English Barleywine VII

This will be my seventh version of English Barleywine which I've brewed on Memorial Day every year since 2014.  Every year has been slightly different (read about them here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019).  Sometimes I use a recipe I'd tried before with some minor tweaks while other times I've experimented a bit (with varying degrees of success).

This year, like the last two, I've decided to try another historical version of the style as documented by the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog:  1940 Truman Stock 1.  This was my idea at least but I had to make enough substitutions where I'd hesitate to make a strong claim of anything more than being inspired by the recipe:

• First, it leverages a malt called "High Dried" which is no longer made.  The alternate suggestion was Simpson's "Imperial Malt" which is described as providing Biscuit, Honey, and Bread Crust like flavors.  This, of course, couldn't be acquired from any of the brewing web pages.  Based on these descriptors I opted to use a 50/50 mix of Vienna and Melanoiden malt which provide some similar flavors to those described by Simpson's in their Imperial.  The Melanoiden at 45L will make this a bit darker than specified by the recipe.  So, it certainly will not be the real deal in terms of grain but I expect it will still have a nice malt profile as brewed.  Anyhow, we have a local Malt House here in SEPE which I've been really interested in trying out (Deer Creek).  I sourced the base pale malt and specialty malts from them
• Second, the recipe calls for heavy doses of Fuggle and Golding hops (8 oz and 5 oz respectively) to get 106 IBU.  I had 2.5 oz of Fuggles from last year for late hopping.  Instead of ordering a large amount more for bittering I opted to use some Cluster hops I'd already had from last year's harvest.  I used 5 oz to get somewhere close to 100 IBU.  These are whole cone hops and are fresh out of an unopened bag.  They don't really smell much like Fuggle or Goldings (a bit more flowery and citrus like) but I think they'll be fine for bittering.

I was able to use the right yeast at least, Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast, which is reported to be the Truman Brewery House strain.  The recipe also calls for Invert Syrup - I'll make my own which is an easy and very inexpensive thing to do.  Shooting for fairly dark Invert #3

I'll give the beer about a month in primary and then transfer to secondary with a bit of oak to age and mellow until early winter.

Recipe Details:

• Grain/Adjunct:
• 17 lb English Style Pale Malt
• 3 lb Vienna Style Malt
• 3 lb Melanoidin Malt
• 1 lb Invert #3
• 5 oz Acid Malt
• Hops:
• 5 oz Cluster (Leaf, 8.1% AA) at 60 min
• 2.5 oz Fuggle (Pellet, 4,7% AA) at 15 min
• Yeast:
• Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast
• Water:
• 1.5 gal spring water
• 5 gal tap water
• 2 tsp CaCl
• 2 tsp Gypsum
• 1 tsp Irish Moss at 15 min
• Extras:
• 2 oz of Toasted White Oak Soaked in Cabernet Sauvignon 

Process Details:

• Batch Size:
• 6 gal
• Mash:
• 155 F for 60 min
• Boil:
• 120 min
• Fermentation Temp:
• 65 F
• Primary Duration:
• 4 weeks
• Secondary Duration:
• 4 months

Results:

• OG
• 1.110 (Target 1.105)
• Efficiency:
• 72% (Target 69%)
• FG:
• 1.036 (Target 1.035)
• Apparent Attenuation:
• 65% (Target 65%)
• ABV:
• 9.89% (Target 9.19%)

Brewing Notes:

• 5/24/20 - Built a 1.2 L starter using Munich Malt.  Set it up on a stir plate.  No (or very little) sign of fermentation the next day.  Took it off the stir plate down in the basement and moved it to a warm water bath in the kitchen to see if a temperature increase can spur it into action.  I'll watch it through the course of the brew day and assess if further action may be needed
• 5/25/20 - Brewday - from 10 AM to 3:20PM - Including setup and cleanup
• Made 1 lb of Invert #3 sugar 

• Heated 10 gal of water (50/50 spring and tap water) to 180 F
• Weighed and milled the grain.  Added half the gypsum and CaCl to this
• Added 6 gal to the mash tun and cycled through the grant and RIMS until the system had settled at 165 F
• Stopped the cycle and stirred in the grain.  Stirred well to eliminate doughballs.  Had to add another gal of water to adequately stir things in
• Set the RIMS to cycle at 155 F
• Mashed for 60 min
• Added another 5 gal of spring water to the boil kettle and brought it up to 190 F for the sparge
• Sparged the beer.  I transferred a bit of water to the mash tun once the top of the grain became exposed to do a fly sparge.  Collected until I had 10 gal of wort

