last all night. If you have different tools for fire starting in your bag or supplies, this is a good time to get them out and make yourself familiar with their operation. Hiking through the woods is a great physical activity that helps with cardio fitness and gives us a chance to wear our packs to get a feel for the balance and location of items attached to the pack. If you’ve never done any activity carrying an extra 20 or 50 pounds on your back, it will be a shock to your body just how strenuous it actually is. A simple hike up hill from one area to another suddenly becomes a breath-taking, back-breaking trek, but you’ll be better equipped physically if you ever need to carry everything you own on your back. Hiking also presents an opportunity for land navigation skills, such as map and compass reading. We enjoy not having a cell phone and teaching the kids how to use a compass for direction and navigation. Even the most basic skills of being able to travel in a general direction without traveling in circles is beneficial. We also try to use this time to work at being able to identify different plants and trees. Once we are able to identify different plants, we can then learn about their benefits in the wild. We learn which ones are edible and which ones are poisonous. It’s good to know what tree in our area is best for making a shelter and which one can provide vines that could be used as thrashings or bindings.

I always take a day, during our trips, to get out my Bug Out Bag and sort through the contents and familiarize myself with their location and use. My primary bag stays with us at all times. The contents of the bag, along with some of the different tools that I keep available in our vehicle or in the camper, are items that need to be used, so that when we “really” need them we will be familiar with how to use them efficiently. This gives me the opportunity to make notes about items that I need to add to the bag, items that need to be replaced or removed, and prioritizing items when I reach the point that nothing else will fit. A couple of times per year I need to change the contents of the bag that are season specific. If SHTF comes during the summer and it’s 100 degrees outside, it won’t be very beneficial to discover that your bag contains heavy winter gloves and a heavy weight balaclava; conversely, if you’re bugging out during the winter months, finding insect repellent, mosquito netting, and sun screen in your supplies would be frustrating too. I would recommend getting a note pad to keep notes of needed supplies or just ideas for future additions or activities. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had an idea that seemed important at the time, only to not be able to remember what it was after the trip. It seems that once the wheels start turning and the juices start flowing that the ideas seem to come in multiples, or maybe it is just a “guy thing”, like my wife has claimed all along. I have found the notepad invaluable in keeping up with our needs for the RV and our prepping supplies in general.

A good knowledge of basic mechanical skills will be helpful for many situations, whether it be working on a vehicle, trailer, motorcycle, or any other mechanical device. It seems like there is always something that presents itself as an opportunity to practice these skills, whether it be electrical wiring or to change a flat tire. If you have an electrical system, such as solar or a mechanical generator, you’ll need a working knowledge of the system to be able to keep it operational in case of a mishap. Frequently, we take trips with another couple or maybe a few families. It seems that during each trip there has been an opportunity to work on something. We’ve re-wired trailers, changed oil, added or removed accessories to vehicles and campers, built a small wood shed from scrap wood, and tons of other hands-on jobs. With hands-on activities often comes the opportunity to practice first aid. Whether one of the kids falls and needs a wound cleansed and dressed, or it’s something more serious, like a cut, head injury, or extremity injury, being outdoors will inevitably present a chance to practice these skills. My wife and I are both licensed healthcare workers, so this is our opportunity to share our skills and knowledge with others.

We have found another fun activity in knife sharpening. If you are good at this invaluable skill, then congratulations! However, I’ve spent a lot of time practicing this important skill and find it very challenging. To make sure we can take care of our needs in this regard, we keep an assortment of sharpening tools from the basic whet rocks and stones to some of the pre-set angle holding sharpening tools. I really think this is a skill that could be invaluable and what better way to spend some time around the camp fire than teaching the kids how to use a stone or having a friendly competition with a buddy.

