I like this time at night on HBT

[LabRatBrewer]

I planted mint in my backyard, but I have no use for it, so I cut it down when I mow. What a nice scent, almost makes mowing enjoyable. My boy, who really does most of the mowing, likes it too.

I tried making mint ice cream with it (heated leaves in cream), but the mint flavor from mint leaves tasted artificial, if you can believe that. Odd.

Mint seems like a survivor, does it keep coming back?

 

[passedpawn]

Mint seems like a survivor, does it keep coming back?

Yea, it grows like a weed. Well, everything grows like a weed down here.

 

[Leadgolem]

I planted mint seeds last spring. Mainly for Mojitos. They never sprouted, though. It was a cheap brand of seeds, so I guess I'm not surprised. I'll buy a better brand next spring.

I've never grown mint from seed. I've always gotten starts. If you are going to plant mint, IMO the best kind is spearmint. Peppermint has a spiciness to it that I don't always want. Chocolate mint is just odd. Catnip is nice for the cats, but pretty much useless to me.

Mint seems like a survivor, does it keep coming back?

I know you're talking to PP, but mint likes being cut back on a regular basis. As long as you don't cut more then about 50% of the above ground foliage it will leaf out almost immediately after you cut it back. Mint usually comes back for each year. It's really an aggressive invasive plant. As long as it's getting enough water it will actually choke out most kinds of weeds.

Oh, and the young mint leaves taste a lot better then the older ones.

 

[TNGabe]

Mint seems like a survivor, does it keep coming back?

It can be invasive.

 

[Stauffbier]

I've grown it from seed in the past, but this time it just didn't work. Next year I'll look for starter plants instead. It grows pretty well here, but not really invasively. You have to water a heck of a lot for that to happen, since it's such a dry climate here.

 

[brewingmeister]

I posted this pic in another thread where a guy drilled a hole in a glass carboy. Been meaning to post it here where the topic of plants comes up regularly. glass carboys aren't just for brewing.

 

[TNGabe]

I posted this pic in another thread where a guy drilled a hole in a glass carboy. Been meaning to post it here where the topic of plants comes up regularly. glass carboys aren't just for brewing.

That's cool. I've got one with a crack in the bottom that isn't actually broken. I've been filling it with corks.

 

[BobbiLynn]

Brew in a bag. ;-)

Oh, I need to learn my acros. That makes more sense. Still think it should be MIAB though.

Today I went out to hunt raccoons but ended up feeding them and watching them play instead. Came across a mama and 2 youngsters living in the hollowed out base of a tree. They really like marshmellows and practically came right up to me. A few days of that and could probably have them eating out of my hand, at least the young ones, mom was more cautious. Handed the rifle to hubby when I got back and told him to go shoot them all, but he said he couldn't see them/find them, even though he did bring the marshmellows. I'm sure the mom is the one who has been killing my chickens, tracked her from my shed, where I keep the chicken feeder, to the tree where I found them. Luckily though, she is mostly just killing roosters, they are aggressive and will fight back, unlike the hens which are very skittish and hard to get near. I'm down to 2 roosters now. One leghorn and one barred rock, no Rhode Island Red roosters left to breed with my RIR hens. But people practically give away roosters, just have to quarantine to prevent disease if I bring any in. Hens are laying eggs in the nesting boxes now. Beats having to fetch eggs from the bed of my truck, under the tool box. Or showing up in the grocery store parking lot only to realize there's a hen in the back of the truck. Blocked it off so they can't get under the tool box anymore. It was funny when everyone was trying to help me catch the hen, then when I gave up and started the truck to leave, she loaded right up.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Bust out the mash tun instead. I wouldn't make blue cheese from dried milk and I won't make wild beers from extract. I don't even like to use it for starters for brett. I've borrowed a friends ginormous pressure canner and am canning a 5 gallon batch of wort this week so I'll be set on wort for starters for at least a couple weeks.

If I had the equipment I'd be happy to, but I have my pokey little kitchen and some 2 gallon stew pots. Partial mash is about all I can hope for. Besides, between the Brett. and lacto I expect this wort to get chewed down to nothing, so I doubt that mashing at home vs. using the maltsters' products will matter all that much. AmandaK has some award winning lambic recipes up on the database that are made with all DME, so it can't be all bad. Beats not trying it at all.

I get the Brett. in tomorrow and will get it to work on a starter. I am actually now considering just a straight Brett. on this as I don't have a really warm spot for a lacto starter. Best I can do is about 83F in my water heater closet. I might try to see if I can get a clean lacto starter using a handful of grain in DME, but I know other stuff is on the grain and that may take hold before the lacto does. I should have done this earlier in the summer when my shed was 100F inside.

 

[reinstone]

Livin the high life. 12 ft hose to the rye I gotta drink. No need to leave the chair. Cheers.

 

[TNGabe]

If I had the equipment I'd be happy to, but I have my pokey little kitchen and some 2 gallon stew pots. Partial mash is about all I can hope for. Besides, between the Brett. and lacto I expect this wort to get chewed down to nothing, so I doubt that mashing at home vs. using the maltsters' products will matter all that much. AmandaK has some award winning lambic recipes up on the database that are made with all DME, so it can't be all bad. Beats not trying it at all.

I get the Brett. in tomorrow and will get it to work on a starter. I am actually now considering just a straight Brett. on this as I don't have a really warm spot for a lacto starter. Best I can do is about 83F in my water heater closet. I might try to see if I can get a clean lacto starter using a handful of grain in DME, but I know other stuff is on the grain and that may take hold before the lacto does. I should have done this earlier in the summer when my shed was 100F inside.

