re: Homebrewing: In-Process Thread

Saw a that pick of your hops earlier. That's awesome they're still putting off flowers that look that good. Were they planted in the shade under a crape myrtle? I think I might move mine to the backyard next year to give them more shade. The sun on my porch just baked them in August.

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Were they planted in the shade under a crape myrtle?

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Yes. I let them climb all over that thing. Makes harvesting a little more difficult but whatever.

I can only assume that when the leaves died off the tree that the hops started getting more sunlight and took back off.

Question on growing my own hops. What kind of sun would i need? I have a crape myrtle in the back yard. Sun comes up in the front of the house in the morning and sets directly behind my house in the afternoon. Curious what kind of sun, water, etc... it needs.

Also, what kind of pests do i need to watch out for?

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Curious what kind of sun, water, etc... it needs

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I have full sun everywhere. I don't get huge output but I get enough to use. You need sun for some time of the day though. Full shade is going to hurt.

As for water, they need tons! Water everyday.

Keep the leaves cut off for about a foot above ground and you'll eliminate mosts pests. I did have a few invaders that showed up with webs twice during the summer and I got rid of them with a stream of water from the hose nozzle.

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BugAC

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how many home brewers in your local area? open a bar called "the craft" or sum shite and in a byob style, just re-sell all the local crafter's beers.

get the foodies to make a blue plate special, and Octberfest it year round

Just kegged a brew for the first time....Zappa Dust-Dos....I'll post pics of the kegerator when I have it put together.

Opened a bottle of LoneStarTiger's bourbon stout at the tailgate yesterday with some of the FBD crew. It was very enjoyable. Nice oakiness with some bourbon, without being too boozy. I liked it.

Brewed a smoked brown ale today. Curious to see how this one turns out.

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Brewed a smoked brown ale today. Curious to see how this one turns out.

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Citra dry hopped?

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Just kegged a brew for the first time

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Aw yeah! Please do post pics of the setup.

I very narrowly averted disaster yesterday. I put my Belgian IPA into my better bottle to ferment. I came back an hour later to check on it and I noticed a small puddle around the bottom of the fermenter. Picked it up to see a small, steady drip. Doh! Turnes out the better bottle had a tiny crack in the bottom. Had to scramble round as I didn't have any free fermentors or clean kegs. Threw a cider in a keg, cleaned, then dumped the BIPA in the new fermenter. I might have lost about a pint of liquid total. I'm just glad I checked it soon afterwards and not the next day like I normally do.

Time for a new fermenter. The cracked one was almost 4 years old, so it lived a long, hard life. Might have to look into those new large mouth ones from Northern Brewer.

I prefer glass over plastic as glass from a sanitation standpoint. The more brett brews I do, the more I worry. The wide mouth is very appealing from a dry hopping and cleaning standpoint. It's almost impossible to dry hop in my current glass carboys. I also grew up working in a glass shop from the age of 10, so glass feels comfortable to me.