When possible, we also try to get some trigger time and do some firearm training and shooting. We have to be careful, as some states have government-owned or funded parks that do not allow firearms. However, many of the places that we visit have outdoor ranges within short driving distance. I find it helpful to practice shooting in as many different environments as possible. Going to the same range all the time and shooting from the same bench won’t help at all if you are forced to shoot to defend yourself. You won’t be able to set up at the range to defend your family. If we can’t go shoot, then going over gun maintenance or practicing field stripping different guns can be a fun activity. Depending on the time of the year, we can also go get a little hunting in on nearby Forestry Department land. If we happen to score a couple of tree rats, then we’ve practiced hiking, shooting, land navigation, game cleaning, and then cooking, so it provides for a large range of skills. If it is not practical to shoot a firearm, then we try to get some archery practice. Sometimes this can be done in areas where a gun can’t be shot.

Speaking of cooking, camping is ALL about having great meals. We eat better and with fresher ingredients when we are out camping than we do at home. Have you practiced cooking with your food stores at home or at your bug out location? If your food stores consist entirely of canned food and longer shelf items that you use as a rotating pantry, then these are items that you are used to cooking with every day. However if your emergency supplies consist of a supply of dehydrated food or bulk stored staples, it is imperative to learn how to use these items. Learning how to grind wheat when you are suddenly dependent on figuring it out or going hungry isn’t the best time to learn. We have used these items to come up with some tasty recipes that everyone in the family likes. For us, personally, we have found rice to be our favorite staple. We can mix it with other food or flavor it as a stand-alone dish. Learning how to use what you have on hand and then figuring out how to incorporate other ingredients that might become available will keep a fresh look and taste to your nutritional requirements.

Being able to camp with other families always gives us the chance to learn from others. Being able to share information learned and glean tips and tricks from someone who is more of a veteran outdoorsman is fun and invaluable. It is truly the definition of getting what you can’t learn from a book. Being with other like-minded people is beneficial, also if they are part of your group or your long-term plan, if the SHTF. You can’t expect everyone to be on the same page, if you only see someone two or three times a year. You can place all the importance on being self-sufficient and learning every skill you can, but nothing can compare to the knowledge of the collective.

While this list is certainly not exhaustive of skills that can be practiced while camping or RV’ing, and each topic could (and has) had entire books or articles written about them, I hope you see the connection. If you are someone who likes to camp or has an RV, I hope that you use that time, as we do, to better prepare yourself. If you have been thinking about getting a RV, maybe you will now have a different perspective of the skills that can be learned and the benefits of having a mobile bug out home.

Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hi, Mr. Hugh! I live in the hot, HUMID, deep South and have a couple of things to add to the conversation. 1) If you have a spring, dig it out and box it in with cypress wood or some other wood that should last in water. We did that back in ’75, and added shelving on the inside of the box, at just under water level. Our spring water is very cold and should keep milk and milk products nice and cool. I have to admit that we’ve never had to use it for that; we just pump the water up to the house to use normally, but in a grid down situation, it’s there and works nicely. The old folks call it a “Spring Box”. 2) If your house is up off the ground, you can keep your potatoes and onions under the porch in the cool sand. My folks have done it for years, as did their folks before them. Hope this will help if someone is planning a home/looking for land in preparation of off-grid situations. – Dixie

Hugh Replies: Length of storage is another item to think about in this discussion. In the prepping circles, we commonly banter about terms like 30 year food storage life or 20 year storage life, and we sometimes don’t want to look at something that has a 10 year life or less, but that may not be the best strategy. I have quite a few LDS friends who purchase their supplies in #10 cans and put them in the closet for their time of need. Unfortunately, I have seen many who have had to throw out large amounts of food because it had degraded past the point of being edible, especially in hot environments. The prepping philosophy “store what you eat; eat what you store” is very well applied in a situation where controlled temperatures and humidity are not available. For example, if you store MREs and actually eat MREs on a regular basis, an extremely shortened food storage life span of one year is still okay. Three years of food would be better, but not many people have a three year larder. Most canned goods can easily survive one year in an environment that has temperatures approaching 100 degree F for a couple of months of that time frame. If you have a one year larder, you don’t have to worry about the damage that five consecutive years of high temperature would produce. You will simply eat it by the end of the first year. Your colon will also appreciate the fact that you are not drastically changing your diet, should you start eating out of your larder, and you don’t have to worry about throwing old food away.

Economics and Investing:

This week’s Woodpile Report is a “must read.”

