Sunday, July 20, 2008

Hop Garden Update

Things are going well with 2 of my 4 plants. My Chinook Hops are still a no show. I will have to by some new root stock in the spring to get those going. My cascades are only about 2-3 feet high. If you remember, they had an issue early in the year when my dog decided to step on the young budding bines and break them. I was happy they came back, but they are still small and not going to produce anything this year.

My Centennial and Nugget Hops are doing great. I read that with first year hops, not to expect much. If this is true, I am in trouble for next year. My Centennial hops have a bunch of cones all over the plant and a bunch more blossoms that will be turning to cones. My Nugget Hops are a little behind, but have a ton of flowers waiting to bud into cones. They are both at the top of the twine (about 16-18 foot) and are producing a ton. I may be doing my first harvest during the week and can’t wait to try these out in a special brew.

Here are some pictures of their growth.
Centennial Hop Cones
Centennial Hop Cones
My Hop Garden
Centennial Hop Cones
Nugget Hops starting to bloom
Centennial Hop Cones
Centennial Hop Cones
Nugget Hops starting to bloom
Centennial Hop Cones
Centennial Hop Cones
My Hop Garden
Centennial Hop Cones
Nugget Hops starting to bloom

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Beerzilla’s Hopsicle

With all this talk I hear about the limited release of Pliny the Elder in bottles and Sam Adams not being able to produce Mike McDole’s Longshot 6 pack winning beer(modeled after Pliny), I decided the only way to taste one of these brews was to make it myself.

These beers are intense with over a pound of hops for a 5 gallon batch. I’ve done a bunch of reading on the style and made some of my own modifications to the recipes. I changed some of the grain bill to fit my tastes and the hop bill was modified due to availability of hops in this shortage. Take extra special attention to sanitation and plan everything out. This will be a costly brew, you don’t want it to suck.

This is the recipe I designed and it is a whopper.

Fermentables

Mashed (single infusion at 151 degrees, batch sparge efficiency set at 75%)

- US 2-Row Malt         14lbs      80.6 %
- US Carapils Malt 8.00 oz 2.9 %
- US Flaked Oats 8.00 oz 2.9 %
- US White Wheat Malt 4.00 oz 1.4 %
- US Caramel 40L Malt 4.00 oz 1.4 %
- US Caramel 20L Malt 4.00 oz 1.4 %
- US Black Malt 2.00 oz 0.7 %
In The Boil (near the end)
- Corn Sugar/Dextrose   1lb 8oz    8.6 %
Hops
Variety           AA        Weight     IBU     When
US Chinook 10.5 % 1.00 oz 36.9 Mash Hopped
US Warrior 17.5 % 2.00 oz 111.9 90 Min
US Magnum 13.0 % 1.00 oz 45.7 90 Min
US Chinook 10.5 % 0.50 oz 18.5 90 Min
US Simcoe 13.0 % 1.00 oz 39.2 45 Min
US Columbus 12.6 % 0.50 oz 14.5 30 Min
US Chinook 10.5 % 0.50 oz 6.3 10 Min
US Simcoe 13.2 % 2.00 oz 0.0 At turn off
US Summit 18.1 % 1.00 oz 0.0 At turn off
US Palisade 7.4 % 1.00 oz 0.0 At turn off
Czech Saaz 5.8 % 0.50 oz 0.0 At turn off
US Simcoe 13.2 % 2.00 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped
US Amarillo 5.0 % 2.00 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped
US Summit 18.0 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped
US Centennial 8.5 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped
US Columbus 12.6 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped
US Palisade 7.4 % 1.00 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped
Yeast
WLP001 - California Ale
Comments

Used a mixture of whole hops and pellet hops. Didn’t use hop bags, but probably should have. The brew pot was tough to drain with all the hops. Hops suck up a lot of wort. I started with 8.5 gallons and ended up with 5.5 gallons.

Dry hopping begins at day 7 ( or when fermentation is around 90%). I broke the dry hops into 2 even groups. One group is for days 7-14. This will be in a hop bag. After day 14, remove hop bag 1 and insert hop bag 2 for another week. This is done at fermentation temperatures in a bright tank keg. After day 21, remove hop bag 2 and drop the temperature and wait a week or 2. Transfer out of bright tank into a serving keg and carbonate. In another week, you will have some of the best beer on earth if you are a hop head like me.