• Added 1 more tsp each of Gypsum and CaCl to the kettle during the sparge
• Started to heat the kettle after collected 3 gal.  Had it to a boil right around the end of the sparge
• Boiled for 2 hrs
• Added bittering hops at 60 min.  Put them in muslin sacks to make draining the kettle easier.  The leaf cluster smell amazing (need to make another beer with these soon)

• Added the invert sugar with about 30 min left to go
• Added Irish Moss and flavor hops at 15 min
• Added the Wort chiller with 5 min left
• Chilled the wort down to the low 70s
• Drained into the fermenter.  Let it fall a foot or so to aerate.
• My yeast had shown a good bit of activity once warmed up some I decided to give it a shot for at least a day

• Measured the gravity as 1.120.
• Collected 5.5 gal of beer.  Added half a gal to get up to 6 gal (which is 1.110)
• Let the fermentor sit at basement temperatures rather than controlled at 65 F as initially planned.  Also let the lid sit on loose rather than setup an airlock so this will be sort of an open fermentation
• 5/26/20 - No signs of fermentation the next morning.  I was worried enough to buy a second pack of yeast.  By the afternoon there was a nice layer of krausen on the beer and an estery aroma - I worried for nothing
• 5/29/20 - The fermentation has released a lot of esters the last couple days.  Krausen has fallen by this afternoon though.
• 6/20/20 - Moved the beer into the chest freezer to cold crash in the high 30s
• 6/21/20 - Added gelatin to fine the beer
• 6/26/20 - Transferred the beer into a glass carboy for aging.  Added about 2 oz of white oak which I toasted at about 360 F and soaked in Cabernet for the last year or so.  Measured the gravity as 1.038.  The has a nice mild yeast character and, while boozy, doesn't taste like there's much if any fusel alcohol - was a good fermentation.  I'll let the beer age until December.