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There’s debt, Then There’s Debt, Then There’s U.S. DEBT. – J.W.

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The mega-Rick Rant returns! – P.M.

Last time, Santelli accidentally created the Tea Party, so what happens now?

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People Are Going Broke & It Will Get Ugly

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Fed Fears Risks Posed by Exit Tools; Plan Almost Done

Yellen Says Fed Easy Money Needed Even After Recovery: Report

Japan Economics Minister Warns of Premature QE Exit

Odds ‘n Sods:

Microsoft to undergo biggest layoff round in company’s history. – T.P.

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The 5 Most Dangerous Guns in America

See Why Rolling Stone’s List of ‘Most Dangerous Guns’ Is Being Called ‘Maybe the Worst Piece of Journalism of All-Time’. – JBG

Is Rolling Stone serious, or is this sarcasm? If it’s sarcasm, it’s out of character for the left-leaning rag. If it’s serious, it’s the worst piece of reporting I have ever seen. The comments, however, are priceless.

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Video: Reporter stopped by TSA agent who didn’t know District of Columbia is in US. – T.P.

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Germany’s plan to take on NSA: Block eavesdroppers with classical music, and use typewriters. – D.S.

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What I Don’t Like About Life in the American Police State. – B.B.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“For Christians to influence the world with the truth of God’s Word requires the recovery of the great Reformation doctrine of vocation. Christians are called to God’s service not only in church professions but also in every secular calling. The task of restoring truth to the culture depends largely on our laypeople.” – J. Gresham Machen

Notes for Tuesday – July 15, 2014

Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  10. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304,
  11. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate– a $325 retail value,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.

Round 53 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Home Brewing for SHTF, by C.K.

(Preface by HJL: SurvivalBlog neither condones nor condemns alcohol consumption. However, we stand by a biblical perspective that takes a strong stance against drunkenness. There are serious issues that must be weighed in regards to alcohol consumption and commerce, and each reader should measure them carefully to know whether home brewing is for you or not.)

What is home brewing? I am not talking about brewing your favorite cup of coffee or tea; I am referring to the growing hobby of brewing beer, wine, and other spirits at home. There are many advantages of brewing in SHTF. However, like other skills, you need to practice now so that you do not make costly mistakes when all the cards are on the table. For this article I will cover the advantages of home brewing and a basic introduction to complete your first brew. Home brew can also be converted into spirits (hard alcohol) through distillation, but this is not something that should be done by beginners, and it is illegal in some areas. I would recommend you start with beer, wine, and hard cider; then, once you have a better handle on the process, consider making the harder stuff IF it is legal in your area. Also, distribution of your home brew is a touchy subject. While it should be okay for you to give it away to friends, it is definitely illegal to sell it. I am NOT responsible for any legal trouble you encounter during your home brewing adventures.

Why home brew in SHTF?

I have broken down the potential advantages of home brewing into four categories– food, medical, fuel, and barter. There is also the added benefit, before SHTF, of saving money, meeting new people in brewing clubs, and having a great time.

Food. There is a great documentary available online called “How Beer Saved the World” that goes into great detail about the history of fermented beverages. In a nut shell, back in the day, water was not always safe to drink, so in larger cities (especially in Europe), people drank fermented beverages in place of water. In these United States, most of the apple trees that were planted during the expansion west were used for making hard cider rather than for baking pies. In fact, hard cider was a common breakfast drink up through the early 20th century.

We can go well beyond just turning malted barley into beer. You can make wine from grapes and other fruits, or my fall favorite is turning apples (or apples and pears) into hard cider. What better way to preserve the abundance of fallen apples than to crush them into cider that is then fermented and can last all winter? You can also take the hard cider you just brewed and expose it to oxygen again to make apple cider vinegar. I have unfortunately learned the hard way what happens when a batch of hard cider is exposed to oxygen after fermentation and “goes bad”; your wife gets five gallons of the best apple cider vinegar she has ever had. As I mentioned before, you can also harvest the yeast from your batch of beer for making bread, so home brewing it not just a means of making a beverage to escape the reality that is now before you but also a means of improving your life in a SHTF situation. Fermenting fruits and grains is an easy way to preserve the nutrients throughout the winter with many heath benefits that will be discussed in the medical section. For those of you thinking you don’t want to give your kids an alcoholic beverage, in the tutorial on making your first home brew, I will also discuss how to stop fermentation short to produce a carbonated drink with virtually no alcohol (less than ~0.5 %) a.k.a. soda. The favorites in my house are our honey ginger ale and good old fashion root beer, which are both packed with more nutrients then the “soda” from the store that is made with high fructose corn syrup and carbonated water.

