New beer findings in NH

On a recent excursion we discovered a new brewery and a new to us home brew store in Hampton, New Hampshire.  Whenever we go on a drive we try to see if there are any beer tastings, tours, or beer news we can check up on.  This time in a last minute detour we checked out an up and coming brewery, Blue Lobster Brewing Company.  Since we had never heard of them we were excited to see what they were all about, alas nay, for the doors have yet to be officially opened for business.  However, we were lucky enough to converse with a gentleman who gave us a little background to their company and their craft brews.  He said Blue Lobster Brewing Company should be opening their doors mid-October.  We plan on going back and taking a tour and tasting!  He also directed us to a neighboring home brew store.  The Home Brew Barn, although small, has much to offer in beer supplies.  We were able to get a great price on a recycled Cornelius Keg and they have great prices on large bags grains.  Definitely worth the drive over the border for those not lucky enough to live in the New Hampshire seacoast area.  The owner was friendly and offered lots of information, very useful if your are just getting into the hobby.  He also offers cider, beer, and wine making classes. There is also a plethora of cheese making information and kits. 

Sean exploring The Home Brew Barn while Coop and the owner discuss kegging.

 

 

 

Overall our unexpected detour was definitely worth it.  Walking away with new information, a recycled cornelious keg, and new spots for supplies and tastings, soon to come. 

If you find yourself in the New Hampshire seacoast area check out The Home Brew Barn and their neighbor The Blue Lobster Brewing Company.  In the meantime here are their links for more information: http://www.thehomebrewbarn.com/ http://www.facebook.com/BlueLobsterBrew?fref=ts

Quick update!

The hops have been dried and weighed.  The result is just over 6 ounces of dried cascade hops!!  I've already made an IPA and added one ounce of these fresh hops at flame out.  I'll be transferring this to the secondary in a couple of days where I'll dry hop with another ounce!  There is still some hops out on the bines, but not nearly as much as I was expecting.  I think the cool nights we've been experiencing the last two weeks or so have played a role.  I'll be picking the rest of them soon but I don't expect them to amount to much.  Stay tuned for my next project, where I'll show you how to turn a keg into a primary fermentation tank!!  It's extremely cheap and easy to do!  Also I'm hoping that I'll be able to do closed transfer into my corny keg using this method.  That blog should be up in the next couple of weeks!!

Hops picking time!!!

It's that time of year again!  It has been a crazy summer so far and we've been really busy.  A few days ago I finally got around to picking some of the hops that are ready to go!

Once I got up on the ladder I realized it was going to be a much bigger challenge than in previous years!

That's a 12 foot ladder and I still had to reach up well over my head for most of them.

I was up there for over an hour and I got most of the big ones on this side, but I still have the same amount on the other side.  They'll have to wait until my next day off!!

These are the results of what I picked that day.  I'm still waiting for them to dry out so I can weigh them, however I have a feeling I'm going to end up with more than a pound this year.  There has to be at least 4 or 5 ounces in the basket.

Sean’s beer birthday

Sean turned one year old last month and we opened one of the beers I made for him on his birthday.  As many of my followers may know, last year, before I even started blogging, I made a beer for my son Sean.  Relax! It’s not for him to drink now!!  I got the idea from a book I was reading around this time last year.  I don’t remember what book it was, but the idea came from the old days back in the 1600’s and 1700’s when people brewed at home because they had to.  When a child was born especially a first son, the father would brew a strong ale and set it down until the son was old enough to drink it with him.  Of course back then the age of maturity was much younger, however I was still willing to give this a go.  I made a strong Irish red ale and when I bottled the beer I put twine around the caps and covered the caps up with green wax to help keep the beer sealed shut.  Jenna and I opened the first bottle since we tried the beer last year.  The beer was a bit over carbonated and a little more on the malty side for a red ale, but it was still pretty good considering it was a year old!  I can’t wait until we open one next year.  We have put one aside to open every year until he is old enough to drink them himself.  At that time we’ll give him a case of the beer.

What's been brewing!!!

Hello everyone, just thought we would update you on what beers we've been brewing, whats available for trying and what's coming up.  Here's the list

Whats drinkable!

Belgian IPA
Honey squeeze my lemon
Blue moon clone

What will be ready shortly

Magically delicious red ale
More Honey squeeze my lemon

Currently brewing

Razzel dazzel raspberry wheat
Zeke freak's strawberry wheat

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.