Ahh yes, award winning. When I politely expressed my skepticism in that thread, it didn't go well. I have few beliefs, but I do believe in lambic and I find it offensive when people claim to be making lambic with DME in bucket. It's asine.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Livin the high life. 12 ft hose to the rye I gotta drink. No need to leave the chair. Cheers.

I hope you are wearing a diaper.

 

[reinstone]

I hope you are wearing a diaper.

Got a good spot right outside the garage. Some tile I put in. Takes everything away. Like calgon.

 

[TNGabe]

I hope you are wearing a diaper.

Or at least there's a hole in his chair.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Or at least there's a hole in his chair.

Just strip down, run the hose and roll the TV into the bathroom, and sit in the tub with your glass and the remote. Abracadabra, mischief managed.

Bonus points if you have company over. Extra bonus points if they are your inlaws.

 

[Stauffbier]

or at least there's a hole in his chair.

!

 

[reinstone]

!

Not like that. I will get up to take some time with Mother Nature.

 

[reinstone]

And its just me. I don't make a fool of myself till Oktoberfest

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

And its just me. I don't make a fool of myself till Oktoberfest

Just you? Oh hell, spread a tarp in the living room and go to town.

 

[Leadgolem]

Just you? Oh hell, spread a tarp in the living room and go to town.

Watch out, it's a tarp!

Just harvested my rice wine experiments, I got some interesting results.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I want to get up and grab a beer so bad right now, but I just had a ****** vasectomy this evening. Can't get up off my back! >: (

 

[emjay]

Ahh yes, award winning. When I politely expressed my skepticism in that thread, it didn't go well. I have few beliefs, but I do believe in lambic and I find it offensive when people claim to be making lambic with DME in bucket. It's asine.

I insist on doing lambic all-grain, turbid mash, in glass sealed with oak (have a 2.5 year old one still in a carboy, ready to be bottled in May), and have even got into arguments and accused of arrogance over not being able to make "lambic" like any other extract brew.

However, there are ways to "cheat". If one really insists on making an extract lambic (an oxymoron in my book) for instance, a significant amount of maltodextrin NEEDS to be used to at least approximate the abundance of starch for bugs to feed on that is normally the result of a turbid mash. A highly fermentable wort just won't produce anything even resembling lambic.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

Ahh yes, award winning. When I politely expressed my skepticism in that thread, it didn't go well. I have few beliefs, but I do believe in lambic and I find it offensive when people claim to be making lambic with DME in bucket. It's asine.

If it helps I'll genuflect before the primary bucket and say the rosary in hopes that the Lord will forgive my sin of using extract in a sour.

Seriously, why does it offend YOU if *I* want to make anything in a bucket? I could just say eff it all and buy Bud at the local packy, but I choose to tinker and explore with the means that I have available. How in the world does this offend you?

Besides, there is very little "wild" in this ferment. The Brett. comes to me in a test tube, not on the spring breeze. The lacto might come from grain or maybe some yogurt, not by one of BobbiLynn's racoons spitting in the fermenter. I'm not going to put Boon out of business, honest! I'm going to make up some wort with wheat LME, pitch some (non-wild) Brett. and maybe some lacto, and see what falls out of the fermenter in a few months. It may be a flop or it may be awesome.

 

[bottlebomber]

I insist on doing lambic all-grain, turbid mash, in glass sealed with oak (have a 2.5 year old one still in a carboy, ready to be bottled in May), and have even got into arguments and accused of arrogance over not being able to make "lambic" like any other extract brew.

However, there are ways to "cheat". If one really insists on making an extract lambic (an oxymoron in my book) for instance, a significant amount of maltodextrin NEEDS to be used to at least approximate the abundance of starch for bugs to feed on that is normally the result of a turbid mash. A highly fermentable wort just won't produce anything even resembling lambic.

I haven't done a turbid mash, but I did use some hard red wheat in the mash, non gelatinized, and used a little maltodextrine. I've done 3 so far, they've been going for just under 2 years, and I haven't tried them yet. Except for the sour stout, which tastes frikkin awesome. I just top cropped from one of the other batches, it's only a little sour but has a whole lot of funk. I need to get to bottling that one.

 

[Leadgolem]

What's the typical wait time for a lambic, and what's preferable? My space isn't unlimited, and I prefer to keep a batch of cider or wine of some kind in part of it.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

What's the typical wait time for a lambic, and what's preferable? My space isn't unlimited, and I prefer to keep a batch of cider or wine of some kind in part of it.

Over a year.

 

[Leadgolem]

Over a year.

Does that have to be in bulk, or would it matter if it was bottled first?

 

[emjay]

Does that have to be in bulk, or would it matter if it was bottled first?

Depends. You could technically bottle a straight lambic I suppose, but the (far more popular) varieties such as gueuze, fruit lambics, etc, all really should be blended to taste and so ultimately you'll want to keep them in bulk until you're finished blending.

 

[Leadgolem]

I ran into this on youtube tonight. Having heard the original song, this is rather odd.

 

[day_trippr]

I want to get up and grab a beer so bad right now, but I just had a ****** vasectomy this evening. Can't get up off my back! >: (

Dude!

Or is that now "dudette"?

Either way, mass quantities of brew will get you through to The Other Side...

Cheers!