• 12/5/20 - Bottled today with 4 oz of priming sugar and a rehydrated pack of wine yeast.  Got a bit less than 6 gal of beer after transfer from secondary and this netted me 57 12 oz bottles.  Measured the gravity as 1.036 (down a couple points during the 5 month bulk aging).  The beer has a nice combination of malt and ester as well as a fair amount of hop character and a bitter kick on the finish.  I'll let this carb up for a couple weeks before sampling.
• 1/31/21 - Tasting Notes - Bold malt aroma and flavor with pleasant supporting hop and yeast character.  It has a nice complexity in flavors as well.  Sticky and sweet which encourages slow drinking - not a bad thing with a 9+% beer.  The chocolate character is unexpected but very nice.  I used a couple ounces of toasted Cabernet soaked oak in this batch I wonder if that could be a contributor.
• 5/30/21 - Tasting Notes (2021):
• Aroma:  Caramel with toasted bread and a bit of fruity ester.  Some booze.  I think I get some herbal hop character in the mix as well
• Appearance:  Reddish brown and fairly clear.  Pours with a 2 finger head that slowly fades and leaves lacing on the glass
• Flavor:  Sweet bready malt and dark caramel character.  Some fruity ester in there as well.  Also get chocolate and some booze.  Get some hop character in there - herbal and grassy.  There is a medium bitterness on the finish balanced by sweet malt
• Mouthfeel:  Medium full bodied and a bit sweet.  Smooth drinking
• Overall:  Complex and boldly flavored.  This one has a nice contribution from hops and yeast
• 5/28/22 - Tasting Notes (2022):
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):  
• Aroma (8 of 12):  Caramel, brown sugar, and toasted bread along with a musty and lightly fruity character.  Get a bit of alcohol coming through as well
• Appearance (3 of 3):  Pours with a 3 finger head that fades down to a thin layer after a few minutes.  Leaves lacing on the glass.  Dark reddish brown in color and pretty clear.
• Flavor (16 of 20):  Rich, toasted bread and dark caramel malt flavors.  May have a note of chocolate in there too.  The malt flavor lingers into the finish with a bit of sweetness and is balanced by a medium-light bitterness.  There is a slight bit of fruity character in the lingering in the finish but pretty light.  I may be getting a bit of herbal hop flavor in there as well.  Alcohol is pretty well hidden.  Maybe some oak in there too as I get a bit of vanilla.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):  Medium-full bodied and slightly sticky sweet.  Drinks very smoothly
• Overall (8 of 10):  This beer has a really lovely and rich malt character.  I think it's very complex and interesting to drink.  I like the kick of hop bitterness it has well which gives it a good balance and makes it easy drinking
• 5/28/23 - Tasting Notes (2023):
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
• Aroma (8 of 12):  Caramel malt and toasted bread.  A bit of mustiness.  Wine like character.  Some fruity notes - raisin maybe
• Appearance (2 of 3):  Reddish brown and very clear.  Pours with a thin layer of foam that quickly dissipates to nothing
• Flavor (16 of 20):  A mix of fruit and malt up front.  The finish is slightly sweet with just the faintest bit of bitterness.  It has a dark caramel and chocolate flavor that lingers in the after taste
• Mouthfeel (5 of 5):  Full bodied and a little sticky.  Smooth drinking
• Overall (8 of 10):  This is a pretty complex beer with malt character being primary and fruit secondary.  Flavor and aroma are pretty bold and rich
• 6/1/24 - Tasting Notes (2024):
• Tasting Notes (39 of 50):
• Aroma (9 of 12):  Caramel and toasted bread aroma most prominent along with a fruity character - raisin-like.  It is fairly strong and really nice
• Appearance (3 of 3):  Pours with a 3 finger head that lingers for a few minutes - leaves lacing on the grass.  Red brown in color and very clear
• Flavor (16 of 20):  Sweet malt flavor up front - dark caramel and toasted bread.  A bit of fruit character in the middle.  The finish is the sweat dark caramel flavor which lingers.  Maybe a very slight bitterness to it - balance is strongly towards malt.  I get a hit of alcohol on the finish as well.  It's got nice flavors and they're fairly bold.
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):  Medium full bodied and pretty sweet - sticky on the palate.  It drinks smooth with a little alcohol warming.
• Overall (7 of 10):  A very malt forward beer.  The malt flavors are very nice and I like the strength and character of the caramel flavors on the finish.  Not the most complex beer with everything other than the malt being very much in the background.
• 7/31/2025 - Tasting Notes (2025):
• Tasting Notes (42 of 50):
• Aroma (10 of 12):  Toasted bread and caramel.  A little bit of fruity ester in there and a bit of booze.
• Appearance (3 of 3):  Dark reddish brown.  Pours with a 1 finger head that fades down to a thin layer around the glass over several minutes.  Very clear.
• Flavor (17 of 20):  Toasty, bready, and caramel malt flavors dominate.  The finish is fairly sweet and there is a slight bitterness to balance.  Just get the slightest hint of fruity ester character.  A little booze in there as well.  Maybe get a bit of chocolate character as well
• Mouthfeel (4 of 5):  Medium-full bodied and a little sticky on the palate.  It's a smooth drinking beer
• Overall (8 of 10):  This is a very tasty showcase of rich malt character.  It has a nice amount of complexity even without much of a fruity component.  It's sweet and boozy but still very drinkable

English Barleywine Vertical Tasting - 2020

I will be brewing up a new Barleywine on Memorial Day tomorrow (my seventh version).  As is my tradition I'll be doing a Vertical Tasting of the 6 beers brewed so far to gauge their development over the years and compare their relative qualities (See my previous tastings here:  2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019).

English Barleywine is a style of beer made for aging with their high alcohol, sweetness, and focus on Malt and Fruity yeast ester being the main sources of complexity.  The beers are typically very tasty young but, in my experience, they improve with age.

I've taken to the habit of drinking half the batch of these beers each year and then leaving the other half to age.  In support of this I only drink one of the aged beers each year.  It is a real treat to revisit these and, by rationing, I should be heading toward a point where I'll have 24 beers to sample side by side (in a mere 14 years from now).  May have to consider a swirl and spit method of tasting when it comes to that though as even doing a small tasting of each of the 6 current beers left me quite tipsy last night.

Vertical Tasting:

