BREWERS PITCH in UK.

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Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
868
945
Kent
Pretty sure this will do the job and look the part even though it's not specifically called BREWER's PITCH.

 

Kadushu

If Carlsberg made grumpy people...
Jul 29, 2014
868
945
Kent
Pretty sure this will do the job and look the part even though it's not specifically called BREWER's PITCH.

 
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What is brewers pitch please and what is it used for? Dale x. ps, always wanting to learn
Hello Dale.....Brewer's pitch is an oil-based product purified by having hot oxygen blown through it. It is acceptable in contact with cold consumable liquids when the contact is transitory and not long-term storage, as ale and wine normally is, at least in the leather tankards and leather canteens.
 

Roger

Forager
Sep 7, 2004
122
21
Sussex
We used to use it years ago for leather tankards and bottles. I believe it's not available anymore as it doesn't conform to modern food hygiene standards. Don't think Gum Rosin is even similar. We use beeswax now, you just have to re wax it now and then. However brewers pitch used to crack and had to be re heated to re seal.
Good luck and please let us know if you find it.
Roger
 

Pattree

Full Member
Jul 19, 2023
1,318
738
76
UK
The following isn’t useful :(
I have two tankards by Hidebound. One is lined with brewers pitch but the other with a polymer resin because the pitch became unavailable. A few years ago they advertised that they had found a little pitch and could offer repairs to their earlier products but that offer has gone from their web site.
 
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Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,977
4,624
S. Lanarkshire
It's still available, but from Europe.

This is 'real' brewer's pitch, not the more modern petroleum extract based stuff.

"Pitch is a viscoelastic polymer which can be natural or manufactured, derived from petroleum, coal tar, or plants. Pitch produced from petroleum may be called bitumen or asphalt, while plant-derived pitch, a resin, is known as rosin in its solid form."

So, the reason that 'brewer's pitch' became unavailable was because it was basically tar being used instead of the original resin, and tar is considered potentially carcinogenic.

"Among the compounds identified in bitumen and its emissions, some have been listed as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and/or listed as carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction (CMR) and/or hazardous by the European Union."

I have an old book, the quantities there for Brewer's Pitch are given as
Rosin, 8 parts
Lampblack, 2 parts
Beeswax, 1 part

Later recipes use ceresine wax (shale extract stuff) and then in came the petroleum derivatives.

M
 
It's still available, but from Europe.

This is 'real' brewer's pitch, not the more modern petroleum extract based stuff.

"Pitch is a viscoelastic polymer which can be natural or manufactured, derived from petroleum, coal tar, or plants. Pitch produced from petroleum may be called bitumen or asphalt, while plant-derived pitch, a resin, is known as rosin in its solid form."

So, the reason that 'brewer's pitch' became unavailable was because it was basically tar being used instead of the original resin, and tar is considered potentially carcinogenic.

"Among the compounds identified in bitumen and its emissions, some have been listed as carcinogenic by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and/or listed as carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic to reproduction (CMR) and/or hazardous by the European Union."

I have an old book, the quantities there for Brewer's Pitch are given as
Rosin, 8 parts
Lampblack, 2 parts
Beeswax, 1 part

Later recipes use ceresine wax (shale extract stuff) and then in came the petroleum derivatives.

M
Hello Toddy, many thanks for that. This is a lovely guy called Ronald, I've spoken with him via email the other day. Sadly, they do not export to the UK, but he is trying to convince someone named Simon that they should. I've asked him that if and when they do I'd like to become one of his customers. Awaiting a reply.
 
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The following isn’t useful :(
I have two tankards by Hidebound. One is lined with brewers pitch but the other with a polymer resin because the pitch became unavailable. A few years ago they advertised that they had found a little pitch and could offer repairs to their earlier products but that offer has gone from their web site.
Thank you Pattree, I also emailed these guys.
 

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