Just like last year, I decided to do a harvest ale using the wet hops from my garden.  I was first introduced to this concept by the Sierra Nevada harvest ale and was a big fan.  The fresh hops give a totally different flavor profile and having my own hops vines helps as far as getting them in a timely fashion.  Last year I took part of my harvest for this brew and dried the rest, but this year, the Japanese Beetles really decimated my crop so  took what I would salvage and made another harvest ale.  This might be a regular in the rotation.

Now this one I was low on time so I did a partial mash.  I used 6.6lbs of light LME and 4lbs of UK 2-row.  Simple enough base.  Then it was just plenty of Cascade to get some IBU’s in there and the rest was just a matter of adding the wet hops at flame out to ensue the flavors and aroma are maximized.

I pitched this to the yeast cake from the pumpkin ale so that was easy enough.  All my targets were hit and the brew seems to be all good.

Cheers

Tonight I kegged up my IPA and I have to say, it’s the best IPA I’ve made.  To make something good even better, I added two ounces of whole leaf hops that I grew in my back yard into the keg for a nice dry hop.

The picture below is a little comtraption I came up with to try and keep the hops from clogging up the keg.  It’s a stainless steal strainer that I poked a hole in to allow the stem through.  If I am lucky, this will keep the hops out of my glass.  We’ll see if it works, but it seemed like as good an idea as I have had for dealing with this.

The dry hops are cascade.  The brew is already plenty bitter, so I would love to get some great grapefruit flavors and a huge hops aroma.  Cheers.

The recipe I came up with is the following:

• 16lbs UK 2-Row
• 1lb 60L Crystal
• 1lb Biscuit
• 1lb Carapils Dex
• 1/2lb 120L Crystal

The hops setup was aggressive to say the least:

• Columbus 1oz 60min
• Centennial 1oz 60min (homegrown)
• Cascade 2oz 60min
• Cascade 2oz 30min
• Cascade .8oz 15min (homegrown)
• Cascade 2.2oz Flame out (homegrown)

That’s a 109 IBU Imperial IPA that is going to be a good one!  With the help from Mike, my brew pupil for the day, I had a very productive brew day where the following was hit:

• Preboil: 1.072
• OG: 1.076
• Efficiency: Something like 70%

The whole brew day started at 9am and ended at just before 2pm.  Mike and I managed to also bring my dishwasher into the house where I installed it after a full brew day.  Not too bad.  So far, the name I’ve come up with for the beer is “The C-Word Imperial IPA” but I’m not totally sold on that.  Any ideas?

Cheers

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video and I promise to get back on my game ASAP!

Cheers

I spoke with Tim for over an hour and learned a lot about his operation.  This past year he harvested 600lbs of hops!  Some of them were pellets and others were sold as whole leaf hops.  Tim offers a fall “you pick’em” special for $5 a bucket full of fresh hops.

This past year he built an oast out of a greenhouse that he is able to haul from the farm to his house for winter storage.  Tim has a pelletizer that allows him to offer pellet hops of all varieties.

He indicated what I have heard a lot about hops in New York, the C letter hops grow best in NYS.  His Cascade, centennial and Chinook all grew the best on his farm.

This spring I am going to go visit with Tim to see how he gets the trellis’ setup and treats the sprouts.

Special thanks to Tim, I personally picked up 3lbs of cascade that I broke up and vacuumed sealed in smaller packs.  Should make for a productive winter!

This past weekend I picked the last of my hops and prepped the vines for winter.  According to the hops stuff I’ve been reading, you cut the hops vines down to about 3″ sticking out of the ground.  From there, you just take the vines, cut off the hops, and dry.  Simple enough. 

Below is a picture of two ounces of Cascade vacuum sealed.  I picked up an actual vacuum sealer and I am very glad that I did.  It’s awesome!  My total harvest was just shy of a pound so not too bad, though I hope that next year is a big year.  So far the Cascade hops has been carrying the load with my harvest. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=954STxWuO8c]

Ben’s video

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0LHYptlbQ8&feature=player_embedded]

I know that I have been a very poor blogger in the last few weeks and for that I am sorry.  While my brewing and blogging diligence has failed, my hops have continued to grow.  As you can see, I already have some cascade hops growing and they are looking great.  New York has experienced a very rainy summer thus far and while it has caused my tan to suffer (who am I kidding, I make Powder look like a tanning bed whore), the extra rain has put my hops into a growing frenzy. 

Brewing is looking to be sporadic for the summer as I imagine it is with a lot of people, but I will be doing something in the near future and I am going to be reviewing a few products as well.  On top of all this, I will be hosing Fermentation Friday for July (even though I missed June). 

Cheers

First off, earlier this week I hung the cross supports on the 4×4 beams.  These were 1×6, 4 feet long with a cut made 10″ in leaving 2″.  This gives that nice finish seen below.

Next, I ran 3, 2X6 12′ pressure treated beams over the top to hold the slats that ran across the top of the trellis.

For the top, I bought 12 eight foot 1by 2 pieces of pressure treated wood.  I cut the pieces in half and made a piece of wood for a spacer so that they would be even. 

I painted the whole thing, which, as my wife informed me it would be, took a VERY long time to paint.  No matter, it’s done and it looks very good. 

I took some time to dig up the area in between my hops plant and in between the posts so that I can make the whole thing into a proper bed for my hops.  To make matters better, my father has two or three more hops plants in pots that he got from a friend waiting for me next weekend.

Some how this weekend I also managed to till and prep my garden, clean the garage, dig up the walkway to the gate removing all the roots and enjoy a few beers.  I am enjoying my Belgian that I think, while not a Belgian Dubbel, is a Belgian Strong Pale Ale.  Cheers.