First Attempts at Beer Making

A few months ago Carrie and I decided to try our hands at making some home made beer.  Even though I'm not a huge beer fan, we thought it would be a good idea to get some practice before trying to make mead (assuming our bees survive the winter) and muscadine wine later in 2011.  So, as with everything else we attempt, the research began.  We read through the recommended books ("How to Brew" and "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing"), found numerous websites,  read through several forums, and I bombarded my boss (who has been homebrewing for a while) with any other questions that came up.

We decided to start with extract kits as they require a bit less equipment and time to brew than all-grain recipes.  Since we thought we could get some use out of it for wine and mead making, we decided to get a heavy duty, 8 gallon brew kettle with a spigot.  A 5 gallon stainless steel pot would have worked as well, but I did not envision moving 3-4 gallons of sugary, boiling water from the cook-top to an ice bath in the sink as being much fun.  We figured that the easier it was to make beer, the more we'd make.  We also made sure to get a pot that would fit reasonably well on the cook-top so that we could stay inside while we brewed.

Once the kettle came in, we headed to our local homebrew store to pick up an ingredient kit and the rest of the equipment we needed.  We bought a wort chiller (wort is the extracted malt sugar and water that is boiled and fermented) to, again, avoid having to give our kettle an ice bath.  A food-grade plastic bucket, Better Bottle, or glass carboy is also needed to ferment the beer.  Though many people like glass carboys, glass breaks and adds to the weight (5 gallons of beer is roughly 40 lbs).  We went with a plastic bucket that has a handle, air-tight lid with a hole for an airlock, and a spigot to make bottling easier.  We also grabbed a hydrometer, which is needed to check the sugar content (specific gravity) of your wort or beer.

Luckily all these things come in starter kits from local or online homebrew stores (like this one or this one).  I do suggest having an extra food-grade bucket (with a spigot) for when you bottle.  Since we were going to use 1 liter flip-top bottles, we did not need the bottle capper from the kit.  So we ended up just piecing the parts we wanted together ourselves along with 24 flip-top bottles (usually we need 16 or 17 per batch).

One very important aspect of beer, mead, or wine making is keeping things clean and sterile.  Anything that touches the cooled wort needs to be sterilized.  There are several products for this and some kits may come with one, but the best that we've found for sterilizing is Star San.  It is tasteless and odorless and does not require rinsing.  It is easy to make a small 1-2.5 gallon batch (.2 to .5 oz of Star San) and save some in a spray bottle (for up to 3-4 weeks).  For cleaning plastic buckets and Better Bottles, the best thing we've found is some unscented Oxy-Clean Free and hot water.  A scoop in 5 gallons of hot water and in an hour or two the bucket or Better Bottle is clean without having to scrub it, which is great to avoid scratching the plastic.

With all of that finally out of the way, we finally decided on a Hefeweizen extract kit for our first attempt.  The kit turned out pretty good, but not exactly what I was hoping for.  That didn't keep us from drinking it quickly, and then we were out of beer (16 liters gone, we saved 1).  So we headed back for our next kit, and this time we bought a Northern Brown Ale.  This one turned out better and much closer to what we were expecting.  In fear of running out of beer again, we started a few other kits.  An Irish Draught Ale kit which just finished carbonating, and an American brown ale called Caribou Slobber which we bottled two days ago.  Yesterday we finished brewing a Dunkelweizen (dark wheat beer). Next up will be our first attempt at a lager, an Oktoberfest.

With the beer shortage addressed, we decided to get some practice with wine.  We ordered a Pinot Nior red wine kit yesterday that should be in by next week.  This should produce 6 gallons or roughly 30 bottles of wine.  Hopefully that'll last a month or two and maybe it'll be ready by the time the pool is done...

I'll go over out process for brewing and eventually wine making in future posts.  But now it's time to relax and have a homebrew!

Electric Deer Fence Installation

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I hate deer.  They live to break the branches of any fruit tree they can get to.  This includes 1/2" thick branches right at the trunk -- I suppose they think it's a challenge.  Any branches that survive end up stripped of leaves.  Oh, and they really like apples (even ones that are bagged).

