What are you doing with homebrew today?

I'm watching my apple juice....
Trying to decide if I need my coolbox for my cider to be (levelling out day and night temperature) or if I need it more urgently to defrost my fridge and freezer ;)
 
Ordered rhizomes today to plant phase 2 of the aptly named Shweddy Bohemian Hops Yard. Will be converting the 16 foot trellis to all Cluster(adding 10 more plants for 20 in all). The top section will be low at 13-14 feet high with 3 sections roughly 12 feet in length, planting Sterling in the first bay(4 plants with 36" spacing), Saaz in the center section(6 plants@ 24") and Northern Brewer in the last section(6 plants@ 24"). Thinking that Saaz and Northern Brewer will do well in a higher density low planting. And Sterling, well I have a couple Sterling plants already, so just rounding out that row.
 
Ordered rhizomes today to plant phase 2 of the aptly named Shweddy Bohemian Hops Yard. Will be converting the 16 foot trellis to all Cluster(adding 10 more plants for 20 in all). The top section will be low at 13-14 feet high with 3 sections roughly 12 feet in length, planting Sterling in the first bay(4 plants with 36" spacing), Saaz in the center section(6 plants@ 24") and Northern Brewer in the last section(6 plants@ 24"). Thinking that Saaz and Northern Brewer will do well in a higher density low planting. And Sterling, well I have a couple Sterling plants already, so just rounding out that row.
Sounds beautiful, good for you. How many brews worth of harvest did you get last year? (If that makes sense...)
 
Sounds beautiful, good for you. How many brews worth of harvest did you get last year? (If that makes sense...)
Planted pretty late in the "yard" I built on Dad's farm, had about a pound of Cluster, but it wasn't ready, will be better this year. The couple plants in my back yard had about enough Northern Brewer for a batch of my "Shore Leave" Cali Common.

The idea for the "main" yard at Dad's place is to see how viable, direct market hops would be at scale. If it works out, would be another income stream for my parents. Promising so far, but I need to get the yard established to really figure out if it will work.
 
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I'm starting to get in a bind with my hops plants that I stashed in the garage. The Cascades are already over two feet tall and it won't be warm enough to put outside for another month or two here in Minnesota.
 
Tasting my Light Yardwork, an American Golden Light Ale, after a week of bottle conditioning. Light and refreshing! Not overly hoppy, not too many floaties, and a touch hazy. Not as much citrus or hops as I was expecting, but immensely
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quaffable at 3.5% ABV.
 
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I'm starting to get in a bind with my hops plants that I stashed in the garage. The Cascades are already over two feet tall and it won't be warm enough to put outside for another month or two here in Minnesota.
Let them wind up on those poles; you can unwind them (gently) at planting and rewind them onto the twine (or whatever you use for them to climb). No worries, it'll work out, even if they get 6 feet tall.
Also you can cheat the planting by a week or more if...
- The weather report seems favorable and...
- You are willing to protect them if the weather turns too cold. Watering warms the earth, burlap retains the heat, the goal is just over freezing at the lowest and you'll be good. Or sleep next to them to keep 'em warm... :p
 
Kegged my ESB. Small sample tasted great, for me :) I had a few extra pints so I put that in the refrigerator. Once my carb caps come I’ll carb up a bit for a real sample.
I am also brewing a Vienna lager. That was spur of them moment the plan was next week. A rule would have been broken. So I have a keg to drink, a keg to condition, and I’ll have wort fermenting
 
Nice Josh! My garage is still to much of a disaster to brew right now, waiting on the replacement fuel line so I can put my old motorbike back together. Then I'm going to need to make a few big batches to get the keezer full again and ESB is definitely on the list.
 
Taking samples of the golden lager and Shady Bohemian. Both have settled around 1.009. The Golden lager has sulfur smell, but no diacetyl that I can perceive. The Shady Boh tastes great as always :) I'll try to leave it in the fermenter as long as I can before I bottle it. My guess is I'll be bottling Friday lol
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Yeah I wouldn't stress to much about it.
 
Added second dry addition to Cragunitas, and took a gravity sample, 1011 after less than 48 hours, nutty. Will set it up to cold crash tomorrow. This was just a few hours after pitching VOSS Friday evening! It was chugging pretty hard!
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