The Hop Trellis

We’ve been growing hops for two years now but this will be the first year we have a full and sturdy structure to support real growth.  In years past we’ve simply strung up some twine to a tree branch and let the hops grow as they may.  Well last year hurricane Irene ended that by taking down all available tree branches within a reasonable distance to the hops.  So, this year we’ve decided to make it official and build a permanent structure that will allow us to expand how much we can grow.  This structure as you will see from the pictures below will allow us to grow many more bines and will, thus produce a lot more hops for the year.  

I started out by getting 2 16 foot 2x4's and screwing them together to make one long stable beam.

Next I drilled multiple holes in another 2x4.  This one was only 8 feet.

I also had to dig a nice deep hole in the ground.  I got about 20 inches down give or take.  I've been told your supposed to go at least 2 feet but I hit a giant rock when I got this far and decided it was good enough.

I then screwed the 8 foot board with the holes in it to the top of the beam I created.

I added some support beams in there just to be on the safe side.  I know they're a little lopsided but I think they'll serve the purpose.

Next I ran the twine threw the holes so that I wouldn't need to do it after the post was already in the ground.

All that was left was to mix the cement and put the pole in the ground!!

In a couple weeks when the hops start growing up the pole I'll post some pictures of the progress.  I have some sprouts right now but we also might be getting a dusting of snow this weekend so I can't say for sure they'll survive or not.  If they don't I know more will be up in the next couple weeks.

Keg to Kettle Part 2 (adding the valve)

Back in January I posted an update about how to convert a keg into a kettle.  In this post I will show you how I added a valve to the kettle.  The valve makes life a lot easier and safer for brewing in a keg.  I bought a stainless steel weldless valve from the homebrew store. My best friend Jim came over to help with installing the copper uptake pipe that we connected to the valve.  That part of the process involved some soldering, and I didn't have any experience doing that.

This is Jim drilling a small starter hole to make it easier for the step bit to get going

This is the step bit.  It made the job much easier but was also really expensive.  That one bit cost $45

The step bit allows you to drill the hole one size up at a time making it a lot easier to judge how much more you need to go.  This is useful in making sure you don't make the hole to big, because there's not much if anything you can do if you make the hole to big.

Here is the hole with the inside half of the valve sticking out.

We used the vice grip to hold the valve while we soldered the copper in place.  

 I wish I had taken more pictures during the soldering but I was busy learning, and I forgot.  You may notice that between the steel and the copper it appears to be white in the middle.  This is Teflon tape which you wrap around the the thread to help it stick in place.  It also helps prevent leaks.

I attached a hose with a clamp to the valve so that I can have it drop right into a fermentation bucket.  It's so much better than picking up the keg and trying to pour the wort into the bucket.