PACMAN IS BACK

Oh yeah. Pacman is back.

what is pacman? It is the proprietary yeast of Rougue Brewing Co. It is the yeast that Ron and I used in our first stout, one that convinced us of the value of premium yeast. It is the yeast that was used in the original Dewey's draft. The yeast used in the infamous Bama yama yamshine. it may have been used in the original chocolate stout that Joanna made.

After months of haranguing Wyeast about another release of the Pacman yeast...I stumbled into a conversation with one of the valley vitner guys, and he said they have some on hand. Turns out some company somewhere had a deal with wyeast to make it for their kits. and now it is being distributed--at a premium price.

Just found this on line.

http://www.homebrewers.com/product/XLROGUE/Rogue_Pacman_Ale_Yeast.html

AND THIS!

http://www.brewabeer.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1

Not knowing for sure how easy it would be to tap into this limited supply, or how long it would last, I grabbed 3 packs out of ten as soon as I saw them. Went back today and they had four left. I emailed you about it, but since three disappeared in one day, I grabbed three more, just to be sure we all had some if we want it. $9 a smack pack. Trust me, you want this.

We *will* culture this stuff.

I think we should have a pacman brew party.

Attack of the Pincher Bugs

It's neither aphids or spider mites, but rather Earwigs (also known as pincher bugs) who are chowing down on our hops. Not sure what to do quite yet, but I'd better do something soon or we might lose our crop!

one two three four

One: Fabrication



Two: Half Height



Three: Precarious



Four: 3/4th Height

This post has been brought to you by the letter A.

This is my attempt at a hops trellis. The general idea (two A-frames) was suggested by my father in law Leslie Goode. It beat out a few other designs because in the end it was the cheapest (and probably easiest with my skill set) .

The whole endeavor was put into overdrive as our Nugget started growing several inches per day. At the moment, our Nugget has a mere six more inches of rope remaining on our temporary bamboo/rope trellis (seen in the background).

Hops grow quite tall, but it appears that I might've outdone myself. While building it, both Joanna and my mother in law Anne independently asked "How are you going to raise it?" I brushed off their doubts until I put the first A-frame vertical.... Now I see their point. I think I might sever the bottom half into two 4-foot 2x4's, and raise it 4 feet at a time.

A word of caution for all you trellis builders: figure out in advance how you'll pick your hops flowers when they bloom. I'm tossing ideas around, but at the moment, since I have no 15-foot ladder, I suspect I'll disassemble the trellis. If I had a do-over, I'd probably have built it half as tall for the first year's growth.