more Homebrewfest pictures

IBU HOMEBREWFEST

The Iowa Brewers Union held the first ever Homebrewfest on 8/22/2009. Here are some pictures...

Pictures of the hops

Garden Update

Haven't posted in a while:

Tomatoes - look like crap but are producing very well.
Peppers - a bust! Looks like the cool weather has caused some problems
Pac Choi, cauliflower - both did pretty well, although they both tend to bolt pretty quickly

Others - not so good this year. I need to be better with upkeep.

Plants in the dirt!

I always feel better once I get my plants in the ground. Last night Shannon and I planted our tomatoes; and a few other things. After the loss of our dog we have been spending more time in the garden. It has helped us to keep our minds off our loss as well as allowed us to talk about it - kind of strange we can do both things at the same time. I think the best thing we can do is spend time together and planting things helps. Shannon usually doesn't spend much time with the vegetables but I know it's very hard for her to be alone in the house right now. Any time we spend together right now just helps us work through our grief.

We planted:
Pineapple, Beam's Yellow Pear, Brandywine (Sudduth's), Hillbilly Potato Leaf, German Pink, Gold Medal, Federle, Old German, & Big Mama Hybrid tomatoes.

We also planted:
Tomatillos, Pac Choi, Cauliflower - Cheddar, Cauliflower - Graffiti Hybrid, Cauliflower - Rosalind.

Sunday we planted onions and some seeds:
Onions - Red Hamburger, and a white and yellow variety we picked up as plants from our local Earl May garden center. I like to plant the starts that are skinny and maybe 4-6 inches long and wrapped together in bundles of maybe 50 or 75 plants. They work great in the square foot garden.

As for seeds we went with:
Radishes - French Breakfast - Burpees
Lima Beans - Fordhook No. 242 and Henderson Bush - Burpees and American Seed
Spinach - Avon Hybrid and Baby's Leaf hybrid - both from Burpee
Arugula - Rocket - Burpee
Popcorn - Japanese White Hull-Less - Gurney's

I also planted some cucumbers - Straight 8 from an old packet I had, and Diva from Park Seeds. I also want to plant one more variety, Fanfare from NK seeds. They were in my pocket but I forgot to plant them...oops.

Whew! My back is sore just typing this!

Next up - the Peppers! The plan is to put them in the dirt this weekend. I also have a couple of Okra plants that I have not yet figured where to plant.

Next up...flowers!

Hey Porter

Today was a very sad day. We had to put down our dog, companion, little guy and all around best friend, Porter. He had become sick over the last month or so. It started with the occasional loss of bladder control and some weakness in his back legs. We thought he had a bladder infection and he just finished treatment for that earlier in the week. This morning started out fine but almost immediately he went downhill. He could not move his hind legs well at all. We took him to the vet hospital and they thought he might have some sort of immune system problem that was making him anemic and it was made worse by the bladder infection. We left him there so they could observe and treat. A few hours later we got a phone call stating that they found a large tumor that had pretty much destroyed his bladder. At that point it was clear there was not much that could be done for him and that he wasn't going to get any better. We decided that we couldn't bear the thought of him suffering or having any long drawn out struggle with the inevitable so we made the decision to put him down. Heartbroken doesn't even begin to describe how my wife and I feel. Less than 24 hours ago he was playing and cuddling with us and now he's gone. We always knew this day would come but it's so difficult.

His AKC name was 'Hey Porter!' from the Johnny Cash song of the same title. In addition, I am a homebrewer and on of my favorite styles of beer is Porter. It seemed to fit. He was a Boston Terrier that was bigger that just about any other Boston I have ever seen. He was around 35 pounds and strong as a bull. We knew we were in trouble the day we brought him home. He whined and cried all they way home unless we held him up so he could see us. That first night we tried to have him sleep in a box. He whined and cried until my wife finally said, "why don't we just put here in bed with us until he stops crying". He never slept anywhere but the bed again.

We had him for maybe 10 months when, while playing with me, his cornea was scratched. We were frantic. We ended up at Iowa State University's vet hospital at midnight, in the rain, and left him there to have surgery on hie eye. We picked him up a few days later and, while we were still in the parking lot, he ripped the stitches open and we had the have the surgery done again. That was a really sad day when we had to leave him the second time. When we picked him up we were told that the students had celebrated "Porter Day" by decorating his cage. Every one we saw said they were so happy he was able to go home and that they would miss him.

