(gentle acoustic music) - [Narrator] Welcome to Oklahoma Gardening.

With fall Soon approaching, today we talk with John Lee to learn more about how OSU Landscape Services handles tailgating.

We then head over to a local brewery to continue following the story of hops.

And finally, Jessica Riggin grills up a meal perfect for tailgating.

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

- If you're looking for an easy, low maintenance perennial.

(classical music) Have two different types of flowers on one plant.

(classical music) Capsaicinoids that gives the pepper its heat.

I'm so excited.

It's almost that time that we all anticipate and that's tailgate season this fall.

Joining me is John Lee, who is the director of Landscape Services and I'm kind of crashing your tailgate if you don't mind but even you enjoy a good tailgate, right?

- You're exactly right.

I do not mind.

Love to have you.

- We just wanna make sure we're doing it responsibly though to protect OSUs beautiful campus, right?

- That's exactly right.

And I have some great information to share with everyone on how we can all work together as a team to do that.

- Okay, so I mean, we know what all goes into tailgate and it's getting more and more elaborate it seems.

Tell us a little bit about just choosing the right location first of all.

- Well, we have a tailgate map.

So, the first suggestion to everyone and all of our fans and visitors is to check out that map and make sure you're in a location that is approved for tailgating.

- Okay.

- And once you've dialed in your spot you're able to set that tailgate up the day before a game which would be a Friday at noon.

- Okay.

- And should we have a game on a Thursday night it would fall the day before at noon.

- Okay.

- So, location's a big deal.

Depending on how big of a tailgate you're planning to have over 625 square feet, you need to register it.

- Okay, all right.

Well, most of us are probably just popping up a tent or something like that and then kind of doing our tailgate but I do know there are signs on campus sometimes saying do not tailgate here or not in this grass area.

Can you tell us a little bit about that signage?

- Sure, you're exactly right.

We try to protect areas that would not actually tolerate tailgating.

The site conditions are specific.

So, we may have a special ground cover that couldn't withstand the compaction and all the foot traffic.

We may have a certain planting or irrigation that is is in a different location.

So the signs are there for a reason and it's not meant to be discouraging.

It's just meant to say, look, this area really does not support that type of activity.

We love to have people on campus and our landscape is where tailgate lives.

- Yeah and obviously sometimes we don't like Bermuda grass on this show, but it's resilient, right, versus fescue.

- [John] Yes, thank you.

Bermuda grass is an excellent turf for supporting tailgate comparative to our fescue.

The more cool season, shade loving grass does not withstand the heavy foot traffic and compaction that Bermuda can.

However we get ahead of the game so we plan to have you on campus.

- Okay.

- We plan for this time of year and this season.

- It's no surprise we're coming.

- It's no surprise.

And by the thousands.

And so because tailgate does live on campus and we encourage all the visitors that we actually plan ahead by fertilizing, getting a very healthy turf grass to support you.

And we follow up after tailgate season, we have a recovery effort.

Where we will come back and aerate to decompact all the compaction that's taken place with foot traffic and we oversee it in the fescue areas.

- [Casey] Okay, well, you guys are an award-winning campus and also a Tree Campus USA, I believe is the title.

But you put a lot of effort into your protecting your trees as well.

- We absolutely do.

We are actually an accredited arboretum too.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- So even more exciting.

- Yes, yeah.

- So yes, we do, we put in a lot of effort for our tree protection and growing our campus forest.

Tailgating is a big event, and so one of the most prominent areas to tailgate is under the shade.

A canopy of a tree.

- It's hot out here.

- It's hot out here even in September.

So what we want to do is make sure we're always thinking of that canopy and protecting it.

That starts with placing your tent.

We really discourage any staking and we have underground irrigation and utilities that could be compromised.

And you're in a root zone of a tree too, to consider.

There's options to staking, there's ways to balance it, whether it be a jug of water, a sandbag, a zip tie or taping something to the post of your tent to help anchor that in Oklahoma winds.

However, the most detrimental part of tailgating to our campus trees is the grilling.

- Oh.

