Archive for home brew
Homebrew – Why We Grow Hops
Posted by: | CommentsHomebrew- that’s what we do with our hops. Hops can be used for other purposes as well, such as
Homebrew Wort
herbal treatments, hop pillows, hop tea, hop bine wreaths, privacy fences, cover for arbors, pergolas, gazebos… Hops as an herbal ingredient has relaxing qualities that can be combined with other relaxing herbs to create stress reducing teas and supplements and sleep aids. In this high stress world, who couldn’t use a little help relaxing, de-stressing and sleeping?
Stress Reducing Herbs
- Hops
- Camomile
- Kava Kava
- St. Johns Wort
- Lavender
- Valerian
- Skullcap
- Schisandra
- Motherwort
- Catnip
- Lemonbalm
- Passionflower
- Ashwaganda
- Red Clover
- California Poppy
- Many More herbs
Homebrewing
Back to homebrewing and the major focus of this blog, growing hops. Hops counteract the sweetness of malts (sugars) used in the making of beers and ales. That is the bitterness factor of hops. They also add aroma, clarity, head retention, anti microbial and natural preservative properties. As you can see, hops are very important to beer/ale making. Hops are one of the 4 must have ingredients of beer – hops, malt, water and yeast. German beer law – Reinheitsgebot, also known as the beer purity law or purity order, demands only water malt and hops – yeast was acquired naturally from the air or added as a sample of wort from a previous batch of beer or ale.
Variations of the amounts and types of malts, hops and yeast (and sometimes, other adjuncts), create the almost limitless styles, flavors and aromas of ales and beers. The possibilities are almost endless when it comes to making your own beers and ales. Unless you have your hops analyzed for bitterness (alpha and beta acids), you never know for sure how they will turn out. Variations in weather and nutrients can alter these properties year to year. To me, that is a good thing, something new and different each year. Like fine wine, some years will be better than others.
We grow hops to further our experience into home brewing. Saving money on growing our own hops, avoiding shortages, sharing hops with homebrewing friends are some of the benefits. As an avid gardener, I simply enjoy growing them and watching their daily growth – up to a foot a day! Hops are easy to grow. All they require is direct sunlight, water and fertile soil and something to climb (rope or twine is best). Hops are inexpensive to grow on a small scale and once established, come up every year for up to 50 years of producing hop cones!
If you make your own beer or ales or are considering it, grow some hops. Depending upon the styles of ales or beers you want to make, determines what type of hops you should grow. Basically, you want at least one bittering hop and one aroma type hop – more hop varieties are better. A basic instruction on growing hops can be found here ==> growing hops . That is why we grow beer hops – to homebrew.
Growing Hops from Rhizomes
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Hop Rhizomes Ready to Plant - Humulus Lupulus
Growing hops from hop rhizomes is easy and almost foolproof. Hop plants (humulus lupulus) are a very hardy perennial and once established, will provide all the home brew hops you will need. Hops are dioecious (male and female) only the females produce hop cones. When you start with rhizomes, they are female so you don’t have to worry about that. You can expect a hop yield of half to two pounds of dried hop cones per plant. If you are into home brewing, growing hops will save you a lot of money and put you in control of your supply and avoid the hop shortage.
Hops grow best vertically so plant where they will have room to grow – at least 16 feet – but will take what you give them. Hops can grow to 30+ feet in a single growing season! The first year the crown is establishing itself so hop cone yield will be much less than following years. Hops will need rope or twine for the bines (not vines) to climb. Hop bines cling to the rope by wrapping clockwise (you train them) around the rope or twine and stiff “hairs” hold on to the rope. It is best to rig the ropes so they can be lowered for harvesting the hop flowers (cones).
Hops rhizomes should be planted in well drained, fertile soil between 6.0 and 8.0 PH once the threat of frost has past. Hops require plenty of water, sun and nutrients to sustain their high growth rate. A good organic fortified soil with decent drainage and lots of sunlight will give the hop rhizomes the environment they need. During the growing season fertilize with compost tea and other gentle organic fertilizers.
The hop plants should be spaced a minimum of 3 feet apart – 5 feet apart if different varieties. Generally hops rhizomes are planted horizontally with the white buds facing up, about 1 to 4 inchs deep (I go 3 to 4 inches deep), one or 2 hop rhizomes per mound (I do 1 per mound). A slight mounding of the soil helps with drainage and does not let the root stock or crown of the plant drown in heavy rainfalls or waterings.
These are rhizomes, they do self propagate by sending out more underground shoots (rhizomes). So if you do not want them taking over your hop garden, you will have to “limit” the rhizome spread by trimming the root stock or crown after 2 or 3 years. To trim hop rhizomes, just cut a 1 foot radius from the center of the hop plant with a shovel, down 4 inches and pull up the rhizomes on the outside of the circle you cut. You can take these cuttings and plant elsewhere or give to friends to grow their own hops or sell them.
I will be posting about this years batch of Nugget, Magnum and Cascade hops from rhizome to harvest so check back at least monthly. Those are the actual rhizomes I will be planting in the picture above. You will see the methods and rigging of the ropes I use – there are many ways to do this, I go for ease and efficiency.
There is still time to do this this season so get to it. The more friends you get interested in growing hops and homebrewing, the more home brews you will have available to you. Home brew beers and ales are meant to be shared and is a growing hobby for many. Join a local home brewing group, join some forums, read some books on growing hops. You can never know to much. Hop onboard!
