Growing my own...
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 7:46 am
by Garrete
hops. Not the cousin
I live in Indiana and was wondering if anyone has some good reading sources or helpful ideas? I read Freshops.com and would like some more information.
Thank you in advance.
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:58 am
by Mylo
If you have the space for it... it's novelty at best. You have to erect (I said erect) a huge trellis. These things grow almost a foot a day! I did some a long time ago in NY. The biggest trellis that I could practically build was 6 feet high and 8 feet wide. It was for two different varieties. Because it wasn't designed for hugh growth, I had to constantly manually train them and correct when they had gone in the wrong direction. Third year was a mess. I ran out of possibilities except for letting them mingle.
No hops the first year. Maybe 2 oz. second year. Third year was about 1/2 lb. I brewed a couple of beers and used these for aroma hops. Like I said, it was novel to tell people that "a portion" of the hops in the beer that they were drinking were locally grown. I think that BrewWare has a a couple of trellis designs - but be prepared to build something 20 feet high if you really want any appreciable yield.
Mylo
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:58 am
by macgruffus
I'm planning on trying to grow some this year and have found this Yahoo! Group useful to me ...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops/
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:30 am
by yeast_slurry_speech
Man, you'll love it. After a few years of growing my own, the plants are great and practically grow themselves. Plus, while everyone is freaked out about the hop shortage, I'm giving hops away to people.
Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:29 pm
by northern brewer
I agree with yeast slurry. If you even moderately enjoy being in the garden than this is a great activity. Plus, once your hops get established you'll have the opportunity to make a wet hop beer. I made one for the first time this year and is was great. It is definitely going to be an annual brew at harvest time.
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:12 am
by grubs18
I will also be growing hops this year for the first time. Being in the midwest I was wondering if anybody knows the best varities for this climate.
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:52 pm
by northern brewer
I live in the upper midwest and have had success growing both cascade and santium. I have not really tried any others. The cascade is more dominant than the santium thus far.
I am located about 6 hours north of chicago so I'm a bit further north than you, but I live on lake michigan so the climate is probably similar.
Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:59 pm
by meisterofpuppets
How can you deduce the alpha acid percentage from homegrown hops?