Medical. Consumption of alcohol (in moderation) has been shown in dozens of studies to decreases chance of stroke, heart attack, or heart disease. Specifically related to home brewed and other unfiltered beers, they are full of B vitamins, trace minerals, and phytonutrients (a.k.a. antioxidants.). These are all nutrients that can be hard to find in a SHTF diet. When we consider home brewed wine and ciders, they also contain the nutrients from the original fruit used in the fermentation process. There are also beneficial bacteria, yeast, and fiber that aid in digestion to help keep you regular. Just ask anyone who has ever had a few too many home brewed beers how well they keep you regular.

Through distillation you can produce higher-alcohol-content liquids for cleaning wounds and sterilizing instruments. A common method some people use to increase the alcohol content of hard cider is to put it in the freezer and skim off the ice. While this method can bump up the ABV (alcohol by volume), since you are not distilling, you risk concentrating the methanol (a cousin to the ethanol you want). Methanol has the same initial effects of ethanol, but it is lethal. Somewhere around 10 mL of pure methanol will kill the average size adult, and smaller amounts can destroy the optic nerve resulting in blindness. However, if you are not drinking the byproduct, then you do not have to worry about methanol, which can be used externally just like ethanol.

Fuel. Any fermented, alcohol-containing beverage can be distilled into a higher-alcohol-content liquid to burn in lamps or engines. As stated previously, this is a very dangerous process that requires a still and knowledge of distillation in order to prevent injuring yourself or others, and I DO NOT recommend people go build stills in their back yard. That said, the alcohol that is produced, when done right, is over 80% alcohol. I know an old timer who makes small batches of moonshine for fun, and he has produced batches in excess of 95% alcohol, which is close enough to be considered pure by most people. The moonshine that is produced can be burned as fuel in alcohol stoves, lamps, or even mixed into gas and used in your car in the right proportion. Assuming you have a Ford Ranger that can run on E85 (a mixture of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). I probably would not go more then 50-50, but this would allow you to stretch that gas you have in storage and nearly double how far you are able to drive.

Barter. Whether good or bad, there is always a need of alcohol for consumption. Being able to brew beer, wine, or other spirits in the first weeks of a SHTF scenario might not be worthwhile, but what about six months to a year after, when the stores are empty and liquor cabinets are dry? Aside from bartering alcohol intended for consumption, there is also the need for higher proof of distilled alcohol for fuel and in medicine to clean wounds and sterilize equipment. You can also barter some of the other good associated from home brewing; I have even used harvested yeast from a batch of beer to make bread. The resulting loaf was just as fluffy and great tasting as any loaf we have baked with regular store-bought baker’s yeast. There are also all the other goods that can be made and bartered that I mentioned in the other categories.

Making Home Brew Basics

At a minimum, there are some basic pieces of equipment you will need for your first batch. I have found that hard cider is a really easy first brew, so I will be using that as an example. For a five gallon batch, the basic equipment (at a minimum) is:

  • Five gallon Carboy or bucket with tight fitting lid that is air tight,
  • Airlock,
  • Fermentables (five gallons of apple cider or apples to turn into cider),
  • Yeast,
  • Hydrometer (not 100% necessary but highly recommended to calculate ABV– alcohol by volume), and
  • Bottles, supplied for final product.

The carboy can be as fancy as a 5-gallon glass carboy made specifically for brewing, a 5-gallon plastic water jug like you can get at the store or have delivered, or even a plastic bucket. Just make sure whatever you use is FOOD GRADE and that you have a tight fitting lid that is airtight.

