Beer

Stringing the Hop Yard

I had wonderful help hanging hop coir. Elsa said it was the perfect Saturday for a “farm girl.” About half of our 4 acres are strung!

Working hard on our soil, especially correcting pH. We’ve made some solid improvements with the help of @midwestlaboratories and @agritec.international. Part of our plan to produce high quality fresh hops. Just don’t make fun of our modern, high tech spreader.

Triumph Hops

Elsa and I got a load of compost on our two new rows of Triumph hops. Looks like they are starting off their second year strong. Excited to have this new hop variety to offer.

Garden Time

We took a little time away from the hop yard this Spring to revamp our garden. Excited to try our new Birdies raised beds we ordered from the nice folks at www.epicgardening.com Also made some upgrades to Elsa’s garden playhouse

Maverick Malt Pale Ale

New pale ale is on tap at Darbro Farms. Thanks to Hop of the Month Club for sending some malt samples. The malt from Maverick Malt House combined with our hops to make a wonderfully mellow pale ale. Recipe below.

Fresh hop IPA

Picked some nice Cascade hops to add to the current batch of IPA fermenting. The recipe is 100% whole leaf hops. Grain Bill: 15 lbs 2 row malt 1 lbs crystal 20l 1 lbs carapils Hops: 1oz Columbus 60min 1oz

Watermelon Ale kegged

Used gelatin in fermenter, then cold crashed. Watermelon Ale turned out a nice super clear golden color. It is carbonating in keg and bottles now. Already tastes good. Dry but with a definite watermelon aroma. I think after aging

Hops field markers

After numerous near misses with the hop trellis guy wires I decided it was time to get some markers on them. The orange conduit shows up nicely! Hoping to brew a batch of IPA this week. I will try and

Watermelon Ale

Three quarts of watermelon purée getting ready to go into the secondary of the watermelon ale. I’ve made this recipe three times now. I think I found it online but can’t seem to find it again to give the appropriate