More than 130 years ago, an elephant promoted as the largest in the world caused a sensation during an American tour. This winter, a Minnesota man and his girlfriend hope to re-create a bit of that excitement when they haul a rare steam traction engine named for that elephant – and a portable, working brewery – to California and back.
Greg Smedsrud, Battle Lake, Minnesota, and his girlfriend, Sue Martinson, plan to load a 1911 Harrison 17hp Jumbo steam traction engine and what is basically a portable brewery on a specially designed 53-foot semi-truck trailer. Setting out on a one-of-a-kind snowbird adventure, the two hope to make stops in California, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Arizona.
“We’ll be going to breweries along the way and doing some exhibition brewing using this operation,” Greg says. “We’re most excited about the possibility of stopping next May at Golden Spike National Historic Site at Promontory Summit near Bingham City, Utah, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of driving the golden spike in the transcontinental railroad.”
In the brewing demonstration, steam from the Jumbo will be run through a line to a separate, freestanding boiler. That boiler contains what brewers refer to as beer wort made from malted barley, essentially the starter liquid for beer. Using steam as a heat source, the wort is boiled for a few hours before it is pumped into a keg, where yeast is added. The mixture is fermented for a week or so – and then it is beer.