• 2014 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter and 3 lbs of assorted light crystal malts.  I was hoping for a light colored beer - got a bit darker than I'd hoped.
• Fermented with S04 and Nottingham
• The beer fermented all the way down to 1.016 from 1.101 which is 11-12% ABV
• I aged half the beer on oak that had been soaked in Brandy.  I'd been tasting both of these each year but they're fairly similar so this year I'll just do one - the Brandy Soaked Oak portion.
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Boozy.  Fruit ester along with a bit of bready malt.  Maybe a bit of honey as well.  Musty kind of aged sherry-like aroma
• Appearance:
• Light brown and pretty clear.  Pours with no head
• Flavor:
• Slightly fruity up front followed by malt which is like toasted bread.  Get some caramel as well.  The finish is kind of musty and blends the malt with a smooth aged alcohol character
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied with a little sweetness.  Has a slight bit of astringency but not enough to be unpleasant
• Overall:
• Really richly flavored and nicely complex beer.  It's like a fruity and alcoholic caramel.  It has continued to age very nicely
• 2015 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, Vienna Malt and down to 2 lbs of Crystal.  Still was trying for a more pale beer but ended up darker.
• Used Wyeast 1968 London ESB Ale Yeast
• Beer fermented from 1.096 to 1.006 for 12-13% ABV
• Aged with 1 oz of pre-boiled oak cubes
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Has a pungent fruit ester character - sort of odd.  Very musty smelling.  Maybe get a bit of caramel and bready malt
• Appearance:
• Dark golden brown and clear.  Pours with a think layer of foam that quickly dissipates down to nothing
• Flavor:
• Fruity flavor up front which fades into toasted bread, caramel, and maybe a bit of chocolate.  malt lingers through the finish.  The ester character is sort of like an overripe peach maybe.  Some smooth aged alcohol character comes through in the flavor
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied with a bit of sweetness.  Has a slight astringent bite
• Overall:
• Boldly flavored beer.  I think the fruity character of the beer is a bit overwhelming and not particularly pleasant.  Has some other things going on but that they are fairly far in the background doesn't help the complexity
• 2016 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with Maris Otter, 3 lbs of Rye Malt, and 1.5 lbs Double Roasted Crystal 120 L
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
• Beer went from 1.093 to 1.012 which is 10-11% ABV
• It ended up forming a pellicle during aging although I never really picked up any flavors I'd attribute to wild yeast or bacteria
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Very strong musty and estery aroma.  Not a great aroma although it improves as the beer sits a bit.  Maybe a bit of wet cardboard oxidation smell.  Get a bit of malt coming through all this
• Appearance:
• Pours with a finger of head which fades down to a thin ring - leaves some lacing.  The beer is brownish red and clear
• Flavor:
• Really rich malt flavor up front - sweet and toasty and kind of Grahm-cracker-like.  This lingers into the finish.  There is a very slight bitterness in the finish as well.  There is a bit of fruity ester that comes through up front and a mustiness that comes out in the finish
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and a bit sweet.  Pretty smooth beer
• Overall:
• Really nice rich malt flavor to this one - very bold.  I'm very pleasantly surprised it still has a good amount of hop bitterness left at this point.  Not quite as much going on as the others in terms of fruit ester.  Still very nice
• 2017 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed with 2 Row and Golden Promise as base malt and 5 lbs of white wheat malt.  Only used 4 oz of Crystal.  This finally achieved my goal of a pale barleywine.
• Fermented with Wyeast 1335 British Ale II again
• I'd wanted to get a fairly sweet barleywine on my previous version but had kept on getting more attenuation than desired.  This time I finally got one to stop at 1.034 (from 1.098).  So this is an 8-9% ABV beer.
• The beer was aged with 15 oz of Rum soaked golden raisin along with 0.5 oz of oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Light fruit and a bit of bready malt - might call it overripe fruit
• Appearance:
• Golden in color and clear.  Pours with a bit of head that quickly fades to nothing - logs of cascading bubbles though
• Flavor:
• The fruit from the nose very much carries over to the flavor.  I know what is in it so, this may be cheating, but it's a grape/white wine kind of fruitiness.  The finish is sweet bready malt.
• Mouthfeel:
• Fairly substantial body with a good bit of sweetness.  Slight astringency
• Overall:
• Has a very interesting fruit forward flavor compared with the other beers.  Lacking in the bold malt character.  The most mild of the group and, although the flavors are pleasant, not that complex
• 2018 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 3.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used Nottingham yeast and, per instruction, allowed it to ferment in the 70s.  It was an agressive fermentation which produced a very strong and estery aroma.  The beer didn't turn out to be overly estery fortunately.
• Fermented out to 1.030 from 1.105 for an ABV of 10-11%
• This was the most aggressively hopped beer so far (7.5 oz of low alpha acid English hop in the boil) with an IBU target of 84.  Was very bitter just after fermentation but this had settled to a nice balance after 6 months of aging.
• Aged the beer on 2 oz of boiled and toasted oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Light fruity ester and caramel malt.  Also pick up some herbal hop character faintly
• Appearance:
• Pours with a finger of head that fades down to a ring fairly quickly.  Leaves lacing.  Reddish brown in color
• Flavor:
• Toasty bread and caramel malt up front.  Yeast ester comes through next although it is mild.  The toast then rides through the finish.  There is also a fairly firm bitterness that balances the malt in the finish.  Get a bit of herbal hop flavor in the mix as well
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied and a bit sweet.  Smooth drinking beer
• Overall:
• Really lovely flavor to this beer.  It has a bold maltyness with a very nice hop presence.  There is also a good yeast character that mixes well with the other elements and lends complexity.  Pleasure to drink
• 2019 Version:
• Overview:
• Brewed using a historical recipe for Eldridge Pope's Hardy's Ale from the Shut Up about Barclay Perkins Blog
• Used a mix of 2 Row and Maris otter, 4.5 lbs of Flaked wheat, and 1.5 lb of crystal
• Used WLP 099 Super High Gravity which is supposed to be Eldridge Pope's house strain
• Fermented from 1.120 to 1.010 which is a crazy 16% ABV
• Hopped with 8.5 oz of Fuggle
• Aged with 1 oz Cabernet soaked Toasted Oak
• Tasting Notes:
• Aroma:
• Herbal hops are pretty pronounced in this one.  Fruit ester also plays in the background.  A bit of malt but it's overcome by the other aroma.  Alcohol comes through in the background as well
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 1 finger head that fades to nothing fairly quickly.  Brown and very clear.
• Flavor:
• Toasty caramel malt up front.  A good amount of hop flavor comes in next and then the toasty and cramel-like malt character lingers in the finish.  This is balanced by bitter hop flavor.  There is a fruity yeast ester character that also comes through in the start.  It also has a pretty smooth alcohol component that comes through all this slightly
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied and slightly sweet.  Very smooth.  Warming alcohol presence
• Overall:
• Very nicely flavored beer.  Really rich set of flavors with the malt being the star.  The hop flavor rounds things out nicely.  As the youngest beer here it's quite different in terms of prominence of yeast character.  I imaging this will become more apparent as it ages and the bolder hop flavors fade

