Hop Poles

I had previously planted some hop rhizomes that I bought online from willingham-nurseries.co.uk. I have four rhizomes in total now, and this year will be their second year growing.  Last year I had them growing over a cheapo garden arch, and they all did quite well. However they did get a bit crowded and clumpy doing it this way.   I'm growing:

• REDSELL'S EASTWELL GOLDING


• TARGET


• CHALLENGER


• FUGGLE

This year I got a couple of flagpoles from ebay, nice sturdy aluminum ones and have put them up either side of the allotment site.

They only stand about 5 meters high, and have 3 lines per rhizome going up to a cross line between the poles for the hops to climb up, but it will be a vast improvement to last year.  Not sure how many bines to run up each string as yet, was thinking of maybe two per string, but I'll see how it goes.

The Fuggle is the leader of the pack so far with the first bine now reaching the lines to grow up to the dizzy heights now available to them.

ps. (And whilst the hop poles were keeping Simon busy, I was weeding.....)

Hop Growing 2014 season (Part 1)

On our allotment I planted some hop rhizomes that I bought online from willingham-nurseries.co.uk. I have four rhizomes in total now, and this year will be their second year growing.

Last year I had them growing over a cheapo garden arch, and they all did quite well. however they did get a bit crowded and clumpy doing it this way.

I'm growing:

• REDSELL'S EASTWELL GOLDING
• TARGET
• CHALLENGER
• FUGGLE

This year I got a couple of flagpoles from ebay, nice sturdy aluminum ones and have put them up either side of the allotment site. They only stand about 5 meters high, and have 3 lines per rhizome going up to a cross line between the poles for the hops to climb up, but it will be a vast improvement to last year.

Not sure how many bines to run up each string as yet, was thinking of maybe two per string, but I'll see how it goes.

The Fuggle is the leader of the pack so far with the first bine now reaching the lines to grow up to the dizzy heights now available to them. 

Brewday: Evil Dog American Double IPA (KIT)

For my Birthday last week I received this homebrew kit from my lovely wife, Evil Dog American Double IPA by bulldogbrews.co.uk,

It's like no other kit that I have done before as it's a complete kit, no extra sugar is needed. When I opened the box the contents also had me smiling. No tin of extract, but a big bag of it, a massive bag of yeast and 2 hop additions in the form of teabags.

The hops that are in the bags are Simcoe and Summit, the yeast on the box states that it's a special US West Coast craft beer yeast. (Might have to try and save the slurry for another kit I have to do)

I am just following the included instructions to make up the beer, it's pretty much the same as any kit, the only thing that is new to me is the Hop teabags which are added later on in the ferment  to add flavour and aroma.

The brew looks like it has a long old ferment, 8-10 days according to the leaflet inside the kit, but it does have to reach 7.1% ABV after all.

I checked the SG before adding the yeast and it came in at 1062.

This will help stock the Brewshed with beer, thanks to my lovely wife Jane.

Brewday : Rhubarb Wine (part 1) Update

The Rhubarb wine has now been sat overnight, so today I have added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and a teaspoon of yeast. I'll let this sit in the fermenting bucket now for a week or so, the transfer the liquor into a demijohn on top of the sugar. The plan is to let the yeast work on the natural sugars in the rhubarb and raisins.

Hopefully this method with help to draw out even more flavour from the fruit.

Ingredients (So Far)

• Banana x 2
• Raisins x 250g (Hot washed)
• Rhubarb 2kg
• Campden Tablet x 1
• Pectolase
• Yeast
• Yeast Nutrient

Method (So Far)

• Wash & Cut the Rhubarb into small pieces and then Freeze, defrost and then freeze and defrost again.
• Chop the Raisins and the Banana in the food processor (Fairly course chop)
• Add the Defrosted Rhubarb and the Chopped Raisins and Bananas to a plastic fermenting bucket.
• Pour over 2.5 litres of boiling water and leave to cool.
• Add 1 tsp of Pectolase and a crushed Campden tablet
• Cover and leave 24 hours.
• Add 1 tsp of Yeast Nutrient and 1 tsp of Yeast

Brewday : Rhubarb Wine (part 1)

The first harvest of Rhubarb is in, picked just over 2 kg (Washed & Cut)  from 2 of our 4 crowns. So it's time once again to make a Rhubarb wine.

This wine is being made a little different, with a slightly different method and is a combination of quite a few recipes that can be found online as well as in my book collection.

I'm adding banana and raisins this year just to experiment a little.

