Homegrown brew 2.

During the late summer months, when it was very hot, I was really into Belgian ales.  Specifically from Unibroue.  Everything I have tasted from them is totally beyond and super refreshing.  The label art and concepts are pretty badass too, even though they are Canucks.  

The Satanic canoe story is pretty dark and awesome.

Anyway, I decided to brew a Belgian.  I am not really a fan of adjuncts, however, in my opinion brewing a Belgian that is not spiced seems like omitting a very structural element of the style.  

Firstly though, I decided to plant some cilantro this summer for fresh fish tacos and salsa.  I also planted dill for homemade pickles,which were delicious (this is a brew blog so I won't go into that). Unfortunately, since I am a terrible gardener, I only had fresh cilantro for a few dinners.  The weather got too hot and I neglected my crop which then bolted.  Which means that it went to seed.  The cool thing is that cilantro seeds are also known as coriander; and coriander is the spice in spiced Belgians!  Fortuitous.

So, I ended up with a bunch of fresh coriander seeds which went into my ale.  They ended up being very subtle but it was a cool experience nonetheless. 

Homegrown brew.

My hops came in pretty well this season.  Better than I expected.  They grew surprisingly well given that I had no real idea what I was doing.

Started off with three rhizomes and buried them about 8 inches deep with the visible spouts pointing upwards.  I dug around the plantings to create mounds for drainage.

The Northern Brewer and the Chinook took well.  Once the vines began to leaf I spread hay mulch to keep the ground moist and mostly weed free.

I was pleased with the growth through the late summer.  With regular watering the vines grew strong.  Before long hop flowers began to appear.

Considering that most stuff I read indicated that the first season will not produce any hops, I was very excited when it came time to harvest and I ended with 3/4 of an ounce of Northern Brewer and a 1/2 ounce of Chinook (dry).  I dried the hops in my oven, which I will not do again, and they ended up much crispier than I would have liked.  I just tossed them in a kitchen sink brown ale so it wasn't a big deal that they were a little toasted.

Overall, my first hops were very satisfactory.  I won't be quitting my job and starting a hop farm but it was super cool to brew a beer with my own homegrown ingredients.

Growing Hops in the Puyallup River Valley.

Hop planting season is fast approaching.  I have been mentally planning my garden, waiting for the frost danger to pass and the rhizomes to come into the LHBS.  The wife and I have already made a trip to the hardware store looking at trellises and purchasing seeds for our squash plants.  My reading for the train in the coming weeks will consist of Treatise on hop growing in Washington territory. 

Ezra Meeker is the founder of the town that I live.  He was a prolific hop farmer in his day and founded the town on hop farming.  He was once known as the King of Hops.  The hop lice disaster in the late 90's (Eighteen nineties that is)  destroyed the hops in the river valley and Meeker proclaimed the hop as being a fickle crop.  I will not hold out hope for a successful turnout this season.  With a little luck I may have a harvest pure enough to brew a pale with. 

Thinking of you Ezra. 

Inspiration

Stone Brewing

 

The Basics

  Building a brewing system:  Common equipment for all grain home brewing.

You don't need a bunch of laboratory equipment or huge copper kettles and fermentors to start brewing your own beer.  Almost all or your major equipment can be purchased online or from your local hardware store for relatively cheap.  Home brew shops are great places to browse, but if you are on a budget stick to buying your grain, hops, and yeast there and scrounge for your equipment elsewhere.

Stove: Porch type stove that folks use for crawdad boils and such; most use Bayou Classic brand. They are low priced and good quality. Starting around 40 bucks and run off the same propane tank as a grill. Some have natural gas option. Typically the higher the better. BTU (for faster heating) and off the ground (to spare you a backache and keep blowing leaves and jumping bugs out of your kettle if your brewing in the yard).

Kettle: 7 or 8 gallons is good for starting off. You can
brew a 5 gallon batch and also do higher gravity 5 gallon batches with boil off. Stainless steel is better than aluminium.  Stainless steel is also more expensive and heavier.  Some guys like to get old kegs and cut the tops off. 









Mash Tun/ Sparge Tank: 10 gallon cooler.  Round drink coolers are best.  This will give you the option of turning it into a lauter and mash combo.  A square soda cooler works fine also.  If you don't put a filtering system in you will just have to scoop the grain and hot wort into your lauter tun. 







Lauter Tun:  Two 7 gallon food grade buckets make a perfect lauter system.  Just drill one bucket bottom full of holes and insert into the other.  Charlie Papazian's book on brewing details this very well.  My experience shows that this lauter system does not work well for flaked grains, however, I don't think any system really would.  I just refuse to try and brew oatmeal anything.