Messages

31

Ingredients / Setting up a hop yard

« on: September 01, 2011, 06:25:12 AM »

This was my second year growing hops in my backyard.  I am in the process of moving to a place outside of town with 9 acres of land and will be planting a couple more varieties than the 3 I currently have planted.

Upon hearing about my move, a friend of mine who is the brewmaster at a prewpub (& in the process of opening a production brewery), asked if I'd plant an acre under contract to him.  He continually has difficulty securing contracts for his harvest/fresh hop ales in the fall.  Now, an acre is a bit much to get going by next spring, but I certainly wouldn't mind moving in that direction and he seemed satisfied that it may take 3 years or more to get to an acre.

If I'm going to do this I need to think about more than just supplying hops for 1 or 2 fresh hop/harvest beers a year.  Drying the hops on that kind of scale is the big unknown for me.  Any suggestions on how to dry hops on that scale?  What other points am I missing?

32

The Pub / Re: Sharing small joys

« on: September 01, 2011, 05:14:34 AM »

, I am sure poor philamb did not realize you are a honored member of the USPS force.
truffle schmuffle, head out and find yourself some new world chantys that reek of apricots.

You are so correct and I do have a source for Black Perigords here in the good ole US...
I just cannot imagine the terrible experience Phil must have endured to reflect that opinion....
I would love to give him a tour of a USPS facility and elighten him...they even have
welding hood viewing galleries surrounding the work area so inspectors can do voyouristic
anonymous things at all times...or any time ....no one knows but the inspectors.  We are
heavily watched for sure....Misrouting...happens....stealing usually not..

I gained a newfound respect for the global postal system this spring.  I ordered a refractometer from eBay - it came from Hong Kong and arrived safe and sound... in an inter-office envelope!  You know, the kind that are held closed with a string wound around two paper disks.
 

33

The Pub / Re: Don't know what to think

« on: August 28, 2011, 07:36:56 PM »

...  And most people in the audience wouldn't know the difference anyway...

^^^ THIS  - I'm trying to get this through to my daughter.  If you just keep playing, the audience has no idea whether or not you played the right notes.

As to the OP - it seems a little draconian, but then Gibson should maybe be paying closer attention and better document where their inventory comes from.

34

All Grain Brewing / Re: Weather and whatnot...

« on: August 26, 2011, 09:10:35 AM »

A 55lb sack of Best Vienna Malt landed on my doorstep today. I purchased it from North Country Malt $61.57 including shipping.

Ouch...Shipping is a killer.
Homebrew clubs doing group buys is definitely the way to go.
Including shipping...
Great Western 2-Row...$38
Canada Malting Pilsner...$38
Canada Malting Munich...$39
Great Western Crystal 75...$42
1# Cascades...$6.50
1# Northern Brewer...$6.75

Same here - we open a spreadsheet and when we hit 40 sacks (the amount that NCM will put on 1 pallet), we place the order.  Shipping is usually ~$5/sack that way.  It also allows us to go splits on a sack which is good, cuz it would take forever to get thru' 50# roasted barley.

35

The Pub / Re: New Forum Record!

« on: August 25, 2011, 04:23:30 AM »

After posting my last message, I went trolling about in the rest of the forum. I came across the All Grain vorlauf thread.

I noticed gogreen437's apprehension in asking a question in fear of getting the "we already covered that / use the search function" response.

That has always been a pet peeve of mine. If someone asks a question and a quick "look it up, fool!" response shows up.

The thread is a perfect example of how members here read the question and answered it. Who cares if we had gone over it before.
If we didn't want to talk about beer, "again" we probably wouldn't be here.

Cheers again to a great group...

A big +1

36

The Pub / Re: BACON!! (Well, sort of)

« on: August 24, 2011, 12:00:47 PM »

Yeah, I'de kick the tires on that. But really, how awesome are pigs? You feed them an apple, and they turn it into bacon. Recycling at it's finest. 

How awesome are pigs?  Homer has an answer for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1pMDXHTJYs

37

The Pub / Re: East coast earthquake

« on: August 24, 2011, 11:57:18 AM »

Is it true that in Canada they're just called geese? I know "Canadian Bacon" is just "bacon" and "bacon" is "back bacon." Breakfast sandwiches must be very confusing in Canadia.

Mostly we just call it bacon like the rest of the world & canadian bacon is canadian bacon (or back bacon or peameal bacon).

Geese are just damned noisy birds that just s*** all over the place in parks.

38

The Pub / BACON!! (Well, sort of)

« on: August 24, 2011, 11:25:59 AM »

Weaz, this is for you.

Holy cow! Beef bacon beckons!

39

The Pub / Re: East coast earthquake

« on: August 24, 2011, 10:16:53 AM »

What gets me is that in canada the plastic yellow cheese is called canadian singles and in america it's called american cheese. If I were making up the language I would think that the canadians would blame it on the americans and vice versa.

We do... The only 'canadian singles' I've ever seen here are in the bars, not in any grocery store.  I have seen Kraft singles or american cheese slices.

well that's because y'all up in nova scotia are bright, kind and intelligent people. 

I don't remember where I heard the canadian singles thing. from a canadian though.

Well then he (or she) should have their maple syrup & (canadian) bacon stipend revoked! 

40

The Pub / Re: East coast earthquake

« on: August 24, 2011, 09:50:51 AM »

What gets me is that in canada the plastic yellow cheese is called canadian singles and in america it's called american cheese. If I were making up the language I would think that the canadians would blame it on the americans and vice versa.

We do... The only 'canadian singles' I've ever seen here are in the bars, not in any grocery store.  I have seen Kraft singles or american cheese slices.

41

The Pub / Re: Endlessly Amusing

« on: August 23, 2011, 11:43:24 AM »

There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?
Great food, but no atmosphere.

I wondered why the frisbee was getting bigger, and then it hit me.


The sailor/seagull was my fav so far

42

The Pub / Re: "Never Again" beers

« on: August 23, 2011, 11:40:48 AM »

Another + to the nastiness of chile beers.  The one and only time I've had one, I had to for-thought to take sausages out for supper.  Two sips in I had enough and poured the rest of the glass in the pot with the sausages - damned tasty sausages though!

Molson 'M' - wtf is 'micro-carbonated'? - at the launch, you only had to pay the deposit and got a free can - it got poured down the drain after 5 minutes.

43

The Pub / Re: "Never Again" beers

« on: August 23, 2011, 09:30:46 AM »

any beer with chile in it.
Hop Stupid - just f'n nasty
Delirium

Wow!  I've only had Hop Stoopid twice, but thoroughly enjoyed it both times.

44

The Pub / Re: Endlessly Amusing

« on: August 18, 2011, 03:36:02 AM »

How do you get down off an elephant?





You don't, you get down off of a duck.

45

The Pub / Re: "Never Again" beers

« on: August 16, 2011, 05:43:26 AM »

Fischer has never made me feel that way, of course, I've never drank 6 bottles of it either (I only see it in ~600ml swing tops here).

Infinium is on my 'Never Again' list - not because it made me feel horrible, but because I plain didn't enjoy it & certainly didn't think it was worth the $$ I paid for it.