- So the heat, the exposure, the refueling of generators, the refueling of charcoal, things like that.

We really want you to be cautious on where you're doing that.

Never grill next to the trunk of a tree.

- [Narrator] Never grill under a canopy of a tree where that heat can rise and scald underlying branches.

We do have campus damage from grilling under trees.

So we really discourage you to grill under the canopy of any tree.

- [Casey] Okay.

- However, we want you to enjoy the shade of the tree.

So placing your tent in specific areas that could support that compaction, Bermuda grass, full sun.

That's why we have the tent canopies are helpful.

But we do allow tailgating under trees on campus.

But we do not allow any grilling under trees.

- Okay.

So put your lawn chairs under the tree, not your grill.

- There you go.

And please do not put a generator next to the tree.

Even the heat from the exhaust of the generator could damage the outer trunk of the tree.

- [Casey] Okay.

- Please don't fuel under trees.

Any spilled fueling of generators or charcoal lighting or anything like that under our trees.

So just be cautious of where you're, what activity you're doing under our trees while you're enjoying the space.

- And I know some people leave their tailgate out while they might go into the game and might chain things up.

I assume don't chain anything to a tree too, right?

- Yes.

Thank you.

Very important.

We basically don't want you to scar a tree.

So carving, putting something on a tree, nailing, taping, adhering anything to a tree, chaining something around a tree.

We discourage all those activities.

We're really trying to protect this tree.

- Okay.

- And we want you to have that shade and that coverage.

So we appreciate all the support and we have the best fans.

- Yeah.

- And they do a great job.

- Yeah.

- But we always have growing our fan base and new folks joining us.

So it's always great to have that updated information.

- [Casey] Well, obviously everybody enjoys tailgating, and hopefully the game turns out well.

But what about when we shut things down and close out the tailgate, trash and that sort of stuff?

- Clean up.

So we love to have you please pick up after yourself.

We have a giant team that comes in following the game on the following day and cleans campus.

We want campus to be beautiful.

And so please help us pick up.

The most important thing you can bring to your tailgate, outside of maybe some sunscreen, is a trash bag.

- Okay.

- So please, please clean up after yourself.

If we win, extra clean up after yourself, because there's a lot of celebrating that goes on, so.. - Yeah, definitely.

Thank you so much - - Thank you.

- For sharing this information with us.

And can we enjoy your tailgate a little bit?

- Absolutely.

Let's do it.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - Over this season, we've been talking a lot about growing hops out in the garden.

But today we are looking at what you do with those hops.

And we are here at Iron Monk in Stillwater.

And joining me is Iron Monk's head brewer, Trenton Inselman.

Trenton, thanks for sharing this.

I mean, I'm excited to learn a little bit more about this process.

- Yeah!

- So tell me a little bit how we go from something that's out in the field that I know about to this to then a can.

- Yeah.

So our process is a fairly lengthy multi-step process.

But we do every bit of the actual beer-making process in one day.

And then the yeast is our friend and he'll take us the rest of the way and get us our beer, which takes, for our typical beers, about 14 days.

- Okay.

- So we start with our malted, germinated grains.

For us, we get most of them from Germany, Belgium, different places like that.

And multi facilities that have been there for hundreds of years.

- And when you say germinated grains, we're not talking about hops yet.

We're talking about the wheat, barley, rye, I'm assuming?

- Yep.

Yep.

- Okay.

- So all of our grains, it kinda depends on the style.

We have wheat malt, we have rye malt, we have a pale malt, which is what our typical base is that we use in about every beer.

We have pilsner malts and Vienna malts that do different things and give you different beers and create different characteristics that you ultimately find in different styles of beers.

Your colors come from different roasts and different caramelization of the germination process.

- Okay.

- And so that's kind of, that's where we start, is with a recipe with our grains.

And then we go from there, so - - And they're actually germinated seeds?

- Yeah.

So the seeds, they go through a malting process.

Huge malting facilities that those companies have.

They'll actually get the grains wet to start.

So they'll start to grow their seed and kind of pack all their starches and sugars.

They'll dry 'em out, bag 'em, send 'em to us.

