Silage liquor?

[Onthesauk]

Heard a story this afternoon, new one on me.  Neighbor grew up on a dairy farm.  He and his brothers had to fill the silos with corn every summer.  He said they had an old Greek neighbor who would bring over earthenware jugs to be buried in the silage, 8 to 10 feet up from the bottom and a couple of feet in from the sides and about a foot or so apart, a big circle at that level.  Then when they had fed down to that level during the winter he would come over and collect them.  Suppose to have been some sort of liquor and this was some type of aging or fermentation process?  Anyone heard of such a process?  Maybe Norm was too quick to knock down his silo.

[Dave Shepard]

I have not heard of putting things in the silo, but it sounds like it might work, as there would be consistant heat in the silage throughout the winter. I don't know about making alcohol, but I wonder if it would work for something like kimche. I have come across some discussion of preserving food through fermentation recently.


Dave

[WH_Conley]

I have heard of doing this before. The only firsthand experience I have had was when I drove a buk milk truck back about 1980, one farmer had hogs down grade from his silo. As the silage fermented the juice would run down hill to the hogs, be several days those hogs were able to get up, when they did they would stagger around all over the place  :D. Course those hogs were fat as mud. When silage is fermenting you can not get in a silo without ventilation, have known of a couple people dying in there over the years.

[Faron]

Years ago our neighbor had a cow staggering around one morning.  He was afraid maybe it had gotten in the auger boot and eaten too many soybeans.  We helped him get her in the barn and roped her and snappped a bull lead in her nose, intending to give her a dose of mineral oil.  I'm not sure just what good that was supposed to do, but anyway....   She put up a heck of a fight, actually putting  both feet against the feedway and pushing back with all her strength against the bull lead.  We treated her and turned her loose.  When we checked back that evening, Pete explained he had found out what was really wrong with her.  The recently filled silo was oozing juice, basically a type of whiskey.  He saw another cow come up and sip from a puddle at the silo base.  Our fighting drunk cow had likely been the first in line that morning and drank too much.  She was certainly not a happy drunk.  I have never heard of the process you describe, but I am pretty sure it will work.  My guess is it would be a pretty potent mixture, though.

[Onthesauk]

We also were talking about the fumes in a silo.  As kids we played in and around them, don't ever remember hearing about the danger until I was an adult.

Dave, I was stationed in Korea years ago and saw kimche made.  It's buried just below ground level, I think just enough to keep it from freezing so probably no composting heat like a silo has.

[Don_Papenburg]

The neighbor had a wood stave silo on his farm . He said as a kid when they filled the silo it would tend to leak a bit . He also had a rooster that would drink from the fountain of youth but did not know when to say when . The rooster would get to stumbleing and fall down and roll a bit down hill . then he would recover and head back to the fine corn liquor and restart the prosses. ;D

[beenthere]

When I was in my teens, I worked on an Iowa farm a couple years, and unearthed the stone jugs that were buried there. A local guy came out and picked them up. Never tasted the brew, but knew the smell very well.  
Every day was my job to throw silage down for 100 head of dairy cows, enough for two feedings.
Brings back memories...... : :

[Tom]

I got a jar of silage seepage as a tip one time. It was potent but smelled real bad.  I couldn't drink it...  even if I wanted to.

[Dave Shepard]

Maybe I should start bottling this stuff, there's got to be something worth selling around this place, they sure ain't paying enough for the milk.


Dave

[pigman]

It bet the modern silage unloaders would be hard on the jugs. Not to say that beenthere is not still modern. ;) ;D

Bob

[Reddog]

Around here it is put in a pit/bunk silo or a bag.
Not sure how a crock would hold up to being driven on while filling the pit/bunk :D

My father inlaw had a lot of beef one year from the silage bloating the cows. That whole bunk they had to mix bicabonit soda in as it was feed.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  I'll bet they ran the stuff through a still.

[bull]

silage sqeezin's  Put a 4" perferated pipe in the bottom of the silo and punch a hole in a bottom block run it out side to a plastic 55 gallon barrel and start collecting....take collected fluid to the kitchen then pour into a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil " strong rolling boil" and the strain thru cheese cloth and bottle it up, let stand for a few days and then start sippin,some kickin hooch..... strawberry koolaid is a great chaser......  also chips and salsa................................... be sure to only drink enough don't over due. I can remember sending a few kids to the hospital in high school.....
Also stop collecting if you see any mold in the silage............... can cause a kicking stomach bug... Ralph and barff !!!!!

[sawguy21]

 :D :D :D :D I bet  the kitchen would be ripe for a few days. Phew. Mom said she and her cousins would entertain themselves letting the pigs into the empty silo. Her uncle did not see the humor in it.