My Hop Vines

I planted some hop rhizomes (root stocks) last spring and hope to plant some more this year. Currently have one vine each of Tettnang, Cascade and Willamette. I planted a little late so they stayed slightly small. Hopefully they should start coming up again in a month or so. I got about half an ounce of fine Cascades off of this vine, and I'm drinking the pale ale they were used to dry hop right now! See the yellow lupulin glands which contain the resins and oils we use to flavor beer. 

Making Hard Apple Cider

Making two kegs of Hard Apple Cider - Nothing but apple juice and yeast!

Made using WLP007 Dry English yeast. After just a couple weeks they went into the kegs. One batch was "Apple Juice", and the other was "Apple Cider", both from the grocery store. The only difference is that the Apple Cider has not been filtered, so it's more hazy and has a slightly different taste. I preferred the apple juice and that's what I will get next time. I think the 007 yeast was great, I liked mine dry, I didn't try to cold crash at 1.10FG or backsweeten or anything like that to keep it sweet. I just let the yeast do its job and kegged it. It didn't even need much time to condition, it was great from day one.