Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Eating and Drinking => Homebrew => Topic started by: mushroom on August 18, 2007, 11:14

Title: growing hops for beer use
Post by: mushroom on August 18, 2007, 11:14

hi folks,

Been using the search facility regarding growing hops for beer use. 6 months ago someone posted that they did just this on their allotment but gave no indication of yield over the growing season. I'd like to grow hops but need to know expected yield per plant to see if it's worthwhile in terms of price and space. 100g dried hops costs about £3.75 where I am, and I use a lot of hops in the beer I make (200-300g per 5 gallons) because my beer speciality is traditional (victorian) IPA, which is on the strong side and is heavily hopped.

I only have a 5 rod plot though, so want to go for a dwarf high yield variety that can be close-planted.

Any ideas or figures?

(meanwhile, no allotment today. mashing for 10 gallons presently)

Title: growing hops for beer use
Post by: muntjac on August 18, 2007, 11:48

have you tried  taking a ride out in the country for wild hops . we have them growing here in abundance the telephone posts are the climbing frames lol

Title: growing hops for beer use
Post by: mushroom on August 18, 2007, 12:14

It would be nice to make a 10-gallon length with wild hops, the results would be truly fascinating, if random. I'm not in the countryside though - hops if they were growing by the side of the road would likely be contaminated with road pollution.

However, not all hops are created equal. There is the amount of alpha-acid to consider which determines whether it should be used for bittering or aroma, and it influences what quantity should be used. There has been research in producing consistent hop types (of course a lot of research now, but probably ever since hops were used here). For example, target is a very common bittering hop, but for aroma I'd use something with less alpha acid like goldings or brewers gold.

if i was to grow my own, I'd choose at least 2 varieties.

Title: growing hops for beer use
Post by: DavidW on August 18, 2007, 18:13

Hi, I’ve been growing hops on the allotment for about 4 years, Goldings and Fuggles.
I originally planted 2 plants of each, and propagated additional plants from pruning. In totally I have 4 plants of each variety. I train 6 vines from each plant up 14 foot wire. After drying the hops I can get approx 2 to 3 kg each year. I also use for making my own home brew

David

Title: growing hops for beer use
Post by: wildeone on August 18, 2007, 19:09

hops seems to spread well my next door neighbour planted one plant and now 2 years later i've got a 6 foot fence pannel covered in it!!!

Title: growing hops for beer use
Post by: SkipRat on August 19, 2007, 22:18

BTW like your signature Wild one "Cant beat a glass of wine" especially if the glass is a "LARGE" one  :lol:  :lol:  :lol: