I almost forget to post this!
This year, in the garden of our new house, we planted many things (all legal), aromatic herbs, tonnes of flowers and bushes, tomatoes, zuccini and even a tree, and we still have to plant a few fruit trees before winter. Of all that, what excited me the most were two specimens of a vine that I found one day at the garden centre where we usually buy things for our garden.
This is a beer and food blog! Many of you might be complaining already. Patience my friends, because the plant in question couldn't be any more related to the main topic of this blog.
I'm sure many of you have recognised it. It is no other than our good old friend Humulus lupulus. I don't know what variety it is. The label that the vines had said that they are humulus lupulos aureus, and that they seem to come from Poland. We planted them more as a decorative thing, we were not expecting to get anything from them this year. I was really surprised when buds started to appear that later turned into blossoms, which I picked the last weekend of august.
I will start home brewing soon. I will only make 5l batches at the beginning. I know it is not much, but I want to start slowly, try out a couple of recipes that I have in my mind. If they come out well I will buy some more proper equipment that will allow me to brew at least 20l batches. Of course, I want to use my hops in these first batches. And one of my plans for next year is to get some Saaz hops rhizomes to plant in my garden...
PD: If any of you wants to give me some advice on home brewing you are more than welcome.
Na Zdraví!
Choose your preferred Prague hotels and get free transport.
This year, in the garden of our new house, we planted many things (all legal), aromatic herbs, tonnes of flowers and bushes, tomatoes, zuccini and even a tree, and we still have to plant a few fruit trees before winter. Of all that, what excited me the most were two specimens of a vine that I found one day at the garden centre where we usually buy things for our garden.
This is a beer and food blog! Many of you might be complaining already. Patience my friends, because the plant in question couldn't be any more related to the main topic of this blog.
I'm sure many of you have recognised it. It is no other than our good old friend Humulus lupulus. I don't know what variety it is. The label that the vines had said that they are humulus lupulos aureus, and that they seem to come from Poland. We planted them more as a decorative thing, we were not expecting to get anything from them this year. I was really surprised when buds started to appear that later turned into blossoms, which I picked the last weekend of august.I will start home brewing soon. I will only make 5l batches at the beginning. I know it is not much, but I want to start slowly, try out a couple of recipes that I have in my mind. If they come out well I will buy some more proper equipment that will allow me to brew at least 20l batches. Of course, I want to use my hops in these first batches. And one of my plans for next year is to get some Saaz hops rhizomes to plant in my garden...PD: If any of you wants to give me some advice on home brewing you are more than welcome.
Na Zdraví!
Choose your preferred Prague hotels and get free transport.
Fantastic! How much were you able to harvest? Have you dried them?
ReplyDeleteWe only have a balcony with our apartment, but when we get our own place with a plot of land I'll definitely be planting hops. They look nice too.
I'm going to shamlessly plug the website I co-founded, Irish Craft Brewer, as a resource that might help with your brewing trials. Of course there's tonnes of other resources out there, but still :oD
I didn't get much, actually. And I did dry them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to the website, I will have a look at it. I'm sure it will be useful. Of course, I will post as soon as I start brewing.
What do you have in mind for your first brews? Something to keep in mind, the amount of work for 5 litres is the same for 20 litres more or less (except when it comes to bottling and drinking :-) if you need any advice on homebrewing let me know,
ReplyDeleteJake!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your help. I know that it takes the same work to brew 20l than 5. But I want to start small for a couple of reasons. Equipment isn't cheap, I don't have enough space right now and above all, I think it'll be better to brew small batches at first, if one of them comes out bad (and that is very likely) I won't hurt so much to flush 5l down the drain.
As for the recipes, I intent to look a few up on websites or books and make a few adjustments of my own, as I do with cooking, and see what comes out of it.
The problem I'm having now, and that is why I haven't started yet, is finding a hydrometer. Do you think one for wine can do the job?
But I want to start with grain from the beginning, I don't want to use extracts.
Nice website BTW.