It's not just fruit trees they fancy.  We planted six or seven heirloom tomato plants that Carrie grew from seeds this year.  They grew up nicely and then the deer broke through the "fencing" and ate both the tomatoes and the plant.  Once wasn't enough. As they continued their snacking throughout the season, they also ate unripe watermelons (who knew), all of our strawberry plants, and the last few pounds of our muscadine grapes.

So after several broken branches, endless swearing at the evil that is deer netting (we never caught a deer, though the mower caught its fair share of deer netting), and much debate over what type of fence to build, we finally decided to try an electric fence.  A solar powered electric fence using polywire (seen photo above) to be exact.  We already had the T-posts from the failed attempt at using deer netting as fencing (never do this unless you want to catch rat snakes).  The remaining parts we ordered from Amazon and The Deer-Shock Depot (very helpful people).

For anyone wanting to install one, I'll go over what we did. For anyone that has done so before and sees potential problems, please let me know.  A small garden (ours was 70'x40') can be done in a weekend once you have the charger charged and the parts ready.  I make no claims that this is the best way to do this, so be sure to read your equipment directions.

The Parts

First the tools we used (all of these can be found at Lowes or Home Depot except for the tester):

• T-Post Driver - Strongly suggested as a hammer will not drive them deep enough.
• Post Hole Digger - Needed for wooden post to mount the solar powered charger.
• Fence Tester - One with a voltage readout and made by the same company as the charger is recommended.  Do not use a normal voltmeter.
• 2' Level - To aid in leveling the T-Posts so they are straight.
• Wire Cutter and Stripper - For cutting the polywire and heavily insulated hook-up wire.
• Hammer - For driving the grounding rods in (after the T-Post Driver does most of the work).
• Philips Screwdriver - For connecting the grounding wire.

Now for the actual fencing items:

• Solar Powered Charger - Buy the most powerful one you can find. Parmak 12v or Parmak 6v.
• T-Posts - We used 6' ones, spaced 15' apart plus an extra one for the "gate."  (Lowes/HD)
• 1 - 4"x4"x8' Wooden Post - For mounting the solar powered charger. (Lowes/HD)
• Polywire - Multiply number of lines by fence perimeter.
• Insulated Hookup Wire - Connects the charger to the grounding rod and fence. 25' or more depending on the number of grounding rods used.
• T-Post Insulators - To hold the wire away from the T-Post. Multiply number of posts by number of lines being run.  We used yellow 2" offset insulators.
• 10 Polywire Clamps - Used to splice together polywire and used at line ends.
• 6' or 8' Ground Rod and Clamps - One clamp per rod, 1-3 grounding rods depending on soil and fence length.
• Split Bolt Clamps - Connects hookup wire to fence (very useful).
• Gate Handle and Gate Anchor Kit - 1 per line run.
• Line Tightener for Polywire - 1-2 per line run to add tension to the wire.
• Warning Signs - At least 1 per fence side.
• 2 - 2.5" Decking Screws - For mounting the solar powered charger. (Lowes/HD)
• Bait - Aluminum foil and peanut butter or scent caps every 20'.

The more expensive items will be the charger ($150-$300), the posts ~$4/each, the post driver $25, the grounding rod ~$20/each, and possibly the tester.  Good polywire is around $21 per 656' and has a 5-year UV warranty.  Even if it doesn't last as long as aluminum wire, I suggest using polywire for its ease of installation and its ability to be rolled up if you need to change your fence layout.

This may also be a good time to signup for a free 30-day Amazon Prime trial to get  free, fast shipping on almost all of the items above. If you're ordering things in batches or want to make sure that your items are delivered as quickly as possible, it's great.

I suggest running at least two charged lines.  One around 1' to 1.5' from the ground, and one around 4'.  If you keep your area very clear, you may want to run the lower line 6"-8" above the ground to prevent the deer from trying to crawl under.  We ran an additional line in between those and connected it to ground.  If a deer touches it and a charged line it will receive a full shock from the charger, though I do not know how often this will happen.

Proper grounding is very important, so do not skimp on the length and number of grounding rods.  Without adequate grounding, the charge produced may not be enough to deter the deer.

