Sour Cherry Crop - 2021

This will be my second year for 4 Dwarf North Star Cherry Trees (read about the first year here).  I got these as bare root trees and they started out pretty thin and spindly.  This was my first time attempting to grow a fruit tree but I thought the plants established themselves pretty well and was very happy to see that all 4 survived the winter.

This year will, like last year, be focused on keeping the trees growing and happy so that they can start producing a lot of fruit for me a couple years from now.  They are still pretty small and thin at this point so I've been reluctant to do any significant pruning.  I ended up cutting off some of the lower branches, those that were crossing others, and a few that were growing inwards.  I did this after they'd leafed out rather than in the winter due to uncertainty about the health of the plant.  Next year I'll opt for a more assertive pruning during the dormant winter months.

It's looking like I may get a bit of fruit this year.  There are maybe a dozen flowers between the plants.  This isn't necessarily a desirable thing, as the energy spent fruiting would be better spent growing at this stage, but it will be nice to get another sample of the fruit.  The two cherries that formed last year split before they were ripe unfortunately.

Anyway, it will be fun to watch the growth of these.  I will plan to capture monthly status on these through the season. 

9/12/21

7/3/21

6/7///21

5/23/21

4/29/21

4/7/21

Growing Log:

• 4/29/21 - I've given the trees blood meal and bone meal here since it's warmed up in the last couple weeks.  We've gotten a good rainy day in the last week so I haven't watered the plants yet.  Leaves are really coming out now.  I'm keeping them sprayed with deer and rabbit repellant to hopefully keep the leaves safe
• 5/23/21 - I've added more compost to the base of the plants and I dosed them with a gallon of nitrate rich fish tank water each.  They are growing vigorously so far this year.  I had to water them a couple days ago as there hasn't been much rain.  Gave them about a gal of water each
• 6/7/21 - Picked one of the ripe cherries (the plants grew half a dozen this year).  It is sour but also slightly sweet and has red flesh

• 2/5/22 - Did a little bit of pruning here in my second dormant season per this guide.
• 4/30/22 - Read about the 2022 growing season here

Raspberry Crop - 2021

This will be the fifth year for my large Raspberry Crop (see posts on First, Second, Third, and Fourth).  I have 4 32x2 foot raised beds and am growing 4 different variety of Raspberry (Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova).  Having 4 varieties is very nice since they all fruit at different times and have different flavor profile.

Last year I put in a lot of effort on these beds.  I dug out around them, built a concrete border and filled the void around them with sand, landscape fabric, and gravel.  I also put in water spigots next to each bed.  The weeds have been pretty well controlled with this - I do have some coming up from the gravel but they haven't been able to make any real purchase and are easily pulled.  I've done very little to take care of the beds as a result.  I would call this setup a major success compared with having this on the lawn.  

I did have an issue with the water - turns out I didn't adequately drain the system and had an above ground part of the pipe burst (hopefully that's the only problem.  Once I've fixed that I intend to put in timers and a drip irrigation system this year.

Also on the agenda near term is to use as much of last year's raspberries as I can.  I probably have close to 100 lbs in my freezer still and anticipate I'll need space for about 100 lbs more this year (based on the last couple).  Nice problem to have.

The plants started to put out growth at the beginning of April and it looks like they'll be coming back pretty strong.  Will be excited to see how this year's crop goes.  I will post monthly photo updates and status

9/12/21 - R to L - Prelude, Joan J, Tula Magic, and Nova

7/3/21 - R to L - Prelude, Joan J, Tula Magic, and Nova

6/7/21 - R to L - Prelude, Joan J, Tula Magic, and Nova

5/23/21 - R to L - Prelude, Joan J, Tula Magic, and Nova

4/19/21 - R to L - Prelude, Joan J, Tula Magic, and Nova

4/7/21 - R to L - Prelude, Joan J, Tula Magic, and Nova

Raspberry Picking Tracker:

