Boil Over?

Ah what wondrous delights have I for you today? Well, you might ask and I would say to you, I have built an all new, all singing all dancing 10 gallon boiler for the brewery!
The last brew I did was the last straw when I nearly had a boil over in the 5 gallon boiler, it can happen right at the beginning of the boil process when you've just got the wort to boiling point, a huge frothy head forms and can boil over if you are anywhere near the top of the vessel; I had about 6" spare but this was not enough and I had to keep flicking the power off and on until the foam subsided.
10 gallon boilers with twin elements cost about £90, I managed to build this for 27.50 from 2 budget kettles and a sturdy 10 gallon fermenter :-) my old 5 gallon one will not be wasted either, now I can use this as a heated sparge tank.
Damn I'll have to do another brew now....

Greenhouse Gets a visit

I have done some gardening in the veg. patch! (queue raucous thumbnail clapping) Yes it is true I tell no lies, I planted out some lettuce, brocolli raab and pak choi in the greenhouse that I have been raising in modules, though slugs have all but eaten the pak choi I thought I'd give it a go anyway, the wind was buffeting the greenhouse and shaking the panels in earnest so I didn't dally for long and retreated indoors for more hot tea and a warm fire :-)
Hell, I might do some weeding soon if I'm feeling brave...
Would you believe we ate our last yellow plum tomatoes today? Mad I know but there you go.

Full Bellys

We have been fairly lucky with the weather here, my thoughts go out to the people of Cockermouth and elsewhere who have really been through it, it will be a long time before they can return to their homes. Nevertheless it's been pretty ghastly here not least for the chooks, they have been let out in the garden nearly every day as their run is like a muddy rugby pitch. Yesterday they got a bit of a treat as I had a third of a box of cornflakes that were a bit chewy, so I put them in a pan with some water, along with a pear that was past it's best and a few crackers that I didn't want and made a bit of a warm mash for them. It didn't take them long to demolish it all and it was nice to see them with full bellys before I locked them in for the night.

Wino

We had a bit of a cheese and wino party this weekend, with sixteen home made wines (our nine plus contributions from Mrs B. and the Morgan Household) and thirteen cheeses, it seemed like a great excuse to get some friends and family together for a laugh and try them out. It all started well enough, some of the wines meeting approval others were not so well met and slipped down the sink..
After tasting six or more I think the taste buds went and they all started to taste a bit, well, harsh! Maybe it was the 'mini craft brewers beer tasting' us guys were holding simultaneously that did it. The only half open bottle to be taken home was one of Mrs B's which says something :) I'm left with loads to finish off this week, doh!

We have so much food squirreled away it's not funny, we have two chest freezers that are still pretty full despite trying hard to empty one so we can turn it off. I've been working my way through a stock pile of curried parsnip soup whilst when my good lady is home we crack open a courgette & brie soup. We are still tucking into the courgette curries I made (and very good they are too) but we are slowly winning.

We've used the last of the aubergines which made some wicked curries and aubergine bakes and we are about to use the last of the onions up, broke my heart buying some this week :( Never mind , next year I'm hoping on having many more. I think I must water them a lot more to get the size up.

Our hens are doing us proud at the moment, six hens and we are getting five eggs a day, well for the last two days anyway. We are egg rich at the moment, might as well enjoy it while it lasts. We are making good use of them, the excess pay for their feed meanwhile we have recipes for egg biryani and have a fair amount of omelet's not to mention some very nice and very large farmhouse carrot cake!

Mr lover lover

We are down to just the one cockerel again (quite enough you might say) as our neighbour has taken the best one yesterday. We waited till twilight before I went into the coop where he was standing in a huddle with all his girls around him, picked him up no fuss at all. I have to say he is an impressive bird, a lovely weight and good plumage too, I hope he enjoys his new life with the 'girls next door'.
That leaves us with the biggest one who unfortunately has a funny crow, more like a 'etk errrr' which is a bit comical - well for the first hundred or so crows....
He's been in a separate run to spare the girls too much loving and last night I started thinking on whether it's time to dispatch him or keep him.
This morning I decided to put him on probation, I let him out of his run into the garden with the girls who immediately swamped around him like old friends, it was nice to see and brought a smile to my face so maybe he'll be our rooster for a while as long as he behaves.

Maple and Pecan Pie

Frankie made a lovely maple and pecan pie this week, soooo good. I'm sure there are a few calories in there...

Two more cockerels were dispatched this week then hung for a couple of days before gutting or 'dressing' as it's called.
We are down to the last two, just as well really as I picked up Emily a day or two ago as she wouldn't go in the coop and found more damage from the cockerels on her poor girl, she was the one that suffered with the last cockerel; I found a patch of bare skin at the base of the neck, luckily no blood, so the boys have been moved to the run next door till their time to go. One is going to next door and the other for the pot just leaving us six girls for the winter period. Next year I'll decide what to do, whether to breed some more hybrids from next door or get some more hatching eggs.

The elderberry wine has now been sieved off the pulp and into a brown demijohn, the extra must put into a bottle to use for topping up as the ferment settles down. I had a quick taste of it as there was some left and it was rather good, also the aroma is very much red wine like. I hope this time I do not get an infection in it, I made 2 gallons in 2007, 1 is still in a demijohn, the other I bottled only to find it like vinegar. Which is exactly what it is now used for! I must test the other demijohn and see if it's off too...

We picked a few too many elderberries so they have been sitting in the fridge all prepared for use then today Frankie turned up a recipe for an elderberry pie, result. Though today it's going to be a matter of just making the filling and freezing it for use later, it's all good.