2020 Rankings:

1. 2018
2. 2014
3. 2019
4. 2016
5. 2017
6. 2015

Raspberry Flanders Red - 2018 Blend - Tasting Notes

This beer was blended using 3 Flanders Red I'd been aging for 2-3 years back in December 2018 and then aged for another 8 months with almost 16 lbs of home-grown raspberries.  I bottled in 2019 with 2 lbs of invert sugar for back sweetening and then bottle pasteurized the entire batch to leave some residual sweetness as the beer was very dry after the aging and quite sour.

This is my second attempt at a Raspberry Flanders Red (see post on the first attempt).  I used 10 lbs of fruit last time.

I selected my base blend using tasting notes from my 12 fermenters of Flanders Red beer with the goal of minimizing the beer acidity as the fruit are plenty tart themselves.  I plan to do the same for the next batch but may shoot for an even milder beer.

My timing for the pasteurization and level of back sweetening weren't ideal for the batch as it ended a bit dryer than I would have liked (carbonation levels aren't too high at least).

I think it's high time to do an official tasting of this beer.  Some good lessons learned from this batch to aid in decision making for the next one (which will hopefully be performed soon).


Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Strong aroma of raspberry.  Leathery and cheesy brett character comes through in the background
• Appearance:
• Red/brown color and a little murky.  Pours with a very thin foam layer that fades almost immediately
• Flavor:
• Very tart up front after which the fruit flavor comes through.  It is a rich and jammy raspberry flavor.  The finish is dry with a bit of acidity lingering with the fruit.  I think some bready malt comes through faintly as does some leathery Brett
• Mouthfeel:
• Light bodied and dry.  Pretty prickly on the palate.  Fairly easy drinking and refreshing - the dry sour finish calls for another sip
• Overall:
• I think the raspberry and base Flanders red get along very nicely.  The fruit dominates but the beer shines through enough to keep it interesting.  Definitely a little on the dry side of the balance scale - could have done with some more back sweetening 

Raspberry Crop - 2020

This will be the fourth season for my large raspberry patch (4 2x34 ft raised beds).  See the previous posts about the 2017, 2018, and 2019 crops.  I have 4 raspberry varieties (Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova) which fruit at different times of the year and have unique flavor profiles.

