Making A White and a Red Blend | The Crush | Harvest 2020 | Vineyard Year 6

After an amazing harvest from my container vineyard, it's time to take these grapes home and make some wine.Let's crush some grapes!

DIY Branded Wooden Tap Handle

At some point in time, you'll want a branded tap handle for your brews. Today I am making my own tap handle, without using a lathe. Let's see how this thing turns out.

Pumpkin Spice Hard Apple Cider Recipe Video

The classic Pumpkin Cider I've made multiple times over the past 4 years now has its own video guide. Check it out!

For the full recipe write up and past brew days, visit one of the links below:

First Batch (5 Gallon)
Second Batch (1 Gallon)
Third Batch (5 Gallon)
Fourth Batch (5 Gallon)

Golden Beet Wine Taste Test

After spending two weeks sitting in my bathtub and with no more noticable airlock activity, it came time to process this golden beet wine forward. The beets have been suspended in solution of wine, so my first step is to get the liquid decanted from the "fruit".

Golden Beet Wine the Amish Way

Back when I hypothesized making mead and after making wine from grape juice concentrate, I wanted to try making wine from beets for some reason. Seemed like an obvious choice for how filled with sugar beets are. Some discussion with coworkers regarding beets made me remember this idea, so at the farmer's market last weekend, I bought some Golden Beets.

Checking in on my New Years' Resolutions and Store Announcement | Vinny

2019 is flying by pretty fast, wouldn't you say? 1/3rd of the way down and 8 months left to go. Let's see how I'm holding up against the resolutions I made back in January, what to expect coming in the summer months, and an important announcement at the end of this post.

Resolution #1: Weekly blog posts

I had promised at least 1 post per week in my resolution, as I count now, excluding the video recap posts and individual posts for the Trader Joe's Beers, I'm up to 15 posts, which you can count to check my math by clicking here. Considering that 18 weeks have already passed, I'm a little behind schedule. Oops. The good news is that I have a lot of new ideas for blog posts and videos coming up. With summer approaching and my living circumstances now different, you can look ahead to a fresh new garden. I'm really excited about being able to grow again.

How did the Hail Storm Beer turn out? | Altbier bottling

So after an eventful brew day and a week of fermentation later, I needed to bottle out the Altbier.

We Brewed in a Hailstorm -- Hail Storm Surprise Altbier Brew Day

The last brew day at my little condo was quite extreme. It also happened to be the latest in the day I've started brewing.

This brew my buddy from the Dunkelweissen brew day came to join me going half-in on this batch. We initially discussed making some kind of amber ale, but those plans got slightly.... altered. From my Trader Joe's Beer Reviews, I really liked the flavor of the Alternate Dimension Altbier enough to try a brew of that style. Here is the recipe we came across for that style:

How to Make Soft Pretzels | Perfect snack to enjoy with Homebrew

^Check out the video recipe guide!

I was inspired to make these soft pretzels after reading the experience another homebrewer had making them to enjoy with his beer. So I decided to try out the recipe for myself. (thanks to /u/kyrgyznomad and his reddit post for the inspiration)

The recipe linked in his post is adapted from the website Sally's Baking Addiction. You can visit her site by clicking the link there, but I've also posted the ingredients needed at the bottom of this post. These pretzels looked simple enough to make so I went for it. Let's get baking!

YouTube Recap | Videos from February 2019

In case you are not subscribed to our YouTube Channel or you missed one, here are the videos we released in the month of February. In total, a total of 6 vids were released. More videos are coming, so don't forget to subscribe!

Hydroponic Gardening | The Truth behind hydroponic nutrient blends

"To help readers of all the hydroponics DIY guides get a good start on their systems, I break down what kind of nutrient blend is perfect for starting out growing." -- Vinny

Giving up on the Kegs for now | Bottling the Rye Stout from the Keg

After accumulating enough beer bottles, I decided to bottle out the Rye Stout from the second keg.

YouTube Recap | Videos from January 2019

In case you are not subscribed to our YouTube Channel or you missed one, here are the videos we released in the month of January. In total, a total of 8 vids were released, which meet's Vinny's New Year's Resolution. More videos are coming, so don't forget to subscribe!

DIY Hashbrowns (Remastered)

"Despite its success, I was disappointed with the video quality of the original DIY Hashbrowns video. I decided to remake it with an upgraded phone camera, microphone, and editing software." -- Vinny

Filling the Kegs | Rye Stout Batch 5 Bottling part 1

I wanted to consolidate the space in my bathroom so I can get some seeds started later this month. Since my two fermenters full of Rye Stout were still there, they needed to be moved to somewhere more long term until I had enough empty bottles to process them. So why not throw them in the kegs I picked up last year?

Vinny's 2019 New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Here is what I (Vinny) am striving to accomplish in 2019 on top working at my day job:

Top 10 Greens and Machines Projects from 2018 -- A Year in Review

Wow 2018 has come and gone, have you forgotten all the amazing things we've done so far? Here's a list of our favorite posts in no particular order!

Brewing my Favorite Beer Recipe on the Craigslist Setup | Rye Stout 2018 -- Brew Day

After the success with the first batch of beer with the Craigslist equipment, it was time to make the most of it and brew up another. Of course, I had to use my favorite recipe this time, Rye Stout.

For those who prefer watching videos, here's a full video to capture the length of the events of brew day. Don't forget to subscribe and enjoy!

Bottling the first Beer Brewed on the Craigslist Equipment | Dunkelweissen Bottling Day

So after getting past all the different misspelling variations for this brew, the Dunkel was ready to bottle.

Fire up the big kettle! | Dunkelweissen 10 Gallon Brew Day [Recipe Guide]

Following the announcement of acquiring new brewing hardware, the only logical thing to do from there was to make some beer with it. Idle hands are the devil's plaything, so let's get to work.

Making an Annual Homebrewed Favorite | Pumpkin Cider 2018

Before I get my next batch of beer going, I decided to get started on a classic holiday tradition; Pumpkin Cider.

This time for the juice I went out and grabbed the stuff Costco sells. Only ingredient listed is Apple Juice (not from concentrate), so I know this is some good stuff.

Top 5 Winter/Fall Homebrew Favorites

I've gotten a few requests to compile a short list of some good recipes for the later half of the year. Here is a list of our favorite recipes of brews we've made for the fall and cold winter weather:

#5: Graff (AKA Apple Ale)

Graff was one of my favorite experiments to do to see how viable making apple ale at home was. I especially like that this can be brewed on an extremely small scale, but finished at normal quantities. Give it a shot if you've got a bucket and a small stove top.