A few years later, while my dad was terminally ill with cancer we brought Porter over to visit. Dad was nearing the end and was going in and out of consciousness. When Porter came in the room he went over and jumped up on the bed. Dad sort of came through and was 'there' with us. He was petting the dog and we were all able to have a conversation with him. It lasted for about 5 minutes or so. That was the last time he was able to speak with any of us and he passed a few days later. It was incredible to see.

Those are just a few of the memories I have and I feel a little better sharing them today. If you have a dog give him an extra hug and a kiss for Shannon and me. Also, rub his belly and scratch his ears; Porter really liked that.

Hops planted

I planted the hops in their final location. From East to West they are:
Nugget
Centennial
Mt Hood
Zeus
East Kent Golding
Fuggles

More Seeds Started

I've just finished planting more seeds for the garden. First, I ran into a friend of mine at work yesterday and he asked if I could start some tomatoes for him. There is still some time left so I said sure.
Here's what I planted:
Gold Medal, Lemon Boy, Mortgage Lifter, Super Marmande, Yellow Pear, Orange Jubilee, Striped Stuffer. I've grown all of these in the past and my thinking is I want them to have a variety of sizes, colors and flavors. Some of the seed packets were kind of old so I planted many seeds in one cell hoping to overcome any germination issues that may come from their age. Th seed packet for the Orange Jubilee are from 1996. It's surprising how things have changed. There are probably 500 seeds in the packet while today most only contain 20-50 seeds.

Here's what else I planted for my garden:
Tomatillos
Pac Choi - Territorial Seed - First time with these
Cauliflower - Cheddar - Stokes Seeds - This is an orange variety
Cauliflower - Graffiti Hybrid - Vibrant purple head
Cauliflower - Rosalind - Early maturing purple variety
I can see this colored vegetable trend building

Also started some herbs:
3 Italian Flat Leafed Parsley
3 Extra Curled Dwarf Parsley
2 Broadleaf Sage
2 Common Sage

I started the herbs, pac choi, tomatillos & cauliflower in the little peat pellets. I stopped using these a few years ago as I prefer the cells. I still have a sack full of them so I decided I need to use them up.

Harvesting and starting hop rhizomes

Last weekend I harvested a few rhizomes from my hop plants as well as started a few others I ordered. Here's a step by step for you.

If you take a look at the end of my trowel you may be able to see what looks like a bit of dead bine. You may also see some small whitish buds where the bine hits the ground. That's the new growth. What you do is grab hold of the dead bine and gently pull up.

Here's what you get when you pull it up - a nice 8 inch rhizome! The base is attached to the main crown of the plant. Since I'm harvesting with the intent of keeping the plant from spreading too much as well as getting a few rhizomes to give away I'll just cut this at the ground.
Here's what you get - a nice chunk of Fuggle's ready to plant. But not so fast my friend! First I'll trim of the dead stuff. Also, I dont want to trim the fine hairy roots. They'll get the plants off to a good start.

Here you see it in it's next resting place, a pot. This is not the permanent home, just something temporary until I find a new owner. You'll notice it's planted horizontaly. I figure this is how it was growing on the original plant so why change it. Some folks will plant vertically with the new growth pointing up. I suppose it doesn't matter.


On to the next plant - My East Kent Goldings. I am attempting to remove the entire plant as I already have 2 and need the room for others. Here's one of the rhizomes I pulled up - it's about 18 inches long, I should get a few out of this one.

Here's a close up of the rhizome. Look at all the new shoots ready to grow. Also take note of the fine roots. Getting these into the soil before they dry out is key to getting a good start.

Here's some more of the Goldings. Look how big those are! I planted these last year when I moved the plant. The rhizome was the size of the one above. Not bad for one year of growth.

Here's a look at that sucker while it was still in the ground.

And after a little trimming. BTW - those blocks are 6 inches wide so that should give you an idea of how big they are. To think, the original rhizome I ordered about 7 years ago was the size of a golf pencil. I think I gave away 20 rhizomes this size last year.

Lastly, here are my new plants. Zues, Mt Hood & Centennial. I am temporarily strating them in pots and will plant them after they get a good growth goingt. This way if we get a cold wet patch like last year I can move them into the garage for a day or two if needed.