Ingredients

• Banana x 2
• Raisins x 250g (Hot washed)
• Rhubarb 2kg
• Campden Tablet x 1
• Pectolase
• Yeast
• Yeast Nutrient

Method (So Far)

• Wash & Cut the Rhubarb into small pieces and then Freeze, defrost and then freeze and defrost again.
• Chop the Raisins and the Banana in the food processor (Fairly course chop)
• Add the Defrosted Rhubarb and the Chopped Raisins and Bananas to a plastic fermenting bucket.
• Pour over 2.5 litres of boiling water and leave to cool.
• Add 1 tsp of Pectolase and a crushed Campden tablet
• Cover and leave 24 hours.

Brewday: Ginger Wine (part 2 Update)

The Ginger Wine has now had the last 450g of Demerara Sugar added to a clean demijohn and the wine has been racked on top. So in total the Ginger wine has had 1.35kg of Demerara sugar.

Ginger wine is a very sweet and strong wine, so quite a bit of the sugar will not be fermented, All thats left to do with this wine now is leave it alone to complete it's ferment. Then it will be left to clear before bottling.

A Better Day

Another sunny and almost warm day and taking advantage of having a week off so off down the allotment again.  Main job of the day for Simon was sorting out the sleeves made out of guttering downpipe for the hop poles.  Deep holes dug and sleeves put in.  All ready for the hop poles to go in on Friday.  Doesn't look much in the picture but took a lot of hard work for Simon to prep it all.  Sleeve hiding under the plantpot at the moment...   Hops are all sprouting now so done just in the nick of time!

Took some bits and pieces home for tea again today, big pile of spinach, some purple sprouting broccoli and some carrots that have overwintered in the raised planters.



Whilst Simon was busy with his hop prep I got busy with the fork and turned the ground next to the beetroot we planted on Sunday.   Once done, I planted a few rows of broad beans, Bunyards Exhibition.  Seeds left over from last year so hopefully they will germinate.  Still got half the space left for some more which I have ready at home to plant.



Still left to do - the area which was squished by the digger.  Bit of a nightmare corner, very hard, very compacted and a bit like trying to dig concrete as can be seen in the photo.  It's certainly going to take some work to get it usable.



 

More Allotment Problems

A lovely Spring day so went down the plot to plant some seeds and do some tidying up.  Took a little bit of effort to get down there today as recent events have left us a little disheartened and jaded but hey ho.  Tried to remember why we wanted an allotment in the first place and that spurred us on.  So Simon got to work cleaning the greenhouse glass and I got busy with the fork and turned over the area that is going to grow this years beetroot.  Simon got chatting with a very pleasant man who took on a plot just down the way from us last year and found out something very interesting.  3 weeks ago, the plotholder was discussing greenhouses with a site committee member and they decided to be very generous and offer this man OURS!    Luckily the man knew that the greenhouse is very much in use and was full of chillies last summer, and the summer before,  in fact Simon and him had had many a good chat last year, mainly about chilli growing.  It goes without saying that he did not accept our greenhouse!!    So, for now, we still have our greenhouse.  Full of pots, awaiting Simons chillies which are almost ready to bring down when all threats of frost are gone.



So, planted 5 rows of beetroot, some Boltardy and some Detroit.  Lots hopefully for pickling and for more yummy beetroot wine.  Also started digging over the broad bean bed but this was part of the land that was trampled by the digger so the soil is so compressed it is incredibly hard going with a fork.  Managed a few square feet before I had to give up and do weeding instead.  Pulled some leeks for tea and a couple of last years beetroot.  Also planted up the two flower beds with nasturtiums, calendula and bush sunflowers.  Glad to see all the fruit bushes started to show signs of life now, also a couple of asparagus feeling brave enough to emerge, and Simons hops are starting to come to life.  Next step, hop poles.



Will keep our heads down and carry on pottering around doing our thing.  However, any more problems and we may have to look at relocating.  Shame, as we like it down in 'soggy bottom', but every bit of trouble just takes us a step away from the idealism of allotmenting here.  Just wanting a quiet life really.

 

Coopers Stout (In the pressure barrel)

The Coopers Stout kit has finished it's fermenting at a SG of 1010. A nice 4.5% ABV.

The beer has been put into my pressure barrel this time, so I'll have nice draft beer in the brewshed.

Added 70g of sugar to the barrel dissolved in 500ml of warm pre-boiled water and then transferred the beer. Sealed the barrel up tight and I'll let it sit in the house for a week before moving it into the Pub (Brewshed).

Nice to see the old barrel nice and full. Had a quick taster of the Stout, as you do, and you can taste the Treacle that was added on brewday. I'm glad I didn't over do it with the treacle as the flavour comes through just nice,not over powering the beer.

Hardest part is trying to leave the beer alone to condition properly and not drink it, should really leave it alone now for at least 3 weeks (one week per 10 SG drop) but the 24th is my Birthday so I'll have a few then. It'll still get a good eight days warm conditioning before then.

Thank You!