The airlock is a device to let carbon dioxide out, while not letting air back in. A good airlock is crucial, because once fermentation begins if you let oxygen back into the system you will begin producing acid and making vinegar. You can buy an airlock for a couple of dollars off amazon or your local home brew supply shop, or you can make one. In a pinch, I have used a rubber hose and an old milk jug. Just drill a hole in the lid of your carboy just big enough for the hose to fit and seal around it with caulking or something to prevent leaks. Then put the other end in the milk jug and fill the jug about 1/3 the way up with water so the end of the hose is under water. Now, when the carbon dioxide is produced during fermentation the gas will flow through the hose out the end under water so no oxygen can get back through.

The fermentables in this case will be five gallons of apple cider. The best cider to use is fresh and unfiltered or unpasteurized. If you have to use store bought cider, make sure there is nothing added, since a preservative like sorbate kills yeast. Some people like to use fresh cider that they beat to a simmer to kill off the wild yeast before adding in their yeast. Of all of the batches I have done, I simply took cider directly from the orchard into my carboy, then I pitched my yeast and a few secret spices. I have never had a batch go bad, except the one that I forgot to reattach the airlock to when I checked it after two weeks.

The yeast can be as fancy as you like. I have ordered some rare strains over the Internet and bought some at the local home brew supply for less then $3. I have even known people who have used store-bought bread yeast. If you want your hard cider to turn out as good as it possibly can, then you have to buy cider yeast. Believe me or not, each yeast imparts different sublet flavors in the finished product. I have used ale yeast to make hard cider, and everyone noticed it had a distinctive beer-like smell to it that my other batches did not have. If you are worried about the cost, there are great tutorials on YouTube about how to harvest yeast from your brew to use again. I have done this, and it is easy to do.

The hydrometer is used to measure the specific gravity of the initial cider (before fermentation) and the final hard cider (after fermentation). You can use this to calculate how much alcohol has been produced and to determine when fermentation has actually stopped. They are easy to use and will cost in the area of $10 to $20.

When fermentation is done, you are now ready to transfer it to the final bottle or keg, if you have one. I do both kegging in 5-gallon corney kegs to for carbonate as well as in bottles to naturally carbonate. For bottling you have a decision to make– do you want sparkling hard cider (like a beer) or still hard cider (like a wine). For the sparkling hard cider, I bottle in a used pop top beer bottle, usually the 22 oz. size but the more common 12 oz. also works. For this you will also need new caps and a capper, both available online or at brew stores. You could also use plastic soda bottles with lids, if you wanted; those have the advantage of the squeeze test to see if they are carbonated. If you want still hard cider (which is also good and great for cooking) I use old wine bottles and new “corks” that I buy online.

Making the Home Brew

Making the hard cider is easier then most people think. The first step is making sure everything is clean and sterile. I always wash my carboys with hot soppy water first, followed by a bleach solution, and then several good rinses. Now is also the time to follow the directions on the yeast to get it started; some packs tell you to add the yeast to warm water while some instruct you to smack it to activate it. Next we can focus on the cider. Pour one gallon into a large cooking pot and set it on the stove to heat up, but DO NOT BOIL. Pour the remaining four gallons into the carboy. Put on the cap and set it aside for now. Return the gallon that is on the stove; now is the time to add any seasoning or spices you may like. I will usually add some cinnamon sticks and maybe even a few cloves. You can also add some brown sugar or honey, if you want to add another flavor profile, or you can keep it all natural. Once the cider is heated to a mild simmer, pour it into the carboy with the other four gallons. The main goal here was to increase the temperature of the cider to give the yeast a jumpstart in the cider. Now is a good time to tack your first reading with the hydrometer. Follow the directions that came with your specific hydrometer, and record both the specific gravity (this will be the original gravity– OG) and the potential ABV. Pitch the yeast as long as the temperature of the cider is in the 80 to 90 degree F range. Put on the cap with the airlock, and move the carboy to a dark place. Just a warning– Sometimes fermentation can lead to foaming that will overflow from the airlock, so I always put the carboy in the bath tub for the first 24 hours.