So for maybe $300-$500, depending on the charger and length, you can install an electric fence.  And even if you do install a nicer fence later, you will likely want to keep the electric fence as an outer defense.

Preparation

First, we picked a location near the fence that received sun for most of the day as the site for the charger.  If you don't have a sunny spot, then you will have to investigate using an AC powered charger or manually charge the battery every few weeks (two batteries would be recommended if you do this).  Our charger does make a bit of a ticking noise as it pulses, so you may not want to install it too close to a patio or deck if that bothers you.  Be sure to check your charger's manual for other guidelines on selecting a location.

Next we calculated the fence's perimeter and determined how many wires to run.  This determines how much wire and how many posts, insulators, and "gate" items we needed.  Note that the "gate" is just an insulated handle that you will unhook to get into the garden after turning off the power to the fence.  For this reason, we mounted the charger near the gate.  We bought a slinky style spring gate but decided not to use it as we will be turning the power to the fence off whenever we go into the garden.

About two weeks before installation we sprayed some herbicide on the weeds growing under the perimeter of the fence.  Weeds that touch the fence wires will cause a short to ground which greatly lowers the voltage that is delivered, so proper upkeep is important.

Finally, a week before installation we started charging the solar powered charger by simply setting it on the ground facing south into the sun with its power off.  We made sure all the other parts were ready to go so that we did not run the wires and then realize that we could not complete the installation.  Knowing our deer, they would have torn down the uncharged fence and run off with the polywire.  I hate deer.

Installation

We picked a sunny weekend to avoid trying to install the fence in wet conditions -- probably not the best time to install an electrical fence.

First up was getting the T-posts driven into the ground properly.  Since our insulators face forward on the T-post (the side with the bumps), we had to pull and re-drive the corner posts.  This was done to prevent the polywire from coming into contact with the T-posts as the wire bent around the corners.  If the wire touches the T-post it will likely short to ground, so this should always be avoided.  At each corner, we aimed the T-post forward (bumps facing) the center of the garden.  When the wire is later run, it will go through the insulator on the inside corners of the fence.  For the other T-posts, we aimed them facing forward outside of the fence so that any deer pushing against the wire would be pushing the wire into the insulator and into the post.

For the "gate," we installed one T-post about 5' from another T-post.  This gave us a place to install a handle onto the end of the wire.  You simply unhook the handle from the gate anchor (a piece of metal with a hole for the handle hook that is attached to the T-post with a custom insulator) to get into the gate.

Next we dug a hole about 2.5' deep for the wooden post.  Once leveled, we tamped the dirt around it and mounted the solar powered charger to it with two screws.  After that came the grounding rod.  These are not a lot of fun to drive into the ground being 6'-8' long.  A combination of watering and using the T-post driver worked pretty well, and we finally got all but about 10" into the ground.  We're currently only using one rod until we can come up with the final fence layout in the spring.  Since our dirt is fairly dry and sandy, we'll definitely be wiring in another one (about 10' apart) next year (possibly sooner if it doesn't start raining more).

Using the insulated "hook-up" wire, we connected the black terminal on the charger to the grounding rod with the grounding rod clamp.  Whenever connecting the wire, we used the largest (10 gauge) hole on the wire strippers to remove about an inch of insulation.

Next, we cut a piece of hook-up wire about 6" longer than the distance between the two fence wires that would be charged.  We then made a 90 degree bend about 3" in from each end of the wire to form a "C".  After stripping 1" from the ends of the wire, we used a split-bolt clamp to connect the insulated wire to the top run of the fence.  Before connecting this to the bottom polywire run, we ran another piece of insulated wire from the red terminal on the charger to the connection point.  Finally, we connected the bottom polywire run, the insulated wire attached to the top run, and the insulated wire from the charger together using a split-bolt clamp.

That was about it for installation.  We did run one additional middle wire and connect the grounding rod to it. After this, the only thing left to do was to attach the polywire line tighteners in the middles of each run to add a bit of tension to the wire.  We didn't over tighten the wire to avoid breaking it or any insulators.