• 6/9/21 - 13 oz
• 6/10/21 - 1 lb 4 oz
• 6/11/21 - 1 lb 14 oz
• 6/12/21 - 2 lb 8 oz
• 6/13/21 - 2 lb 7 oz
• 6/14/21 - 3 lb 10 oz 
• 6/15/21 - 3 lbs 5 oz
• 6/16/21 - 2 lbs 3 oz
• 6/17/21 - 1 lb 15 oz
• 6/18/21 - 1 lb 6 oz
• 6/19/21 - 1 lb 10 oz
• 6/20/21 - 2 lb 7 oz
• 6/21/21 - 1 lb 8 oz
• 6/22/21 - 2 lb 14 oz
• 6/23/21 - 4 lb 9 oz
• 6/24/21 - 3 lb 14 oz
• 6/25/21 - 2 lb 9 oz
• 6/26/21 - 4 lb 13 oz
• 6/27/21 - 2 lb 6 oz
• 6/28/21 - 3 lb 10 oz
• 6/29/21 - 2 lb 15 oz
• 6/30/21 - 3 lb 5 oz
• 7/1/21 - 3 lb 2 oz
• 7/2/21 - 4 lb 6 oz
• 7/3/21 - 4 lb 7 oz
• 7/4/21 - 4 lb 10 oz
• 7/5/21 - 4 lb 6 oz
• 7/6/21 - 2 lb 9 oz
• 7/7/21 - 11 oz
• 7/8/21 - 10 oz
• 7/9/21 - DNP
• 7/10/21 - 1 lb 4 oz
• 7/11/21 - DNP
• 7/12/21 - 1 lb 14 oz
• 7/13/21 - DNP
• 7/14/21 - DNP
• 7/15/21 - 12 oz

• Total:  86 lb 8 oz

Raspberry Growing Log:

• 4/7/21 - Plants getting started.  Have quite a bit of cleanup work ahead of me:

Weeds to be picked

Pipe to fix

• 4/19/21 - Fixed all the facets - turned out 3 were cracked.  Lesson learned for the end of the year - drain the system better.
• 5/16/21 -Installed a drip system using soaker hose.  I put in sprinkler timers and built a little regulator pipe system with a valve to allow me to set the right flow rate once and never have to find it again (as opposed to using the main facet).  We're looking at 2 weeks with no rain so I got this in as an urgent thing

• 5/22/21 - I gave the plants a good watering.  I think 2 hrs is about right.  I'm working to cover all these soaker hoses with a layer of compost which should protect the pipes from UV and also ensure less water is lost to evaporation (hopefully it will also encourage the water to be wicked more evenly across the entire bed
• 5/1/22 - Read about the 2022 crop here

American Pale Wheat Take IV

I kicked the keg of my last hoppy beer in record time - it is really hard to top drinking a low alcohol hoppy beer I'm finding.  So, it is time for another.  For this one, I'll be going back to a favorite of mine - American Pale Wheat with Citra and Amarillo hops.  This will be my 4th attempt at it (read about the first, second, and third).  Citra and Amarillo are a wonderful combination that produce a really lovely tropical and fruity flavor.  I'm going to go with 8 oz of dry hop this time which is an increase from version III which used 6 oz.

First Dry Hop

I've made several hoppy beers now with my kegging system and am very happy with the results so far.  I am trying to find the optimal process for hopping these beers as I go along.  Oxygen exposure for these hoppy beers is of particular concern.  The theory is that oxygen exposure speeds up the degradation of hop character such that the beer loses it's bold hop flavor faster than it would have otherwise.

I had been putting hops in the serving keg which involves opening the keg that I'd previously purged of oxygen and then adding dry hops to it (inevitably along with some oxygen).  This is under the theory that the beer being in contact with hops the entire serving time will ensure the hop flavor remains fresh.  After adding the hops I have done a quick few rounds of depressurizing the keg and then releasing pressure to try to clear oxygen.  The question with this process is does the contact with the hops benefit the beer more than the opening of the keg might be hurting it.

To start to try to understand that answer, I've decided to try using all my dry hops in the fermenter.  I'll do two doses (a Double Dry hop) - one during the tail end of fermentation (Day 3) and one after fermentation has completed (Day 7).  I'll plan to cold crash and fine in the second week and keg on day 14.  This way I can move the beer into a completely purged keg.  I'll be very interested to see how the hop character lasts with this method (at some point maybe I'll do a true side by side test of two batches and include a triangle tasting).

I'm going with the normal malt bill for this one.  I hope to bring the beer in at around 4% ABV this time.

For yeast, I'll be using a Second Pitch of Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale.  I'd previously used this in a Clone of Timothy Taylor's Landlord.  It blended so well into that beer that I couldn't pick out any specific contributions but had imagined it was a strong contributor to the overall pleasing package.  I'm hoping it lends something noticeable to this very hoppy beer.  The yeast also puts up a lingering krausen (lasted for a few weeks last time) - I'm wondering if this might provide a bit of extra O2 protection for the beer for the dry hopping.

