Growing Hops

Well, this is the time of year that blogging brewers talk about growing hops. Now it's my turn.
When we moved into our house 3 years ago, there was a prickly vine growing on the north side of the house. I liked that vine. It grew on my chain link fence giving an excellent privacy cover.
It wasn't until this year in January when I started my beer research that I realized this was a hop vine. Because it was on the north side, there were no flowers and I never thought it was anything but a random vine.
I am now in the process of digging up some rhizomes/rootings of the vine and transferring it to the west side of the house where there is plenty of sun.
My big question is: What the hell type of hops is this? I found this website which shows the different types of hop cones. I guess I might have to wait till the fall before I can figure out what variety it is.

Cali Common Ale Update

Last night, I pulled out a sample of my Cali Ale for a hydrometer reading and a taste. The OG was 1.050 and the FG is 1.006 which makes a 5.7% ABV. I was really quite worried about that since my first yeast was a failure and I just pitched the American Ale Yeast straight in the fermentor without a starter.
There were also no off flavours or weird tastes. At first, I thought there was a skunky taste but Stefanie told me that I was just trippin' and it was just a hoppy taste.

I'm cleaning the bottles now and will be bottling in the next couple of days.

Future Brews

It's finally Spring here in Winnipeg and it's time to think about what I'm going to plant this year. Now that beer is constantly on my mind (read obsession), I'm going to gear some of my plantings for some experimental brews. Here are some of the plants that I have started indoors:

Small Sugar Pumpkin

I definitely plan on making a PUMPKIN ALE this fall. I have to do a lot of research on this one because there are a variety of brewing techniques.

Spearmint

Since I enjoy porters and stouts, I am going to try a CHOCOLATE MINT PORTER/STOUT

Cinnamon Basil

Although, I have never tried this, I believe a HONEY BASIL beer would yield a nice refreshing brew. Well, Bison Brewing does it, so I can as well.

A Rocky Start

After the stress of a failed Yeast starter, the beer is now fermenting. 12 hours after I pitched the new pack of yeast, the airlock was chugging away once every four seconds. 16 hours past - once every two seconds. The krausen looks pretty good and there's no weird odours. So far, so good. Fingers crossed though.

I'm not sure what I'm going to call this beer. Hopefully, not "sink drink". It is not a Cali - Common anymore, it is more of a Bastard Aleger.

Cali Common Yeast Starter

I sure hope I didn't bung this up. I smacked the WYeast 2112 at noon and by 6:00PM, there was no expansion in the packet. I went to MrMalty.com and it told me to make a 2.1 liter starter. That seems like a lot. I am also worried because I didn't notice the manufacture date of the yeast when I bought it. It was October 20, 2010. Wyeasts are good for 6 months after the manufacture date.
I did a gravity readings of the starter: O.G 1.050 F.G 1.050. I pitched it anyway. 17 hours later, there was absolutely no activity - so I emailed the beer store and the owner replied with: "The best advice I can give you is to get a viable yeast into that beer as soon as you can. Even getting a dried yeast in there is better than leaving it longer. If it sits for too long without activity there is a greater chance for bacterial spoilage"
So, as soon as my wife came home from work, I raced out of the house, drove across the city in rush hour and picked up another pack of Wyeast. Instead of the Cali-Lager, I picked up the American Ale Yeast. My first beer used that yeast and it turned out fantastic. I smacked it in the car, and by the time I got home, it was already starting to inflate. I quickly sterilized everything I needed to and pitched the yeast.
I sure hope I didn't bung this up.

Beer Number Two (Cali Ale/Lager)

For me, the hardest part of brewing is choosing the recipe or style of beer. When I racked my Honey Amber (which I am now calling Buzz Bomb because it is 7.3% ABV)to the secondary, I harvested the yeast. I wanted to use the yeast for another American Amber or Brown but I also wanted to make a California Common. Wyeast 1056 is a nice multi-purpose yeast that can be used for many different styles except a Cali Common (Lager yeast). So, I decided to reuse my yeast, but then everything came to sudden halt while writing this entry. I typed in harvesting yeast in my search engine and found out something interesting: It is not recommended to reuse yeast with an ABV of 6.5% or higher.
Cali Common it is. Here is a recipe I found on Hopville.com:

California Common California Bastard

4.53 KG / 10 LB of 2 row pale
.45 KG / 1 LB of Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
.22 KG / 8 OZ of Biscuit

28.5 Grams / 1 OZ Northern Brewer Hops at 60 Mins
14.5 G / .5 OZ Northern Brewer at 30 Mins
14.5 G / .5 OZ Northern Brewer at 1 Min

WYeast 2112 1056
Est OG 1.058
Est FG 1.018

I think this time I should skip the racking to secondary and just bottle after 3 weeks in primary.