Recent content by Stout Man

sorry for getting back so late. I still have over 2lbs of nugget hops from last year that I didn't use. That is why I'm deciding on picking this year's or not. I still have a lot of Chinook and Zeus from last year as well. I live in santa maria, ca. There are a couple local breweries in...

I have 5 nugget hills, many vines each. I purposefully did not give the nugget plants as much fertilizer as I did last year. I did not pick all the nugget hops last year because the yield was so high. I had 2.5 lbs and stopped. I can't decide if I want to harvest my nugget hops. I'll...

How tall are your spalt select plants? I'm surprised how my spalt decided to actually start growing a couple weeks ago. It doubled its height to be 9 feet now.

Does anyone notice a difference in yeast/trub separation when washing lager yeast? I'm having some difficulty washing some czech budejovice lager yeast. With ale yeast, I normally get a clear yeast separation and good color. The lager yeast does not look the same at all, it does not...

I was able to get a free 9.5 cu ft kenmore fridge off craigslist, hurray! I have a much better shot at lagering now.

My problem is I don't have a spare fridge to do the process of lagering. Right now I'm basically keeping my primary in a square plastic bucket that I occasionally add a gallon of ice to. I can keep the temp between 50-55 without much effort but when actually lagering the beer isn't the temp...

I am wondering if I can use bentonite in the secondary for my lager. I will have harvested the yeast from the primary to add back into the beer just prior to bottling so it carbonates. I have use polyclar in the secondary twice, getting fair results, but I am out and wonder if bentonite is...

I've had vines go over the top and then go down the other side if they are heavy enough and grew fast enough. Otherwise they grow horizontally along the wire at the top. If you don't want this to happen you could cut the very top of the vine once it gets tall enough. The plant will focus on...

Just go here and under "look inside this book" type in "oast". I have 17 hills, with even more bines once harvest time is here so I need something better than what I had last year. The design in the book is simple can easily be modified. I'm just going to make the dimensions 24"x24" because...

That vine is done growing vertically anymore. Without the tip of the vine, it is unable to grow vertically anymore. It may grow outwards, but don't worry. You'll have other vines that will grow good and strong.

Remove all the mulch/soil covering the hop plant until you come to the crown. Using a water jet of some kind works well to remove the top soil. I thinking you are going to see tons of little shoots wanting to grow up. Cut all these back down to the crown so you have the amount of shoots...

I would get some very good wind in the valley I live in. As long as your trellis system can hold the weight of your hops you shouldn't worry about anything else but the twine/rope you are using. The twine I initially used last year could not last with the wind and moisture from the lawn...

Just leave them. 3-4 inches is fine.

When you prepared the soil, how deep did you go and what is the diameter of the hole? If you just planted your rhizomes, dig them up and dilute your soil by half. The tiny rhizomes just need enough nutrients present in a bag of garden soil. One thing hops like is a good compost/mulch layer...

just go to home depot and buy a kit for $20. the kit i bought had enough drip heads, 5/8" and 1/4" tubing for my entire garden. It also should come with T and elbow fittings. Very straight forward and effective. I believe this is the kit I bought...