PEPPER SEEDS STARTED

I got up this morning ans started the peppers. Maybe i should have done this last week but it's noting to worry about - I'll still have plenty at the end of the season. I planted 2 each of the sweet peppers. I'll give half to my mom for her garden. I followed the same process as usual. Here's what I planted:

Sweet Peppers:
Marconi Hybrid - Park's
Super Heavyweight Hybrid - Gurneys
Golden Star Hybrid - Territorial
Hybrid Colossal - Gurney's
They're all supposed to be big blocky bells. We'll see. I usually do a fair job with peppers. They don't have a lot of problems to deal with like tomatoes. You just want to watch that you don't over fertilize.

Hot Peppers:
Early Jalapeno - Earl May - Basic Jalapeno
Fish - Seed Savers - African American Heirloom with variegated foliage and striped fruits.
Ancho Gigantea - Seed Savers - Grown for the last few years
Senorita Hybrid - Territorial - Jalapeno
Holy Mole Hybrid - Territorial - When ripe they are brown
Cubanelle - Not really a hot pepper but I wanted this type for cooking
Red & Orange Habanero - Lake Valley Seed - Small plants with super hot fruits
Red & Orange Jamaican Hot - Lake Valley Seed - Same as the Hab's. These last two were from a seed pack I dug from the archives. I haven't grown either for a few years. They are small plants but the fruits are reall neat looking and hotter than the surface of the sun!

I'm one of those gardeners that grows just one plant of each variety. I don't have the space and I don't need that many vegetables. We like to eat the stuff fresh from the garden. You just cant beat that.

TOMATO SEEDS STARTED

I started the seeds this evening. The only real difference between previous years is that I used black plastic 4 cell planters. I just had them and decided to use them up. This year I did not go and buy many new seeds. Trying to be economical and use what I have. For the most part, it's the same as last year:

Pineapple - Territorial
Beam's Yellow Pear - Seed Savers - Old Standby
Brandywine (Sudduth's) - Seed Savers
Hillbilly Potato Leaf - Seed Savers
German Pink - Seed Savers
Gold Medal - Not Sure where I got this
Federle - Seed Savers - did great last year - large fruit
Old German - Terrotorial -
Big Mama Hybrid - Burpee - A hybrid paste type. Just decided to try something different.

Last year was not a great year for the tomatoes. A long cold wet spring caused all kinds of problems. The Verticillium Wilt got into most of them before I could get good strong development. The Federle and German Pink did well. This year I will do a better job of mulching.

Seed Starting Time

It's that time of year again - time to start some seeds!

I usually wait until St Patricks Day before I begin anything. That is 8 weeks before my last frost date and there is no reason to start anything prior to that. I don't want my plants to be too leggy.

This year will be similar to past years. Tomatos & peppers will be my primary starts. I'll grow some for my mom and a couple of her friends as well as my own. I'm also starting a permanent herb garden this year. I usually have some growing in pots but now I have a space devoted to them (at the suggestion of my wife - who usually sees the obvious things that seem to pass me by).

This year I did not purcase many seeds. Trying to keep expenses down, plus I have so many I really need to use up or throw away. I'll be growing many of the same varieties I posted about previously.

DIY CIP - cheap and easy

One of the other things I spend my time and money on is homebrewing beer. You may have guessed this by the hops I grow. After my last brew day I had a bunch of stuff to clean, as always, and I wanted to just wait and do it later. I had seen pictures of Clean In Place devices and thought that would be pretty neat to have, but with budgets being tight, I figured that would be something I can do without. After cleaning a keg the other day I realized I had nearly everything I needed to cobble together a cheap and easy CIP. The only thing I purchased was a riser for a sprinkler - for $1.50 on a clearance rack.

Here are the basic parts: Pond Pump with riser attached, large tub, milk crate. I use the pond pump for a recirculating chiller. I had the large tub that I used for soaking bottles and general cleaning or storage. The milk crate? Who doesn't have a few of these around the house.

Here's how I use it: I fill the tub with 5-6 gallons of hot water and my favorite cleaner (Oxyclean, PBW, One Step or whatever I have on hand). I place the pond pump in the middle of the of the tub. I place the crate over the pump, sliding the riser through the bottom. I then place the item being cleaned - be it a bucket, carboy, or keg - over the riser. Plug in the pump and let it go for 10-20 minutes. It's clean as a whistle.