Grow Your Own Hops

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

This weekend was pretty good... Saturday we headed out to San Jose for the IBC Betta Fish conference they were having down there (Izzy loves bettas) and that was pretty cool. It's basically a competition where they judge betta fish that people have raised... and it was sponsored by a company that specializes in aquarium goods & other pet products... but yeah, very pretty fish. That's about all I have to say...

That night, we finally did something that we've been planning on doing for the last two months... and that's convert a whiskey barrel donated by Elevation 66 after a few uses for their special barrel-aged collection over the last year or so... and convert it into some planting pots to start growing our own hops. Step one, we took a few screws and set the ribbons that help hold the wood in place... and step two, we pull out the SAW!!!

After cutting it in half, step 3, we drill a few holes in the bottom so that water can escape and it doesn't cause a lot of problems (or so Izzy tells me).

That's basically it, you have two pots after that... so then you fill it with soil, plant your hop rhizomes about six inches deep... and before you know it, apparently we'll have these things growing up to a foot a DAY. That's incredible to me... so yeah, below is a before picture... and I'll keep you posted every so often.

Chinook & Mt. Hood Hops... they gon' be good...

These guys were actually already sprouting

in a Ziploc bag so... yeah, they're gonna get big

We also tasted our Torpedo Clone for the first time... and it really tastes like Torpedo. It's not quite an IPA... but it's a very hoppy pale ale, so it worked out perfectly. Remember, ours was a little bit of a watered-down version from what the Aunts will have ready next weekend... so we'll see how they compare shortly. We're extremely happy with the hoppy results... and remember, this cooking of the wort was a little questionable. (Pat on the back...)

Anyway, that's about it for this weekend... and I'm hard at work at preparing entries for my Alaskan trip... so hopefully they'll be coming up soon. Just need to compile all the pictures and get the best ones for ya... have a great weekend everybody!!!