So we get all that sugar is what we're ultimately after in our process.

- [Casey] Okay.

- And so grain is one of the main components in our beer-making process.

We have our recipes.

And then we have what we call our mill room, where we have a mill and a giant auger.

And we'll mill our grains.

That'll go up through our hopper.

- [Casey] Okay.

- And it's a gravity-fed system where we'll put 12 to 1,800 pounds of grain.

At that point, it's called grist.

It's been cracked.

It's ready to be added to water where that sugar can come out in solution.

- [Casey] Okay.

- So that first step involves a machine called our mash tun.

- [Casey] Okay.

- [Trenton] Our mash tun is where we'll actually hydrate that grist, put it back into warm water, so our temperature matters at this point.

- So that grist is like a powder, I'm guessing?

- Yeah, so it's a little, not quite as fine as just a pure flour or a pure powder.

There's still some grain and some material there.

- Okay.

- So too fine, actually, would help your efficiency.

But it's gonna hurt your machine.

You're gonna get all powder and it's no fun.

- It gets clogged up, okay.

- Yeah.

We get what's called a stuck mash, and that'll take hours, so.

- We like that perfect balance- - Not nobody wants a stuck mash.

- Exactly, yes.

It makes a long day longer.

We want to mash at a certain temperature where those processes can act and do their best work, and that's gonna matter with efficiency.

We let that get full with all of our grain, and there's rakes that spin, and get everything stirred up and nicely mixed up in that mash ton.

- So it's basically like, brewing, kind of, right?

Like literally, you're just letting it marinate in there.

- Yeah.

And then we're gonna let it set for an hour.

An hour is about the perfect time for all those chemical processes to take place.

All of those sugars have been converted to the starches that we need in our next processes.

So all the things that need to happen at that point, have happened.

And then we do what's called lauder.

Everything we do, essentially, is a German term.

- I was gonna say, you have different terms for everything.

- Yeah, so it just means transfer or move.

So we're gonna move our liquid, which at this point's called wort, W-O-R-T, it's a sugar water.

And we move it into our brew kettle.

We have a 43-ish barrel brew kettle, which is fairly large.

A barrel of beer is 31 gallons.

- Wow.

- So we can produce quite a bit of liquid in a day.

We get there- - Y'all have one of the largest, right, in the state, here?

- We do have one of the larger brew houses in the state.

It's good and bad.

So it requires, every time we brew, we have to brew a lot of beer.

So when you want to do a beer for a friend's bike race, it requires a little more nuance, and a little more challenge, because you don't quite need- - That much.

- 40 barrels of beer for a weekend.

So it allows us to produce a lot, and to stay ahead of production, but it also provides its own challenges, in not being able to do as limited of releases as maybe some other breweries do.

But we'll fill our kettle with our wort, and we'll boil it.

So the boil is gonna last an hour.

And that's, again, similar brewing industry, it's just standard.

As soon as the boil starts, if you want your beer to have, and it depends on what bittering agent you want.

So this is where our hops are first introduced.

Once we're full and our wort is in our kettle, that's where we're gonna add our hops.

Different stages in the boil create different enzyme reactions, and different chemical processes, which creates different levels of bitterness.

At the very end of the boil, we typically add a flameout hop, which is gonna give us most of our characteristics.

That is the last hop addition we use for almost all of our beers, except for our IPAs, where we'll do what's called dry hopping, and that happens in the fermentor at the end of fermentation.

- So tell us a little bit about that fermentation.

- Yeah, so fermentation, at the end of our boil, we, what's called knockout, we knock our wort out into a fermentor.

We have 12 fermentors here in the brewery.

And those we use as dual process tanks.

So we use 'em both for fermentation and for finished product.

We'll add our yeast, day of brewing, once we get to our appropriate temperature, where the yeast is gonna do its best, we'll blast in our yeast.

We do it in line during transfer, two different ways.

We either use fresh yeast, which just comes out of a packet, we rehydrate it, shoot it in, or we'll use yeast off of a different tank, where that beer is already fermented, it's yeast is still viable, and we'll actually collect that yeast, and use it in a different beer.