Testing

Finally it was time to test.  To make sure the charger is outputting the proper voltage, we temporarily disconnected to wires from the terminals and connected the fence tester to them.  Our Parmak 6V charger measured 6500V which is quite a bit under its 9000V specification.  Then we hooked the wires back to the terminals and tested each polywire against the grounding rod and also got a 6500V reading.  Testing against true earth ground in various places along the fence is a little weird, but it hopefully gives a better indication of how many grounding rods we need.

Update: I contacted Parker McCrory who make the Parmak 6V solar charger that we purchased and was told that 4500V-7500V is "normal" for this unit even though it claims 9000V output.  When asked how one could get 9000V out of the unit the response was "I dunno."  So if you have a long fence or do not feel like baiting it, I would suggest getting their 12V unit which he claimed would output 7000V-9000V.

Baiting

The last step was to bait the fence.  Some people bait their fence and some people use repellent on the fence. Since we had bait, we opted for that choice.  Every 15' around the fence we wrapped a doubled-up piece of aluminum foil around the polywire and applied a bit of peanut butter to the foil.  The idea is to "train" the deer the avoid the fence and hopefully prevent them from trying to knock it down or jump over it.

Maintenance

The goal now is to simply keep weeds off the fence wires and check the voltage using the tester periodically.  If the solar panel gets dirty we'll just wipe it off with a damp towel.

Results

This is what I came home to two days after finishing the installation.  I'm a bit worried that they're already trying to come up with a way to get past the fence.  I'll post some more results after it has been running for a while.  Last fall and early spring were the worst times, so I'm definitely curious to see how it will fair then.  For now it seems to be working, but I'm sure the deer will just move on to something else in the yard...

Oh, one last thing: I hate deer.

Update

Be sure to continue baiting the fence and always make sure to turn it on at night.  The fence worked great until we forgot to turn the charger back on for a week.  I would also suggest getting the stronger 12V charger if possible if you are in an area with strong deer pressure or might have some weeds touching a charged line.  We had up to 10 come through our yard at a time.

Blueberries and Potatoes

The blueberries are finally ripening on a few of our bushes. We even let a few remain on the new varieties we planted last fall, and they were quite big and sweet. Hopefully those will catch up to the others before long. Unfortunately the two with all the blooms early in the season do not seem to be ripening as well, so next year I may try removing a few of the blooms to see if that helps. So far this year we've picked around 3.5 lbs which was probably only half of two plants. If for some reason the fruit trees don't work out, we'll replace them with blueberries since they seem to be about the easiest thing to grow so far.


Last week we decided to try some of the Caribe potatoes that we planted near the end of march. They were very good, and we had enough from one plant for at least two dinners. Since we have almost 120ft of potatoes I guess it's a good thing that they store well for several months. Time to find some new potato recipes...

Bee Progress

After their first week, our third hive has grown enough to need a new hive body and frames. The same hive managed to consume a quart of sugar water in the last day. The other two hives have a bit of catching up to do, but they seem to be quite active. Hopefully by next weekend they'll be ready for another hive body.

Although the starter kits we ordered from the Wake County Beekeeper Association came with a single hive body and a shallow super, we decided to use a second hive body on each hive. This builds a larger (stronger) hive and will hopefully aid in swarm prevention next year when we will reverse the order of the hive bodies to "trick" the bees into thinking they have more room.


In addition to the extra hive bodies, we also picked up a few "medium" sized supers. These are just tall enough to fit over a quart jar when feeding the bees sugar water from the top. Next year we'll use them to collect extra honey for ourselves. Each medium super should hold around 35 pounds of honey when they're full, so if we're lucky we'll get a decent amount.

Bee Arrival

This morning Carrie and I drove to the other side of Raleigh to pick up our three nucs. The bees we bought (and won) came in a cardboard nuc box with five deep frames. The first thing I noticed on the way back to the pickup was how warm the bees kept the boxes. It was hot enough to melt the wax coating on the sides of the cardboard nuc and transfer it to my shirt. I guess that's what I get for wearing a new shirt...

We finished loading the pickup and made our way back home. Once home, we moved the nucs to the back yard where we had already placed our hives. Since the bees had been on the road for about four hours, the suggestion was to open the nuc entrance and let them fly around for a while before installing them in the hives. So we set them free, and I went off to take a nap (it seems ~4 hours of sleep was not enough for bee installation).

