2014 Hop Harvest

Yesterday, Aidan and I harvested the 2014 hop crop. Not too bad for 2 year old plants. The Newport and Willamette hops did produce a small amount of hops, unlike last year. The Galena plant did amazing this year. Almost two pounds of wet hops harvested. Here are some pics below. Thanks to Big Dan for letting us borrow his FoodSaver vacuum sealer to package the hops for freezing.

Wet Weights
Galena: 1 lb, 13 oz
Newport: 2.25 oz
Willamette: 0.0875 oz

Dry Weights
Galena: 13.25 oz
Newport: 1.25 oz
Willamette: 0.50 oz

Pre-harvest photo

Hops lowered for picking

Clean bines

Galena hops

Big Galena hop cone

Galena hops

Weighing the Galena

Yup

Drying the Newport and Willamette 

Clean hop bines. I might make them into a wreath.

The aftermath

Drying the Galena

Packaged Newport

Packaged Willamette 

Dryed and packaged Galena 

Dryed and packaged Galena 

Packaged and in the freezer

Hops Update - August 2014

Here is a quick post with some new photos of the hop garden. All three varieties are doing well. Galena is incredible. 

Hops

Willamette hops

Hop cones forming

Galena

Willamette

Galena I believe

Galena for sure 

More hops

Galena hops

Hop love

Pale Ale Brew times two

This past Saturday (5-10-2014) we had an impromptu brew day after a few quick discussions last week. We decided to brew a few pale ales to get ready for the warmer weather. I decided on a SMaSH ale, which stands for Single Malt and Single Hop. It's basically a simple pale ale. I found a recipe with 13 lbs of 2-row malt and Cascade hops. We tried to use our homemade hop rocket, but it didn't work as well as we planned. Oh well, back to the drawing board. We also brewed a pale ale with Mosaic hops that I'm calling Panther Head Pale Ale. Kind of a nod to my late Grampa Bob, who had a panther head tattoo on his arm. It is funny that we brewed a beer for a man who didn't drink. Not the first time and definitely not the last. 

Here's a few pics below.

Two yeast starters. #1 is Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast for the SMaSH pale ale.
#2 is White Labs WLP001 California Ale yeast. 

Our homemade hop rocket

Boil kettle 

Brewing Command

New multiple timer app

Mosaic hops for the Panther Head pale ale

BK ready to boil

Boiling away

One more shot

Panther Head pale ale in the fermenter

SMaSH pale ale in the fermenter

Hops, Hops, Hops

Just a few more hop photos. These plants are amazing. The Galena grew over 6 inches in one day. I think our dryer vent helps with providing warm, moist air to the plants.

Galena 

Overview of the plants

Galena is now over 6 ft tall 

Newport is growing well too 

Hopfengarten Update #2

Today was a beautiful day to get outside and work on the Hopfengarten. I was able to add some additional overhead stringers and start to train the bines to climb them. All three varieties are growing well. I was also able to replant some of the cuttings. These will (hopefully) grow into additional hop plants to replant elsewhere in the yard. Please enjoy the pics below.



Additional overhead stringers have been added.

Hop bines are growing nicely. From left to right, Willamette, Newport and Galena.



Replanted Galena cuttings.



Replanted Newport cuttings.

Replanted Willamette cuttings.

Goodbye to an old friend, Hello to a new one.

Well apparently it's official. Cavalry Brewing, in Oxford, is no more. It's been sold to Sobocinski brothers from New Haven with a brewer friend, Tyler Jones, previously from New Hampshire. They plan on opening in the Summer of 2014, as Black Hog Brewing Co. I'm excited to try their offerings, but sad to see Cavalry go. I was able to hang out a few times and brew with Mike and Justin. I will also miss their Cask Wednesday's at the brewery. I guess I'm going to have to spend the weekend stocking up on Cavalry beers. Cheers Cavalry Brewing. We will miss you. 

Black Hog Brewing Co.

Black Hog Brewing's Facebook page.

OMNOM CT Article

2014 Hopfengarten Update # 1

Well kids, Spring has finally sprung...... sorta. Mother Nature is still having some issues, but I'm happy to say the hop shoots have started their climb to beer heaven. All three varieties, Galena, Newport and Willamette, have started out well. I've updated the trellis with better materials so we don't have any issues with line breakage like last year. We will add more stringers as needed for the bines to climb. We are planning on adding more plants as they become available for sale. Here's a few pics below.