- So yeast is a microorganism, and it just wants to eat the sugar water, right?

- Yes.

And it lasts a long time.

So we'll typically get eight to 10 beers out of a single pitch of yeast.

And so we'll use, you know, three little bags of yeast, and then they'll last us for 10, sometimes 10 beers, which I brew about every week, so it'll last us about 10 weeks.

Really cool way to save money, and also that yeast is more viable, there's a whole lot more cells now, 'cause they reproduce and they go crazy in there.

So when we reuse it, it kicks fermentation off faster, and we actually ferment a little faster.

- Oh, okay.

So what is the yeast actually doing in there?

- Yeah, so the yeast is eating the sugar that we created from our grains, and it's turning our sugar water into alcohol, producing both alcohol, which is what we want, which is what's turning this into beer.

And then they have, CO2 is an off gas, and in all of our tanks we have a blow off arm, where we'll put a hose in a bucket of water, and actually wash that CO2 bubble out.

And we know that that sugar's being consumed by the yeast.

Once that slows down, we know that we've essentially eaten all the sugar we can, and our beer's pretty well finished.

- [Casey] Oh, okay.

- At that stage, we'll drop our temperature.

We typically drop our temperature down to about 29 degrees, and that allows for flocculation of all the yeast, and any matter that's in the beer, it'll fall out of solution.

Our fermentors are conical shape, so there's a cone at the bottom, and that allows all the yeast and anything in there to fall into that cone, where we can actually get the yeast out and save our beer.

We actually do that backwards, we take our beer off the yeast, but we still do drain the yeast.

Once our beer's finished at 29 degrees, and everything's done- - Is is ready?

- We're really close.

So the only thing we lack at this point's carbonation.

- Oh, okay.

- We'll transfer it to a second fermenter.

And at this point, we have only beer.

We've left the yeast in the tank.

We'll end up draining it off and washing that original tank.

Our second tank, we have what's called the carb stone and it really is a piece of metal in the tank that we shoot carb, CO2 direct carbonation into the beer has tiny little holes in those holes.

- It's like one those air stones in the aquariums, right?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

It looks very similar.

We just blast CO2 and it does what you'd see in a fish tank and it just percolates up to the top, all these little bubbles.

- So after you take the CO2 out of it, you're putting CO2 back into it.

- Correct.

Yeah, yeah.

You can actually self-carbonate the beer with its own blow off.

It's tricky in what stage?

You... - Right.

- Stop letting the CO2 out and it stays in the tank.

- So this is more of a controlled method to do that.

- This is a lot easier, so you don't have to worry about high pressure in different stages of the process.

So, simplest way is to let it finish.

We add our own CO2 back.

- Yeah.

- Once we've hit our carbonation, the beer's completely finished and ready to drink.

That point, we typically can very quickly.

We have a very large canning line, a six-head fill canning line.

That's where we kind of make the fun.

I mean, that's the fun part really, is you get to take the beer outta the tank where you can't see it into a can that you can hold and drink and sell and enjoy.

So- - [Interviewer] Well, yeah, I mean, y'all are everywhere now and in the grocery stores, you don't just have to be here in still water at the brewery to get it anymore.

- [Trenton] Yeah, yeah.

- So and even at our stadium actually.

- [Interviewer] Yeah.

- [Trenton] So.

- Yeah, so we are lucky to have a strong distribution channel.

We distribute statewide through five or six different distributors.

They come pick up our products in two different ways.

They pick up kegs and cans.

We are statewide with both of those, so, we sell a lot of cans, which are a fun way to showcase your product 'cause you get to have fun artwork.

And for us, we get to put Pistol Pete on a can, which is really cool.

And then in a keg, which we have cool tap handles and you'll see those in restaurants and bars across the state.

So, it's pretty cool to finally get to that stage where the beer's done and that all, that whole process takes about 14 days.

- Well, Trenton, thank you so much for sharing a little bit more about this and showing us how we go from the garden to the glass with hops.

- Absolutely.

- Thank you so much.