Around 2:00pm we decided that the wind wasn't going to calm down any further, so we geared up, lit the smoker, and headed to the back. Since the hives have ten frames and the nucs have five frames, we started by putting four of our new frames in the hive (two on each side) to have some extra room. After very slowly (to avoid bee squishage) transferring the five frames from the nuc to the hive, we inserted the final new frame and closed up the hive. It took around 30 minutes to do all three hives with a little time spent adding more straw to the smoker and waiting on the wind to stop gusting. All without getting stung :).

About an hour later we returned with the jars of sugar water to start feeding the bees. We decided to feed them from inside by placing the jars on the inner cover with a second hive body surrounding the jar. For now, we have them offset on some small pieces of wood, but since the hives are on a small slope the jars seemed a bit unstable. So we may just end up placing them on top of the hole in the inner cover if there is a problem.

By the end of the day it looked like the bees were adjusting and the stragglers that were left in the nuc boxes were finally making their way into the hive. We'll see tomorrow how quickly they can devour a quart jar of sugar water. And hopefully they'll make it through the 42 degree low we're supposed to have tomorrow night. Maybe that will be the last of the 40 degree weather.

Who said small stinging insects can't be romantic? (It's our 9 year anniversary today.)

Starting the 2010 Garden

It's finally starting to warm up a bit here, and our peach and plum trees are starting to bloom. After seeing what a 2' tall plum tree can do in a year, we decided to replace an older plum that never seemed to take off. We also recently replaced our Granny Smith apple that the deer destroyed last fall with a Liberty apple tree. A few weeks ago we planted 15 blackberries in with the fruit trees. Hopefully we'll be able to get our new fence up before long and keep the deer out.

Carrie ordered quite a bit of seed this year including several types of heirloom tomatoes and some new types of peppers. We started the seeds on a heating mat with a 4' long fluorescent shop light above them. Most everything seems to be growing well so far, other than a few of the flowers.

Yesterday we also managed to get the seed potatoes that Carrie ordered planted. We planted about 110' of potatoes, so we'll be searching for places to store them if they all decide to grow.

Next up, we'll be building a few more raised beds (hopefully the last row of them). The plan is to give the tomatoes and peppers a bit more space than they had last year. After that, we have some grass seed to put out and a fence to build. Oh, and three bee hives to setup...

Bees!

At some point last fall, Carrie decided that I should start keeping bees. At first I had planned to wait until 2011 to actually start. But after reading all the beekeeping books the library had to offer, and seeing that the Wake County Beekeepers Association was holding a class this March, I decided to try it out this year. After the first beekeepers’ meeting in January, I convinced Carrie that she should come, and we signed up for two hives worth of bees. After two more meetings we had the 8 hour class where we won another hive and more bees (so it must be fate).

After the class they gave the first part of the test for beekeeper certification as part of the North Carolina Master Beekeeper Program, and we decided to take it. Yesterday we had the final part of the class which was a demonstration of how to install bees in hives, and the hands-on part of the certification test. I certainly know more about bees than I ever thought I would, so hopefully we both passed the test.

We’ve been assembling and painting the hives ever since we picked up two beginners kits in February. It didn’t take long to learn how slow it is with a hammer, so the nail gun is now my favorite power tool. We’re planning to use two deep hive bodies on each hive, so we still have to pick up and assemble a few more things before we’re done. The bees are supposed to be delivered around the 15th to 20th of April, so we’ll have everything ready to go by then. And hopefully I won't be posting too many pictures of what happens when you annoy bees a little too much.

Fall Plantings

It's been two months since the last update, and we had a light frost the other day. We pulled up the peanuts two weekends ago and got roughly 12lbs from about 12' of plants. Probably about one third of the shells were empty or only had one peanut, so we'll need to get a soil test done and possibly add some calcium (Gypsum) into the soil next year when they flower. We'll also start them a few weeks earlier next year and water them a good bit better, especially when they're flowering.

The Ichiban eggplants have won the award for the longest, most productive plant in the garden. The three plants are still producing a large number of eggplants, though I imagine that will stop soon now that the highs should be closer to the lows 60s. The asparagus also did very well this year though what we planted in the raised beds did better than what we planted in the ground. We should certainly be able to harvest some next year.