Over the next few days, check on the carboy to make sure your cider is fermenting. There should be bubbles coming up through the airlock at a fairly rapid pace. You can also give the carboy a shake if you want to keep everything well mixed, but it is not necessary. Depending on how much sugar is available for the yeast, fermentation will begin to slow down in anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The best way is to wait until few if any bubbles are coming up from the airlock; this is a sign no more carbon dioxide is being produced. Now, take another reading with the hydrometer and record the value. DO this again every day for the next two days. If the reading does not change, then fermentation is complete. Keep in mind that anytime you open your carboy to take out a sample air has the potential to get in, so be quick, and above all else, make sure everything is clean to prevent contaminating your cider. Once your specific gravity has stabilized you can calculate the ABV of the final product. On most hydrometers, there are two scales– the specific gravity and the ABV. To determine your ABV, take the first reading minus the second reading, and that is your final ABV. Typically for most hard ciders I have done, they end up in the 8 to 10% ABV. Ciders, like wine, typically have a higher ABV than beer, because fruit has a lot more sugar for the yeast than grain, like barley, will have.

Now comes the time to decided what you want the final product to be. If you put the cider as-is in wine bottles with corks, you will have a great still hard cider, like an apple wine. You can also add a priming sugar and bottle in beer bottles or plastic soda bottles to get a carbonated beer-like hard cider. Depending on the temperature of the cider, how much you are making, and the kind of sugar you are using to carbonate the cider, you will add different amounts. I recommend using the calculator on the website http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/. They are a great resource, and I have used their blog on numerous occasions, as well. The goal of the priming sugar is only to add the carbonation; too little sugar will result in it being flat but too much sugar can make the bottles blow their tops. I usually have good results using 1/3 cup plain white sugar to five gallons of hard cider. Finally, you can also pour the cider into mason jars or other wide mouth jars and cover with cheesecloth or other air permeable material. This will introduce oxygen back into the hard cider; the alcohol will be converted into acetic acid to create apple cider vinegar.

To actually pour the cider from the carboy into the bottles, I prefer to use a hose and then syphon the cider out. Syphoning causes less agitation, so there is less chances of adding in oxygen and disturbing the sediment at the bottom of the tank. The final step, after all of the wonderful cider has been bottled for its intended uses, is to harvest the sediment in the bottom of the carboy. This sediment is a combination of live and dead yeast, pectin from the apples, and other bits of stuff that were in the cider.

Harvesting/washing the yeast is an easy process that will result in collecting live yeast that can be used again. For this, you will need a large 1-gallon glass jar. I use an old pickle jar, with 2/3 to ¾ a gallon of boiled and cooled water. Pour the water from the jar into the carboy and swirl it around until it is all mixed up. Let it sit, so all of the heavy stuff sinks to the bottom– about 10 to 15 minutes. Then pour the liquid into the 1-gallon glass jar, trying to keep all the sediment that has settled out in the carboy. Now let the 1-gallon glass jar rest for another 10 to 15 minutes, until even more of the heavier sediment settles out. The liquid above should be a creamy white color. Pour this creamy colored liquid into sterile pint jars and cap. Put these jars in the fridge over night. In the morning you should have a clear liquid on top that looks a lot like the cider and a creamy white layer on the bottom, which is the live yeast. Leave the yeast as-is in the fridge and it will stay viable for at least a year. I have used yeast that was 13 months old with no problem, but others have told me after 1 year the reliability of the yeast is decreased.

“Non-alcoholic” Options (aka soda). Follow the same steps as before, except that the fermentation is limited to just one or two days to achieve carbonation. At that point, you cold crash the soda to stop continued fermentation. Generally soda will need to be kept cold and consumed with one to two weeks to keep the ABV below 0.5 to 1%. I usually make soda in small batches (one gallon) at a time to prevent the soda from turning to beer in the fridge. Cold temperatures only slows the yeast; it does not stop them 100%. Alton Brown, on his show Good Eats, does a great tutorial for making ginger ale. I even tried his recipe, which was really good. I would highly recommend watching it to anyone who wants to make homemade sodas.