- Your welcome.

(upbeat music) - When it's football season, everybody enjoys a good tailgate but it's important to do it safely and that means food safety too and that food safety starts at home.

So the first thing you need to know when you're trying to keep your food safe for a tailgate party is to keep your raw meat separated from anything else that you might be eating.

And so that means if you're bringing raw meat to your tailgate party to grill up once you get there, it's a good idea to keep that in a separate cooler on ice or with ice packs.

And then put your other foods that you're not going to cook.

Things that might be served raw like onions or cheese in a separate ice chest.

There are some alternatives to that.

So if you don't have multiple ice chests or you just don't really wanna bring multiple ice chests, you could always cook some of your meat ahead of time and then just rewarm it at the tailgate and then it would be safe to pack with your other foods.

Or you could bring some pre-cooked foods like a smoked sausage or something like that to work with.

I'm gonna show you this really fun quick take on a sandwich that you can make at a tailgate party.

I am using some pre-cooked smoked sausage so we don't really have to worry about cross-contaminating there, but we're gonna start with bell-pepper, onion, and our smoked sausage.

You absolutely could do this prep and cut this up at home and then bring it in zip top bags or little plastic, food containers or you could prep it when you get there.

That's totally up to you.

So, I'm just gonna get to chopping my vegetables and my smoked sausage.

(soft music) Once all your veggies and your sausage is chopped up, we're just gonna give 'em a toss and a little bit of olive oil and a blend of Italian herbs.

And then we're gonna put 'em on the skewer and put'em on the grill.

- I am using some metal skewers that are safe for the grill, and I do recommend these because they're gonna keep you the safest.

Wooden skewers would need to be soaked in water.

Just follow your package directions if that's what you've got.

But, of course, using wood, you run the risk of getting splinters on your food, and possibly starting a fire.

So, I do like the metal ones.

And I'm just gonna alternate my sausage and my peppers and my onions onto the skewer, and then I'm gonna grill 'em up.

(gentle music) We're ready to put these on the grill.

It's important to start with a clean grill.

If you happen to have a metal grill brush that you are brushing your grill with, it's important to know that sometimes pieces of metal can fall off of those brushes and get in the food, which can cause health problems down the road.

So, one thing that you can do to mitigate that risk is to put a paper towel or a clean dish towel over a spatula, and after you've brushed with the metal brush, go in there with that towel and brush your grill grates again to get any metal pieces off of there that might have come off the brush.

(food sizzling) Once you start to see some color on your onions and your peppers and maybe some char on them, they're about done and you could take 'em off the grill, and we'll take 'em back over to the prep table and make some sandwiches out of it.

If you're using raw meat in your recipes, you of course want to get a clean dish to put them on, or maybe use a pop-up antibacterial wipe to wipe down your surfaces.

Our meat was totally cooked when we started, so we don't have any risk of contamination here, but we're gonna start with these.

We're gonna build these sandwiches with a little roll.

You can use whatever kind of roll you like, but I have these little like hoagie rolls.

To this bread, I am gonna add some provolone cheese, and then I'm just gonna start putting my peppers and onions and sausage right on there.

Just slide 'em on.

And you can put whatever condiments you like.

I've got some mustard here, because that's my favorite.

But some Italian salad dressing might be really good on this.

Now I'm just gonna build the rest of my sandwiches.

(gentle music) - This is a really fun take on a skewer or a sandwich and whether you're cheering on those Cowboys from here on campus or from your home, I hope you'll try this recipe and GoPokes.

(grandiose music) (grandiose music continues) - [Narrator] There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

(grandiose music) (lively music) - [Announcer] To find out more information about show topics, as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local Extension Offices, be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.ok.state.edu.

(lively music continues) Join in on Facebook and Instagram.

(lively music continues) You can find this entire show and other recent shows as well as individual segments on our Oklahoma Gardening YouTube channel.

Tune in to our OKGardeningClassics YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

Oklahoma Gardening is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSU is home to our studio gardens and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriter, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry.

Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut Plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club, and the Tulsa Garden Center.

(lively music continues)