Much of last year was spent on a project to make the raspberries more easy to manage.  They were planted on the lawn and I found that the grass between the beds became very difficult to mow later in the year as the raspberries became increasingly disorderly.  To attempt to correct this I have dug all the dirt out down 6 inches between the beds and put in a lawn border of concrete and paving stones.  My 2019 post details this effort.  I hope to complete this project over the next month by filling the spaces between the beds with rock.  I'll also be putting in the plumbing for sprinklers which will come in handy during the summer periods where there is little rain.  Will be tracking both of these in this post.

Given how busy I was with the excavation and concrete pouring over the last month I haven't had a chance to cut out old grown and truss up all the plants.  Will plan to make time for that before growth really starts to kick in.

I ended up with 104 lbs of fruit last year.  I haven't managed to use all of it yet.  I'm expecting a similarly sized crop this year.  I'll track day by day like last year.

I'll provide picture updates every couple weeks to show progress.  We've had a pretty mild winder and an early start of spring.  The plants started to show growth a bit earlier than expected during the week of 3/16.

10/31/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

9/18/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

8/9/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

7/5/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

6/21/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

6/6/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

5/23/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

5/9/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

4/26/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

4/11/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

3/28/20 - R to L: Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova

Raspberry Picking Tracker:

• 6/8 - 4 oz
• 6/9 - 8 oz
• 6/10 - 13 oz
• 6/11 - 1 lb 5 oz
• 6/12 - 1 lb 9 oz
• 6/13 - 1 lb 9 oz
• 6/14 - 3 lb 5 oz
• 6/15 - 2 lb 4 oz
• 6/16 - 2 lb 9 oz
• 6/17 - 2 lb 9 oz
• 6/18 - 4 lb 1 oz
• 6/19 - 2 lb
• 6/20 - 4 lb 2 oz
• 6/21 - 4 lb 5 oz
• 6/22 - 4 lb 9 oz
• 6/23 - 4 lb 7 oz
• 6/24 - 4 lb 13 oz
• 6/25 - 3 lb 10 oz
• 6/26 - 5 lb 2 oz
• 6/27 - 3 lb 15 oz
• 6/28 - 3 lb
• 6/29 - 2 lb 13 oz
• 6/30 - 2 lb 6 oz
• 7/1 - 3 lb 15 oz
• 7/2 - 2 lb 15 oz
• 7/3 - 4 lb 14 oz
• 7/4 - 4 lb
• 7/5 - 2 lb 7 oz
• 7/6 - 3 lb 4 oz
• 7/7 - 2 lb 11 oz
• 7/8 - 2 lb 4 oz
• 7/9 - 3 lb 6 oz
• 7/10 - 1 lb 8 oz
• 7/11 - 1 lb 10 oz
• 7/12 - Did not pick
• 7/13 - 15 oz

• Total - 99 lb 11 oz

Raspberry Growing Log:

• 3/28/20 - Quite a bit of growth started on both last year's canes as well as from the ground. Started to see it a couple weeks ago but it's been accelerating with the warmer weather and sunlight we've been getting.  Very excited that all beds seem happy as I was worried I might have caused too much damage by digging out the roots that had escaped the bounds of the beds.  Raspberries are very hardy it turns out.

New Growth + Weeds

• 4/5/20 - Finished installing water faucets next to each bed.  Filled in the trenches I dug after checking the plumbing for leaks.

Valve at the end of the line to allow for draining the system

• 4/11/20 - Graded the dirt around the bed and spread gravel which I packed down.  This is my first layer to prevent weeds from growing.

• 4/26/20 - I had 5 yards of sand delivered this week and I've been putting a layer onto the gravel.  The primary purpose of the sand is to protect the landscape fabric that comes next from sharp pointy rocks that could tear it.  I also hope that the sand goes between the gravel and locks it into place a bit better which would prevent dirt from flowing through and prevent weeds from growing through.

• 5/9/20 - Put down almost 1200 sqft of landscape fabric in the last couple weeks.  It is a heavy duty weaved fabric which is supposed to let water and air through.  I've stapled and glued this onto the planter beds and glued and nailed it into the concrete.  Will cover this with sand next.  The plants are putting out a lot of flower buds at this point which is fun to watch.  Need to do quite a bit of work on the beds themselves still (weeding, putting down compost, and tying up the plants).

Stapled and Glued to the bottom of the raised bed - will deal with the slack as I fill up the hole

Nail gun

• 5/15/20 - Put the leftover sand on the top of the landscape fabric to protect it from puncture by the gravel which will come next.  Have about a 1 inch layer  Received the delivery for 14 cubic yards of this rock shortly after completing

• 5/16/20 - Initial layer of rock and brick border around valve access installed.  This brick will keep gravel out of the valve box.  I'll be putting a piece of flag stone on top of this to provide easy access for draining the water line at the end of the year.

