Other Preserving Methods

Fermentation is but one of many ways of preserving one's bounty and harvest. I've decided to explore some other ways. Yesterday I packed Kat, and Tristen into the car and off to Baugher's farm we went. They offer a U-Pick service where you pick your own fruits. We ended up with a peck (approximately 18 pints, I think) of fresh ripe strawberries.
Today we cut the stems off and sliced them up. I then boiled them with sugar a bit of acid blend and a dose of pectin.
Then using a canning method called the water bath method, I hot packed the jars and sealed them.

Here is the result.

I have also made some cheese. I'll post more on that at another time.

Brew Antics

Yesterday, Wes stopped by and off to the brew shop we went. I needed some more of those handy EZ- Cap bottles and some sanitizer.

After returning home from the LHBS we got to work. First order of the day was to sanitize the bottles for Wes' Lawnmower Saison. We scrubbed, sanitized and jet blasted the bottles.

Then we filled the bottles using the autosiphone and bottling wand method. Quick and messy and low tech.

Te ran out of the 16 oz. EZ Cap bottles for Wes' saison so I had some spare crown cap bottles to finish the job.

Next was to take care of my Honey Nut Brown Ale. It tastes almost like Newcastle's version. Yum! My beer was quick to bottle due to me using 1 liter bottles.

Now it's time to let our respective beers rest and carbonate. Then after a week or so, it's into the refrigerator.

Brewing Plans

Plans for tomorrow include a trip to the brew shop for some more 1 liter EZ Cap bottles. Wes' Lawnmower Saizon will be bottled next Saturday. My Honey Nut Brown Ale will be racked to secondary tomorrow. I'll also open a bottle of my American Amber Ale to ensure that it carbonated properly.
Nothing going into primary this weekend. Too much other stuff going on. I'll be supporting Kat (my soon to be wife) at her chemistry presentation after traveling to the brew shop for supplies. Afterwards, I'll be seeing my niece in a play "Tiny Thumblelina". Sunday is mother's day. I'll be taking my mom and Kat out to brunch. Then, grandma will be at the house for a bit.

Bubble Bubble Toil and no Trouble

The airlock on the Honey Nut Brown Ale is bubbling like mad.
Pretty cool to know that the British Ale yeast is doing it's solemn duty of converting sugar to alcohol.
Video below.

Another Brew Day

This morning I brewed a Honey Nut Brown Ale from a recipe that I obtained from Maryland Home Brew Inc.
It contained the most grains that I have used in a brew so far. I'm moving further towards all grain brewing. I'll need to build an all grain brewing set up eventually. For now I have too small of a space.

Beer Antics

Today I went to Maryland Home Brew Inc. in Columbia,MD. Wes came by this morning so we could drive down early.
Nice shop with friendly staff and full service grain crushing on site. I picked up another case of 1 liter EZ Cap beer bottles . I also picked up the ingredients for tomorrow's brewing adventure.
After getting back home, Wes helped my bottle my American Amber Ale and then we racked his Lawnmower beer to secondary fermentation.
Photos below.

This is the fine sediment after secondary fermentation of the American Amber.

I got a total of 18 liters of beer. Bottled in 1 liter EZ cap bottles after adding priming sugar. It was nice and bitter from the hops.

 

 

Here is the trub/gross lees from Wes' Lawnmower.

Here is the lawnmower after racking. It will sit in the carboy for another week before bottling.

Thinking about the Wines of Years Past

I was reading over the blog of my new friend in the brewing arts, Ben (You can check out his blog on my list of followers). It got me to thinking about the wines that I have made since beginning my journey back in October of 2009. I think I will attempt to dig up some information about those wines.
For now I'm going to post some photos that I have on hand of my wines.

One of a couple of racks and storage units for the wines.

Bergamais, the first wine that I made in 2009. It's basically bejoules but not grown in France

This is a Blueberry Syrah. This wine is the second wine that I have crafted. It was also one of the most popular. Light bodied and sweet.

This is a Sauvignon Blanc fermenting. Wine number 3.

This is our wine "Treasure Chest". It holds about 100 bottles.

This is the Sauvignon Blanc pictured above a few months later.

There are more photos, but I'll have to dig around for them and that can take some time. When I do get around to it, I'll post them.