Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Rhizomes

Bada Bing! I have scored a "certified" organic plot of land and I have rhizomes on order. I have chosen 4 different rhizomes (Tettnanger, Sterling, Golding, Cascade) based on what I have brewed in the past and what I plan to in the future, and what grows well in this region.

Living in metro San Diego it can be difficult to find any unoccupied piece of land. It seems, like most heavily populated areas, land is a premium, and most of the time they are building on it. So I feel lucky to have found a small plot where I can grow organic hops! I am paying rent by giving homebrew, awesome.

Well, that was easy now the hard part begins: farming...?

5 comments:

The Bearded Brewer said...

Nice! I tried growing them last summer and was dissapointed with how they grew (fuggles) but apparently they come back stronger the next year and they need a full year before being able to be harvested. Be patient.

I saw you listed Wit Black as a possible upcoming beer. How are you thinking about doing it? I made a black wheat last year using chocolate and debittered black malt along with wheat malt. I used a hefeweizen yeast. It was really interesting. It kind of tasted like chunky monkey ice cream because of the banana esters from the hefe yeast. Curious to see what you do.

marcus said...

Your Bangy Tangy and black wheat sound delicious. I may have to brew it. Do you have any suggestions on the Bangy Tangy?

I plan on using (i'm open for suggestions):
OG: 1.057 IBU:13 ABV:5.7% (4gal)
7# 2-row
2# wheat malt
7oz roasted wheat malt
(roast in oven until brown, 60' @ 325F)
2oz. roasted barley
1oz Tettnang (45')

1/8 tsp crushed anise
1 tsp Irish moss
White Labs WLP002 Cal Ale or kolsch

The Bearded Brewer said...

That looks good. Let me know how it turns out. The key to the tanginess is to add frozen cranberries and orange marmalade.
Here's the link to my recipe:
http://www.beardedbrewing.org/2007/12/bangy-tangy.html

Also, if you're interested in the Black Wheat, email me at: elbeardedbrewer@yahoo.com I can find the recipe for you.
I'm curious about the roasting of wheat malt. What does that do?

marcus said...

Roasting wheat malt should provide another layer of flavor: a "lightly toasted wheaty" flavor. In the future I may experiment with some unmalted wheat, other types of yeast, and bottling sugars (honey, molasses, maple syrup).

The Bearded Brewer said...

I've brewed with both maple syrup and honey. I'm planning a stout with molasses right now. Unless you add honey at flame out or the secondary, you don't get much presence. It does dry the beer out though. Its very good in a kolsch. As for the yeast, I find that the belgian white yeast is really nice and light. It accents some good fruitness without being too much like a typical belgian yeast or hefe yeast.
I might have to try roasting the a wheat malt. Good luck on the recipe.