Many huge thanks you for our much appreciated seed voucher! Will enjoy spending!  Thank you! xxx

Brewday: Ginger Wine (part 2)

Well the ginger wine from last week has been macerating for a week now, with the yeast and nutrient added, so it's been fermenting slowly the sugars from the raisins and the ginger (if any).

In a clean demijohn, 450g (1lb) of demerara sugar was added.

Then the ginger wine was put through a strainer on top of the sugar and given a good old shake to help disolve it.

Looks merky and muddy right now, but this wine clears really well later on.

The Ginger wine has already started fermenting the sugar that was added, so it will now sit for another week and then another 450g of demerara sugar will be added, fermented for another week then yet another 450 g of sugar added to the demijohn (3 lbs of sugar in total).

Once all the sugar has been added, the wine will be racked and left to ferment out.

Brewday Update: Ginger wine (part 1) / Coopers stout

This post is a bit late, but once the ginger wine had been sat overnight and then had cooled down, one teaspoon of yeast and one teaspoon of yeast nutrient was added to the fermenting bin.

This is now left to sit and slowly ferment for a week (7 days) before straining the liquid into a clean demijohn. There is still a few more days left before this will be done, so for now that's the end of the post before the next stage.

As a side note, the Coopers stout has almost done it's fermenting, SG is at 1010 at the moment down from 1044 so we are at 4.5% ABV. I'll check it again tomorrow and then move it to the brewshed to cool condition

The Floodwaters Have Receded, Clean Up Time

With sunshine in the sky, not a cloud in sight and 4 bags of chicken manure, we headed down to the allotment today to have the first proper tidy up of the year and see what mud is left behind after all the flooding.  The soggy corner is still very muddy but apart from that it is all much better than it has been.  So jobs done today -

• spread the chicken manure


• moved the shed back to its original position and put it on corrugated iron and blocks


• put all the shed bits that were in the greenhouse back in the shed (and had a good clear out at the same time)


• cleared all the old chilli plants out of the greenhouse in preparation for the new season


• shifted all the old pallets


• moved the polytunnel frame to its new position


• general tidy around


• harvested some leeks for tea (and very flavoursome they were too!)


• harvested some chard for the chickens

The soggy corner, onions need a good hoeing when it drys out a bit more, and lots of digging to get done before the beans etc. go in.  Still too muddy underfoot yet though.



Shed back in its rightful place and new spot for the polytunnel though that is still subject to change.  Lots of weeds coming up, must be Spring!



Tidier greenhouse, ready to be fumigated and sulpher bombed and cleaned before the chillies head down there.  Lots to do yet!!

GIFT: HOME MADE WINE SECRETS By Peggy Hutchinson

Another lovely gift came in the post the other day from my Wish List, Home Made Wine Secrets [Hardcover] by Peggy Hutchinson, Revised Edition (1976).

It's a great historical wine making book that was complied before the Second World War, this revised (1976) edition includes metric measurements for all the recipes. There are loads of recipes from Almond Wine through to Yarrow Wine all listed alphabetically in the book. There are even a couple of beers listed.


I'm sure to have a go at a quite a few of the recipe, so a big Thanks to Em for adding it to my Library 

Brewday: Ginger Wine (part 1)

I have made this wine with this recipe before and it was very good, we are down to our last bottle of Ginger wine so today I have made up another batch.

Ingredients:

• 125g Root Ginger
• 3 Lemons
• 450g (hot washed) Raisins
• 1/4 tsp of chilli flakes
• 1.4 kg Demerara sugar
• Yeast & nutrient
• Campden tablet
• Boiling water.

Method (Part 1)

1. Wash and chop up the raisins (Food processor) and add to the fermentation bucket.
   
2. Thinly peel the lemons and add the peel and the juice to the bucket.
3. Smash the ginger up (bruise) in a couple of plastic sandwich bags and add to the bucket.
   
4. Add 1/4 tsp of chilli flakes to the bucket.(optional)
   
5. Top up to the 5 liter mark with boiling water and leave to stand for 24 hours
   

Tomorrow I'll add the yeast and yeast nutrient, but I'll blog more on this tomorrow.

Brewday : Coopers Stout 40 Pint Beer Kit

It's been  quite a while since I have made up a home-brew kit and I had forgotten how easy and quick they are to do without much in the way of clean up afterwards.

 

I received the Coopers Stout kit for Christmas and we are now in March so I thought it was about time I got it going. Plus it'll fill my pressure barrel nice and fast so I have draft Stout ready in the Brewhouse when the warmer evenings come along.

The kit was just made up pretty much as standard, the only changes have been the addition of a old tin of Black Treacle that needed using up in the cupboard about 400g in total and the yeast used is an open packet of Mauribrew Ale yeast that also needed using.

SG has started at 1044 so if all goes well the ABV should come out at 4.5%