Growing my own hops

I have told you that a friend of mine and I are growing hops for this coming Fall and the brewing season. I now have some new pictures, taken today, of my 3 plants.

I am growing 2 horizon rhyzomes, and one willamette. And without further ado, here they are:







The biggest one is one of the horizons, and the smallest one is also a horizon. I don't know why it is that way, but what the heck. The willamette was planted about 2 weeks after the horizons went in the ground, and is doing just fine. I haven't used any fertilizer on them other than worm castings that come from my worm pile. My buddy who is growing centennial hops put Scotts organic fertilizer on his and says that they are now about chest high. I haven't seen them to verify, but am happy that his are doing so well. Because I still get to use them, even if they do better than mine because my friend doesn't drink beer. Freakazoid that he is.

L8R,

Pennsylvania Beer Festivals in July

With June being half over, I thought that it should be time to post the beer festivals that will be going on in Pennsylvania in July.

I am thoughtful that way, no need to thank me.

Selinsgrove will host its 2nd annual Brew Festival on Saturday July 18th from 2 until 6pm. This festival benefits their downtown revitalization program. Tickets can be purchased online for $43 for drinkers, and $11 for the DD. You can see the breweries that are stated as being there by following this link.

Erie Brewing Company will be hosting Beer on the Bay on July 25th at the Pepsi Ampitheater. This beer festival will benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Society. Two sessions available, 12pm until 3, and then 5 until 8pm. Tickets are $25 for drinkers, and $10 for your DD. If you want a souvenir T-shirt, tickets are $40 for drinkers and $25 for your DD. And here is the link for the rest of the info.

Just a couple of beer festivals that are going on in Pennsylvania, but then again it is all about the quality, not the quantity now isn't it?

L8R,

Pennsylvania Beer Festivals

We have a couple of cool beer festivals coming up in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the next couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to partake in either one of them. The job that pays the bills always takes precedence.

The first beer festival is the coming weekend June 20th in downtown Harrisburg to benefit The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and sponsered by Troeg's Brewing Company.

And then next weekend, June 26th the York County Heritage Trust will be hosting their Microbrew Fest.

Hopefully some of you will be able to take in either one, or even better, both of these events. If you do, I would really enjoy hearing about the good, the bad, and the ugly of them.

L8R,

Hops, Hops, and More Hops

I promised you pictures of my hops, and pictures of my hops are what you will have.



They are starting to vine quite nicely at this point. I haven't added anything in the way of fertilizer other than from my compost pile. My friend who is growing the centennial hops has added Scott's Organic Fertilzer to his, and they have grown somewhat more than mine. I am not a fan of fertilizer, so I haven't added any.



I have the hops vining on hemp that is attached to a electric pole that was left in out backyard. I have the hemp attached about 12' up, and with the angle that the hemp has, they have about 20' of growing space. The hops are planted in a section of my garden that gets about 10 hours of sun daily. So, as long as I keep them watered, and we get good sun this summer, by this fall I will be using my own hops in my beer.

This, my friends, is satisfaction.

L8R

Revelation #9

It is always interesting to me, one of my many revelations, how little of my own homebrew that I actually drink. This came to light just yesterday when a friend and I were discussing getting our families together for an impromptu picnic. I say impromptu because we husbands were the ones who did all of the planning. And the planning went something like this:

The players are myself, Phil, and my friend, Scott.

Scott: Phil the girls were talking about getting together on Sunday. Are you off?

Phil: Yep, and I have a new beer that I want you to try. Double Simcoe IPA from Weyerbacher brewing.

Scott: Cool. I picked up a variety pak from Appalacian Brewing that I will bring over.

Phil: Excellent. How did you like that Thunderhop from Church Brew Works I gave you a couple of weeks ago.

Scott: It was really good. A little toned down from what I like, but it still went down well.

Phil: I have to turn you on to Blithering Idiot sometime too, but I just drank my last 2 bottles last night.

Scott: I picked up a couple of cigars the other day too. You want me to bring them over?

Phil: Naw, I have a couple of Romeo y Julietta Maduros we can smoke, or you can just rummage through the humidor and see if there is something you like. I have a friend who has been getting some nice cigars for a guy at work, and he has been passing some of them on to me.

Scott: We better plan the food or else we are going to forget all about it. We have chicken we can bring.

Phil: Great, I am working tonight so I will get some corn, salad, and desert.

Scott: So how much beer do you think I should bring over?

Phil: Whatever you can drink

So you get the gist of the conversation. We spent a good 15 minutes talking about beer and cigars, and all of about 3 minutes talking about food.

It was after this conversation that I actually realized that I hadn't said anything about my beer. Sadness. I try to brew to a taste. And I end up giving most of the beer I make to friends. They try it, tell me that they like it, or not. We discuss that pro's and con's and I put that into the recipe for the next batch.

I need to start drinking more of my own beer. Especially since I am going all grain this coming fall. This is important.

And have I mentioned that I am going to a kegerator system? I don't think so. A friend called me up the other day saying his parents had a refrigerator that they want to get rid of, would I be interested. Hell yes I would be. I am picking that puppy up on Monday and converting it to a two draft system.

More as the story develops.

L8R

Just who are you calling a Blithering Idiot?

I am a little slow up and around today. You see last night I, after working a harried 10 hours at my day job, decided that I should sit down and drink a couple of Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot brews.

For the uninitiated, Blithering Idiot is a barley wine, weighing in at 11.0% ABV. It is a heavy ale, full of malty deliciousness. Just the kind of brew I enjoy. Though I wouldn't recommend it for a hot summer day. Blithering Idiot is perfect for a cool Fall evening, or a cold Winters night.

And, being the light weight I am, I could only drink 2 of them last night before sleepy time called.

Weyerbacher Brewing has some wonderful beers that you need to be checking out.

Growing your own hops

I planted my hops last week. I ordered two different styles, 2 rhyzomes each. 2 Centennial, and 2 Horizon hops. Both of these are high alpha acid, dual purpose hops. Meaning that I can use them for both bittering, and flavoring.

A week later, I have sprouts on one of my rhyzomes, and none on the other. I gave the Centennial 'zomes to a friend of mine who wanted in on this little experiment. He didn't put his in the ground until just this last weekend.

Pics coming later.

I will keep you informed as to who, what, where, and when.

L8R