A.M. IPA

Over the weekend I got invited out for a mountain bike ride and brewing beer combo. Two hobbies I like, sure lets go. See ya at 8. 8 pm right? No, 8 am. The night before I was at the "K" drinking and then to home to cap off the night with an Old Rasputin and a glass of water (Old Rasputin Light). As I rolled out of bed I knew I was in store for some hurtin. I made it though about 3/4 of the rocky, hilly trails before I realized I was dehydrated to the point of dizziness. So let's go brew some beer. The guys all stopped for some biscuits and gravy. I couldn't stomach that. We got back to the brew spot and I was feeling back to 100%. We all pitched in and got a 10 gallon batch of extra IPA going using tons of homegrown hops. Check out those bad boys on the 2nd year of production.

I'm Having a Lupulin Threshold Shift!

I love me some hops! If you've been following my hop growing then you might know they're about to be plucked. I thought about boiling up some extract with them and seeing how it turns out. I'd just ferment a pint with some left over yeast. I'll keep you up to date on that mess. So I went to the garden this morning and cut open a hop to see how they are doing. Voila, lupulin. Not as much as I'd like to see, but it was there. Lupulin is what you smell and taste in your beer. The actually hop flower basically holds the lupulin like a typical flower would hold pollen (just upside down).

Odell, one of my top breweries, just shed light to the non-home brewer to the idea of lupluin with St. Lupulin Extra Pale Ale. This is a bit lighter than their IPA but with more hops (me likey). Everything they make is delicious. I have still yet to try the Woodcut but I have a No. 1 and 3 No. 2 in the fridge... mmmm.

I'm going to go ahead and give props to the liquid diet because this post sounds a lot like his but not intentionally and not with great use of the English language. My hops are just ready to go.

Check out this link...

http://www.russianriverbrewing.com/LTS/

Speaking of Russian River, I had some Blind Pig earlier this week. This brew is historic in the fact that it was likely to be the first ever Double IPA. It was very delicious, but not quite as good as their Pliny the Elder.

Hopdate - The H is silent...

Three months ago I planted my very first Hop Rhizomes and I am so proud of my nine fluffy, yet thin hops that have just blossomed. The Cascade is growing at a crazy pace. It is now as tall as my deck which is about ten feet and then goes a little bit further as I extended the rope. The birds keep eating the ends so it won't go further unless I figure a way around the birds. The other two (Northern Brewer and Centennial) finally got going after the birds terrorized them. I think the birds like noble hops more.Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The cascade towers above the other two.

Centennial, they don't have spell check when writing with a Sharpie.

Damn it, once again how I rely on spell check to make this blog work!! Tomorrow morning I'm going out there and fixing these!!

Grow Your Own

...hops that is. I bought 3 types of hop rhizomes this spring and thought it'd be fun to grow some different kinds for bittering and aroma. I bought left overs from orders so I didn't have a lot to choose from. I planted Northern Brewer, Centennial and Cascade. This spring has been the perfect time if you want to grow anything. Rain, sun, rain, sun. The Cascade took off like a rocket and it's about 10 inches long so far. The Northern Brewer plant is slow going and the brids keep eating on it. The Centennial never made it out of the ground and I might just replant it. I thought that when I move out of this house I'll just move the plant to and then found out that the roots can get up to 13 feet deep. I listened to a radio show on the brewing network that talked about growing hops. The bine (not vine) will grow to the top of my deck the first year and then the second or third year should start giving me something to work with. I wonder how an high alpha acid hop would grow here. Maybe one day I'll have a little hop garden with several kinds but for now I'm starting small. If you ever want to try it I suggest watching youtube videos on growing them. Youtube always gives me more confidence than a book because you can see normal people with finished results (brewing, car repair, growing hops).