Remember home brewing is about having fun; I have used my brewing as an opportunity to bring together family and friends at brewing BBQs. I invite friends and family for a BBQ and demonstrate how to make homemade beer. It usually helps if you have a batch ready for them to drink as well. I have also taught my son about bacteria, yeast, and contamination through the brewing process, and he has started making his own soda when I brew my beer and cider.

Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

I’m writing in response to the discussion about how to keep food in the Southeastern United States in the heat of the summer. My mother-in-law is in her 80s. I asked her how her parents and grandparents kept their food. For things like apples, potatoes, tomatoes, they would just store it above ground, sometimes packed in sawdust, usually in open air. For canned food, her mother had a little room off the house with shelves in it. It didn’t have a window, but it also got just as hot as the house. They would keep the canned food in jars for maybe three years. It would have kept longer, but that’s about the most that they ever got stocked up. Since it was an agriculturally based society then, they were constantly producing more food, so it was never necessary to keep more than two years’ worth of food. It would get so hot in the summertime that the morning milk would sour by the end of the day, if they didn’t keep it in the spring. So, they put it in a half gallon jar with a rope around it, and set it down in the spring to keep cool. She said that they never even had electricity until after she was in college, so they certainly never had A/C to keep the canned goods cool. In her later years, her mother got a pressure canner, and started pressure canning things like green beans and meat. However, before that, they would pack the meat down in salt in a barrel. They had been doing that for generations. One day, her mom ran in and said, “Our meat has bugs in it!!” The next batch got bugs in it, too, so they stopped packing it in salt. We still don’t know why it changed, because they knew how to pack it properly, because they had been doing it since time began. I don’t know if the salt changed or the wood, or maybe the bugs mutated, or what, but it isn’t practical to pack meat in salt anymore. My mother-in-law grew up in this area, as did her dad, her grandpa, and her great-grandpa. She lived right next to her grandparents, who lived in the house that was her great-grandpa’s. She very well knows the ways of doing things back 200 years ago. When I asked her if the canned jars had to be kept cold, she gave me the oddest look and said, “No, what do you think they did back before there was air conditioning? We didn’t have a way to keep them cold. They just stayed warm.”

My own pantry is a separate building, just out of necessity. It is much larger than a garden shed. The windows stay open in the summertime to allow air circulation, and I keep a fan going, though that would go away in the absence of electricity. In the wintertime, I keep a heater going. The shelves have sheet curtains over them to keep the light away from the food. That is exactly what the old timers did. Our experience is real life experience, not from a book. We store all kinds of canned food in the building at room temperature, from dry sealed cereal to pressure canned meat and beans. It keeps for many, many years. My husband’s former wife canned up some turkey she bought on sale one year after Christmas. I married my husband about 10 years later, and we opened the jars she’d canned, and they were still good after being stored in a dark room without any special treatment of temperature. None of the walls in our house or the pantry building are insulated. We are on an old homestead, built before anyone thought of insulating anything. Our house stays hot, minus the few rooms that have window A/C units. It’s just how life is. Our potatoes that we buy at the store are best kept in the kitchen where we keep an air conditioner going. They don’t do well in the hot storage. I would love to have a root cellar, but as was mentioned, the water table is way too high to make it happen. Even though the heat is a force to be dealt with, we actually prefer this climate because it tends to get more rain, which makes it much easier to grow everything necessary for living. Also, the growing season is longer than up north and the cold season is shorter. We happen to be right on the edge of the growing zones, where we can grow both the colder season crops like apples, peaches, and pears, but also can dabble in the tropical plants such as bananas and cannas. We are able to grow cold weather grasses in the wintertime for our cows to graze. We can also grow cold climate crops in the wintertime, such as collards, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and turnips. We don’t have to build huge barns for our animals to live in over the winter. We don’t even have barns for our animals to go into. Our only barns are for hay and equipment storage. My mother-in-law’s grandparents on the other side moved from Illinois to Mississippi after fighting for the Union Army in Mississippi. He came down here in the wintertime and saw the cows out in the field eating grass and realized how silly it was that his cows at home were shut up in the barn and he was having to feed them every bite they ate. So he sold out and moved to Mississippi because he could survive easier. – M.M.