For the fall garden, Carrie started two types of carrots near the end of August that should be getting close to ready. In the second week of September she planted several salad greens: Corn Salad Mache Vit, Kyona Mizuna, Red Russian (Red Kale), Winterbor Kale (Green Kale), Oak Leaf Lettuce, Big Boston Lettuce. She also planted some Ruby Perfection Cabbage, Arcadia Broccoli, Red Ace Beets, and Brilliant Celerica. We used row covers for all of these to keep the deer and rabbits away, and so far they all seem to be doing well.

So far we've used the Kyona Mizuna and the Red Kale in salads and both were very good. The other greens should be ready within a week or two.

Weekend before last we also planted two more blueberry bushes bringing out total to seven. Our first row contains the following: one Bluebelle, one Tif Blue, two Southland, and a Sunshine Blue. We just added a second row containing: Alapaha, and Ochlockonee. We might add a few more in the back if we find room for them, and we need to add one more Southern Highbush to help pollinate the Sunshine Blue.

Last weekend some deer managed to break into the orchard area and broke several branches on all of the fruit trees. They also managed to rub a fair amount of the bark off several trunks and larger branches. Hopefully they well all make it, but we will definitely be working on getting a permanent fence around the area this winter.

Watermelon!!!

The watermelon haven't stopped growing, and for the last three weeks we've been trying to eat them faster than they go bad. We're now losing, so I've had to throw four or five in the compost bin already (the honey bees love them). Luckily there are still several that developed later and provide more than enough watermelon each week. We managed to get two that were over 20lbs which seems a bit odd for the Sugar Baby variety, but they tasted great so no complaints.

The Jarrahdale pumpkins that we planted are now wilting and turning yellow from what appears to be bacterial wilt. We still have four or five pumpkins that look like they'll make it, but we will have to find a better variety next year since nothing seems to stop the squash bugs and cucumber beetles.

We started harvesting the second planting of Pink Eye Purple Hull peas yesterday along with a second harvest on the first plants. The second plantings of soybeans appear to be very close to being ready, and the Lima beans are getting close as well. The eggplants are still growing like crazy, and we probably have 30 or more on them right now.

Last weekend we started on some fall plantings by sowing some carrot seed in one of the raised beds. We'll continue with the fall plantings as soon as Carrie finishes deciding what we should plant.

Some color!

The sunflowers started blooming just as we made it to August (we did start them a bit late this year). Since they've done pretty well without much effort on our part and look very cool, we'll have to plant more next year assuming the birds don't steal all the seeds.

We picked our first crop of Edamame (Envy) yesterday which was roughly 3.5lbs (in the shell) for two rows of plants about 6' long. Next year I think we'll try giving them a bit more space and try using an inoculant to fix more nitrogen into the soil. Our second crop is now flowering, so we should be ready to harvest more around the first of September.

We've also harvested about 3lbs (shelled) of Pink-Eye Purple-Hull peas from one 6' row of plants. They are still producing, and we have another section in one of our raised beds that should start producing in a few weeks.

The Lima beans in both the front and the back are starting to flower finally, and they look very healthy so far. The two green beans that germinated in the raised bed are flowering as well, so maybe we will get a few green beans after all.

The peanuts in the back (that were planted a bit too late) started flowering a little over a week ago. I'm still not very hopeful that they will produce anything before it frosts, but they are at least getting bigger after the rain this week.

We did manage to get a small crop of strawberries that started a few weeks ago. These were from our everbearing strawberries that we planted this year in one raised bed and in the back. The raised bed was almost entirely filled in, so we decided to let them go. It then turned into a fight again slugs (won mostly by using Sluggo) and birds. Next year we'll be sure to use the row covers as much as possible to keep the birds off.

The pumpkins have turned into a breeding ground for squash bugs, and cucumber beetles are in love with them as well. One vine wilted the other day, so I'm guessing one of the squash-vine-borers I saw managed to hide an egg on it. So for now, we'll continue to squish squash bug eggs, fend off the beetles, and hope that maybe we'll get a pumpkin or two.