Anyhow, very much looking forward to drinking this beer

Recipe Details:

• Grain:
• 5 lb Wheat
• 4 lb Golden Promise
• 12 oz Caravienne
• 3 oz Acid
• Hops:
• 1 oz Columbus (Leaf, 14.6% AA) at 60 min
• 2 oz Columbus (Leaf, 14.6% AA) at 5 min
• 2 oz Centennial (Leaf, 10.1% AA) at 5 min
• 3 oz Citra (Leaf, 13.1% AA) Dry Hop at Day 3
• 1 oz Amarillo (Leaf, 8.8% AA) Dry Hop at Day 3
• 3 oz Citra (Leaf, 13.1% AA) Dry Hop at Day 7
• 1 oz Amarillo (Leaf, 8.8% AA) Dry Hop at Day 7
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale (2nd Pitch)
• Water:
• 10 gal spring water
• 3 gal tap water
• 1 tsp CaCl
• 1 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 5.5 gal
• Mash:
• 153 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 60 min
• Fermentation Temperature:
• 65 F
• Primary Duration:
• 2 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• NA

Results:

• OG:
• 1.045 (Target 1.043)
• Efficiency:
• 68% (Target 71%)
• FG:
• 1.010 (Target 1.012)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 77% (Target 71%)
• ABV:
• 4.59% (Target 4.1%)

Brewing Notes:

• 4/3/21 - Built a starter with 110g of DME and 1 L of water.  Used a half full pint jar with the yeast I'd saved from my Timothy Taylor's Landlord Clone.  Set this up on my stir plate.  The beer was foaming nicely the next morning
• 4/4/21 - Brewday - 10:45 AM to 3:30 PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Heated 8 gal to 180 F
• Milled my grain.  Added CaCl and Gypsum to it so I wouldn't forget
• Moved 6 gal to the mash tun and cycled through the RIMS until it had settled out at 163 F
• Stopped the RIMS and added the grain.  Stirred well to eliminate clumps.  Let this settle for 10 min
• Set the RIMS to cycle at 154 F.  Cycled for 50 min

• With 20 min left I added 5 more gal of spring water to the HLT and heated this to 200 F
• Drained the mash tun to the boil kettle.  Added water to the top of the mash as I went to keep the grain bed partially covered.  Started heating the mash after collecting 3 gal.  Had it to  a boil at 4 gal.  I then, stopped the sparge, topped up the mash with another gal and then let it sit for 10 min
• Added the bittering hops at this point
• Did my second batch sparge, topping up as I went, until 8 gal had been collected.  Did this second sparge slowly enough to keep a boil going
• Boiled for 60 min
• Added Irish Moss at 15 min
• With 5 min left I added the wort chiller to sanitize and the flavoring hops
• Chilled the beer down to 185 F and did a 30 min hop stand.  I kept the burner on low during the initial chill to prevent temperature from dropping too far.  By the end of the hop stand the beer was down to 65 F

• Chilled down to 70 F
• Transferred to a SS brew bucket.  Let the beer fall a foot or so to aerate
• Measured the gravity as 1.045.  Collected 5.5 gal.  The yeast is going to get me pretty close to 6 gal so I decided to not top up
• Pitched my yeast - used the whole starter

• Set it up in the fermentation chamber set to 66 F.  I'm using a new pressure seal dome lid on this batch along with a jar to collect CO2
• 4/5/21 - The beer was bubbling pretty vigorously by the next morning
• 4/7/21 - Still bubbling on Day 3 as I add the first round of dry hops.  I quickly take off the input port from the dome lid and drop in my hops.  Hopefully the yeast will take care of any O2 added in this process
• 4/11/21 - Added my second round of dry hops.  I pressurized the fermenter with C02 to 2 PSI once I'd added the dry hops
• 4/14/21 - Chilled the beer down to 35 F while maintaining 2 PSI of pressure with a C02 Tank
• 4/15/21 - Added gelatin to fine the beer
• 4/16/21 - Kegged today.  Ended up just a bit short of filling the keg.  The hops absorbed a lot of beer.  Measured the gravity as 1.010
• 5/9/21 - Tasting Notes - Nice bold hop aroma and flavor to this beer with a good amount of complexity in the hop character.  I really like drinking this beer - the bitterness and dryness of it really call for me take another sip and to pour another pint.  Also a really easy drinking beer at 4.6% ABV.  I am pleased that the hop character has remained very strong after 3 weeks in the keg