• 5/23/20 - Slow but steady progress this week.  I moved a lot of gravel into the bed area and stapled up the remaining flaps of landscape fabric.  All the plants are forming flowers and the fruit are starting to come along on the Prelude and Joan J.  It's been very dry the last week so I actually had to water.  I used a garden hose to do it this time - the new pluming made the job so much easier.  Really happy I did this!  I've been so busy with the landscaping I haven't gotten around to adding compost to all the bed.  Fed them all with some blood meal to help with next years growth (although no real sign of trouble in that department as there is a lot of healthy looking new growth).

• 5/29/20 - Ordered 1.8 tons of Flag Stone to build steeping stones through the gravel bed.  Started laying it out.  Cut them with an angle grinder and diamond blade

• 6/6/20 - Getting close to wrapping up the flag stone layout and gravel which will mark the end of this landscaping project.  Starting to get ripe fruit on the Prelude and Joan J raspberry plants.  Have eaten my first few 2020 raspberries

• 6/7/20 - Finished with the flagstone and gravel
• 6/27/20 - I finished putting compost on all my beds finally.  The ones I weeded first now have a bunch more weeds unfortunately - a lot of work.  Getting a lot of fruit - taking an hr+ to pick every evening.  Seems like Prelude and Joan J are just about done.  Nova has produced a lot so far and has a lot left to ripen.  TulaMagic are doing really good this year - half way done for those I would say
• 7/5/20 - Status items of note:
• Prelude are done with the Summer crop - I've cut out almost all last year's canes.  Have fruit starting to form at the tips of this year's growth already
• Joan J are mostly done - have started to cut out spent canes here
• TulaMagic are still productive.  I've had a lot more fruit from these plants this year than last.  I suspect that my pruning approach this year made a difference.  Last year I had trimmed the canes down to about 4 feet in the late fall - many of the old canes didn't come back the next season.  This year, I waited to prune until spring and, at that point, only cut off the very tip which had fruited and weren't putting out leaves.
• Nova are still very productive.
• Spotted Lanternfly have arrived in my neighborhood this year.  I started finding them on the raspberries in the last couple days.  They are small still with black and white spots.  I've been able to kill them fairly consistently using spray bottle with soapy water (no damage to the plants I can see from this so far.  This spray is also working nicely with the japanese beetles.
• 9/18/20 - Prelude and Joan J have been ripening fall crop fruit for weeks.  Between my wife and I we've been eating any ripe fruit that appears.  The TulaMagic and Nova are getting fairly close to having ripe fruit but nights are already starting to get down into the 40s so we may hit a freeze before it all fully ripens
• 10/31/20 - There has been a pretty good fall crop but we've ended up just picking and eating.  Still have a bit of fruit left but it's starting to get close to freezing so I expect that will be coming to an end soon.  We've been having deer hit the prelude raspberries fairly hard - biting off the tips of the canes.  It will be interesting to see if this hinders them next year

• 4/19/21 - Read about the 2021 crop here.
• 5/1/22 - Read about the 2022 crop here

Cherry Flanders Red - 2018 Blend - Tasting Notes

This is my third attempt at a Cherry Flanders Red Ale Blend.  It was blended in December 2018 using five beers that I'd been aging for 1-3 years.  My aim with the blend was to have only mild sourness as fruit will add acidity.  I chose the more mildly flavored beers for the blend as the Cherry would be the start of the show.

I used 14 lbs of Montmorency sour cherries that I picked myself along with 2 quarts of Black Cherry Juice.  This was a bit more than I'd used in my previous blends.  I let the beer age on the fruit for almost 9 months (longer than planned as I'd been very busy).

These beers are very dry after the long aging and the acidity can tend to become too agressive for easy drinking.  I backsweetened the beer with 2 lbs of invert sugar #2 that I'd made myself to carbonate and add some sweetness.  I monitored for a month or so and pasteurized the bottles in a hot water bath once a good level of carbonation had been achieved.

I've been drinking these beers for several months now and they're tasting very nice.  Time to log some tasting notes for historical purposes.

