Late Autumn in Norfolk County, ON

"Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast."
-  Sara Coleridge

 

 

Hiya my fave followers!

Wow, November is almost over... Can you believe it?! The last month has flown by and I am disappointed that I haven't stayed on top of things and blogged about our last couple of visits up to our 10 acres of land in Norfolk County, Ontario. Since we bought the property several years ago, we go through the ritual of opening up the land in the spring and shutting her down in the late fall. So many stories to tell and pictures to see, and this year I failed to keep up. Well, some say 'better late then never,' so why not?! Let's back track a bit and allow me to share with you what we've been up to!

 

 

In the last month or so we've had our last campout of the year, harvested the last of our vegetables, planted garlic, fixed up the asparagus patch and turned over the compost, among over duties. We have all have enjoyed our last autumn days up at our property and hope that all stays safe and sound while winter soon settles in and our visits become scarce until spring arrives next year.

 



Look how big our trees are getting. Hard to believe they were saplings a few years ago!

 

Sweet potatoes...

 

Yukon Golds...

 

 

 

The garlic patch. Isn't my Dad a tidy gardener?!

 

The asparagus patch. It has been weeded, hilled up and cover with well rotted cow manure.

 

We put a lot of hours, sweat and sore backs into the garden this past year and are so happy to be enjoying the delicious harvest! See you again in the spring!!!

 

Wet Hopping in Dundas, Ontario!

 

Quote: 

 

"Wet hopping is adding fresh hops to the fermenter to impart flavor and aroma to the finished beer. The principles are the same as for dry hopping - the hops are added to secondary (or to primary after fermentation is complete) 3-5 days before racking. The main difference is the hops are fresh, i.e. "wet" - the freshness gives a more vibrant aroma and cleaner flavour.

Fresh hops weigh 4-6 times more than their dry counterpart, so this needs to be taken into account when weighing. For example, if you normally dry hop with 1/2oz, then you'll need to wet hop with around 2-3oz of fresh hops.

Introducing spoilage organisms into the beer from fresh hops is unlikely, especially when added after (primary) fermentation is complete. Even so, you may want to put the hops in the freezer overnight to kill any pests, although this makes them slightly less fresh.

With fresh hops, the most desirable qualities that distinguish them from dry hops are the freshness of the volatile oils. This makes them best suited to flavoring and aroma additions, which also means there is less need to worry about the IBUs, since they contribute relatively little bitterness compared to the bittering additions. When using fresh hops in the kettle, remember that they contain a lot of water, which will be added to your wort. If you want to hit your SG on the mark, you'll need to compensate for the water added. Assuming wet hops weigh 5 times more than dry, then 4/5s of that weight is water. For example, 2oz of dry hops is 10oz when wet. Since 2oz of the wet hops is hop matter, the remaining 8oz is water."
 

Taken from 'Homebrewing Stack Exchange.com'
  

 

Hiya followers! Today's blog is about my Uncle Jeff's homebrew!

This summer, my uncle grew his own Willamette hops from hop rhizomes that my dad purchased last year. Uncle Jeff grew his hop plants in the backyard, allowing them to grow up the posts of the back deck. The hop bines prefer to grows upwards, sometimes reaching 20 feet long. After a great growing season, the hops were harvested in mid September and just this morning, I cracked open my bottle to taste the results... Delicious!!! Now, let's see how Uncle Jeff made his wonderful wet hop homebrew step by step!

 

 

My Uncle decided upon a recipe called 'Wet Hop American Summer,' although he slightly change the grain mix and used 2 Row pale barley, Cara Amber Crystal 30 and Cara-Foam.

 

 

 Let's get this homebrew started and steep the grains for 1 hour at 152 degrees F.

Fresh Willamette hops.

 

 Second batch of hops in with Irish moss‏.

Final ten minutes with 400 grams of wet hops.

 

The hops be done!

 

 Looks like this bee is ready to help pitch the yeast! Ha!

 

Hydrometer reads an alcohol level of  5% to 6%.

  

A few weeks later it's bottling day! Hurrah!

 

A few weeks after that, the wet hop homebrew is ready! It has a lovely 'hoppy' scent, full flavor and a beautiful rich amber colour with the unique and delicious bitter finish that only a wet hop brew achieve! Great job, Uncle Jeff and thank you for sharing your photos!