Tasa Drying Shed

Tasa Drying Shed. Heritage Park, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. , Overview , Many buildings on farms in Norway were designed to serve one purpose. This building was probably used to dry grain for brewing beer. While many Norwegians and Norwegian Americans brewed their own beer, others fought for temperance. Andrew Volstead, a congressman from Minnesota, sponsored the National Prohibition Act, which banned the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol.

. LC5989 , Gift of the grandchildren of Knut Thompson Tasa, Luther College Collection

, The Tasa Drying Shed is an example of special-use buildings on Norwegian farms that allowed for self-sufficiency in the relative isolation created by the rugged landscape. Like several other buildings at Vesterheim, this one was built in the United States with American construction techniques and Norwegian design and function., The structure was built around 1860 on Knut Thompson Tasa's farm in Goodhue County, Minnesota. It was probably used for making beer in the harvest season. The stone-hearth oven inside warmed water-soaked barley until it sprouted and dried the sprouted kernels. , In Norway, beer was brewed and served on special occasions, including weddings and Christmas. In the United States, some Norwegian-American families continued the tradition of brewing beer. That tradition, though, came up against temperance, a religious and social condemnation of drinking and drunkenness. , Many Norwegian Americans fought for temperance. Andrew Volstead, U.S. Congressman from Minnesota and son of Norwegian immigrants, sponsored the National Prohibition Act, also known as the Volstead Act. From 1920 to 1933, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution made it illegal to make, sell, or even possess “intoxicating liquors.” After Prohibition ended, few families went back to brewing beer and the purpose of buildings like this were largely forgotten. , To brew beer in Knut Tasa's time, you started with barley, which was first sprouted, then dried. It took six bushels of barley to make a 50-gallon barrel of beer. Dried barley was ground in a horse-powered mill. The barley was placed in a barrel with ground malt, wild hops, and water that had been boiled and cooled. The malt solution was drained off and then cooked, and then yeast was added. Beer was aged in a barrel until it tasted right, which took two or more weeks. Beer was made in the fall and sometimes also the spring.