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma: 
• Candy-like cherry aroma up front.  A bit of leathery and earthy Brett character comes through as well.  Maybe a bit of vinegar mixed in as well (comes through stronger as the beer warms from cellar temps)
• Appearance:
• Pours with a 2 finger head that fades down to a think layer of foam - this lingers for quite a while.  The beer is clear and a dark red color.
• Flavor:
• Rich fruit flavor dominates.  The finish is a balance of acidity (medium level sourness) and a slight sweetness.  The fruit flavor lingers in the finish.  It has a very nice balance.  Brett is in the background but it does come through in the finish with an earthy character.  The beer also has a mild chocolate-like flavor in the background which is quite nice
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium-light bodied.  Slight stickiness on the palate.  Very light prickliness from the acidity.  Pretty easy drinking and refreshing beer.
• Overall:
• A really nicely flavored and pretty complex beer.  I think the balance of the finish between the acidity and slight sweetness is quite nice - really easy to drink.  Cherries are definitely the star of the show (as expected) but the base beer comes through enough to have a meaningful contribution.

Sour Cherry Crop - 2020

We have a nice large side yard.  It seems like a real waste to use it for nothing but growing a lawn.  With that in mind I've decided to try to grow some fruit trees.  This year I'll be trying to grow Sour Cherries which is a fruit I use quite a bit in my Flanders Red and Sour Blonde Beers.

For the last few years I've picked sour cherries from a local orchard.  I've been getting something on the order of 40-50 lbs each year.  These are still pretty expensive per lb even though you do all the picking yourself (1-2 dollars per lb maybe).  I look forward to not having to pay that every year.

There are many types of sour cherry.  The pick your own orchard has the Montmorency type which has a light flesh and a flavor quite different than a sweet cherry (this is a Amarelle variety of sour cherry).  The traditional Belgian Lambic Sour Cherry is a Dark Red fleshed fruit called Schaerbeek - these are of a variety called Morello and have more of a traditional cherry flavor.  You can't really find Schaerbeek cherries here in the US so I have opted to plant a different species of the Morello variety:  North Star Cherries.

I bought 4 bare root plants that are about 3 feet tall now.  I should get fruit from them in 3 years.  North Start is a dwarf variety that will top out at 8-10 feet tall and wide.  I'm planting them about 11 feet apart in a nice sunny spot

I will post updated stats every month for this first year:

10/31/20

9/18/20

8/9/20

7/5/20

6/6/20

5/23/20

5/9/20

3/21/20

Growing Log:

• 3/20/20 - Planting Day
• The plants arrived the day before with root surrounded by wet paper.  They already had emerging green branch nubs starting to come out which was good sign of life

• Soaked the bare root plants in water for about an hr

• Dug holes about 18 inches wide and 2 feet deep for the plants

• Added compost to the bottom from my large compost pile and more compost in with the dirt

• Filled in the hole with the plants in a vertical position.  Needed to take care when filling in the hole to ensure that the graft point was above ground level as the roots are what ensures this is a dwarf variety

• Made a ring of dirt around the plant to help gather water
• Was scheduled to rain overnight so I didn't water.  Rain didn't arrive so I watered the next day
• 4/4/20 - Leaves Starting to emerge (all 4 plants are doing this)

• 4/11/20 - More growth in the last week:

• 04/26/20 - The plant have put out quite a few flowers - maybe 20 or so across the 4 trees.  Will be really neat to get a small sample of what the fruit are like in this first year

• 5/9/20 - Flowers have mostly dropped their peddles.  The trees are starting to form new branches

• 5/16/20 - Fruit is starting to form on a few of the trees

• 5/6/20 - Trees are putting branches out further and further.  3 Cherries are forming - getting bigger and starting to get a bit red

• 6/20/20 - The two fruit have gotten pretty red.  I came out this morning (which was pretty humid) and found that both had split.  I picked and ate them.  They were fairly light fleshed and pretty tart.  I wonder if they would have gotten a bit more red with additional ripening time.  I've had some missing leaves in the last week - some branches completely stripped.  I suspect deer as the plant closest to the edge of the property is the worst.

• 7/5/20 - The plants are doing well for the most part.  Branches are getting longer and thicker.  The tree closest to the road got damaged a bit more by deer.  I found a deer replant spray at home depot that has been successful at keeping them away for the last couple weeks - it smells a lot like road kill.  The plant has had a chance to recover as a result.  I've dosed all the trees with blood meal and bone meal to help promote growth.

Putting out some new leaves on branches picked clean by the deer

• 4/29/21 - Read about the 2021 crop here
• 4/30/22 - Read about the 2022 growing season here