Breakfast Gives Rise to a Fun Idea!

So... My oldest son (7-1/2) was eating his breakfast, and he was reading the cereal box as he often does. I was pouring a cup of coffee when he shouted out, "Dad! This cereal could be beer! It's got wheat, malted barley, and yeast in it!"

"You must be so proud," my wife said to me somewhat facetiously.

Actually I was. I read the cereal box while sipping my coffee... Whole grain wheat flour, wheat four, malted barley flour, salt, dried yeast, soy lecithin. Hmmmm... "You know what buddy, you are absolutely right!" I replied. "What ingredients are missing?"

"Just the hops, Dad."

Yep. I am proud. I explained to him that the yeast might not actually be viable, since it may have been cooked as the cereal was processed. When he asked me why it was in there, I explained that yeast has some nutritional value, including vitamin B. I could see the wheels turning in his young head.

"So... Beer is kind of like food," he finally said. "Could you actually make beer out of Grape Nuts?"

After some thought, I replied, "I don't see why not... The only ingredient that would have a negative affect, as far as I know, is the salt."

After the disapproving glances and pointed glaring, my wife's face formed into a devilish grin. My first thought was how much trouble I was going to be in now... "You know what you should do? You should make up a batch of beer for the family camping trip, and call it 'breakfast beer'. Then when everybody likes it and it's gone, you can tell them you made it from cereal - they just drank their Grape Nuts!"

This actually sounded like a fun way to do it... I have read many forum posts about Grape Nuts beer, and beer from cereals in general. But for me, this beer would have a back-story!

I have begun thinking about the cereal, trying to get a handle on how much extract I can expect... It is unlikely that I could steep it and expect to get much more than the malted barley out (I would assume that this would be a bit like crystal malts). I am thinking of trying a small cereal mash added to a normal mash with some pale malt. I might also just try adding it into the mash with some pale malt. The difference in extract probably depends on how much of the cereal is actually wheat - it is not listed as malted wheat. Maybe it is negligible? Maybe I could make do with the simpler mash? That's why I want to try both methods...

Hop Trellises

In a recent post, I lamented the loss of my established hops due to a poorly executed move. In that same post, I also spoke of planting my new rhizomes. As I eagerly awaited bines to sprout, I contemplated trellis possibilities...

At my old house, I strung twine from my roof down to the ground - this gave me about 10' vertically. At my new place, the hops are planted away from my house in an area of raised garden beds. The trellis issue presented two problems. Of course, the first problem was the trellis system itself -what was I going to do? Secondary, and possibly more importantly, whatever trellis system I decided upon had to meet my wife's approval, since she is in charge of the aesthetics of the garden area.

What I really wanted to do was weld up a sturdy, permanent trellis... I felt that the unfinished steel would rust up nicely and complement the rustic wood of the raised beds and fenceposts. My wife thought that this plan would result in a "rusty monstrosity" which would undoubtedly be an "eyesore." (the quoted parts are her actual words) Likewise, any wooden trellis structure was likely to be a visual distraction.

I reluctantly concurred, putting off any truly permanent construction until next year when I plan on putting the hops into the ground (or at least planted more permanently).

In the end, I opted for simple. Material-wise I purchased two long 5/8" pieces of re-bar, 4 u-shaped 1/2" conduit brackets, two 1" screw eyes, 2 worm-drive hose clamps, and a spool of natural fiber twine. Planning-wise, I did not consult my wife (this simplified things greatly).

I used the hose clamps to fasten one of the screw eyes to the end of each piece of re-bar; tightening down the clamps as tight as they would go (along with a little bit of shaping of the clamp strap) added a sturdy circular eye to the 'top' of my trellis rod. Next, I test-fit the conduit brackets, and bent them to insure a secure and stable fit. I began by fastening only one side of a pair of conduit brackets for each trellis rod to the end boards of a raised garden bed. Before I mounted the re-bar to the garden box, I threaded 4 strands of ~20' of the natural twine through the eye at the top (this way, I avoided having to climb up a ladder to do that later). Finally, I fitted the re-bar into the conduit brackets and finished screwing them in. This resulted in a trellis that will be plenty sturdy for the hop bines, and hardly noticeable in the garden area.