homebrewandbeer.com

Does anyone here grow their own hops?
Is it only possible to grow POR?
I would REALLY like to plant some but have no idea where I can get seed/cuttings?
I'm sure someone can help

I do. You can buy Rhizome's from www.grumpys.com.au but you too late for this season. You want female plants so a Rhizome is a much better option than seeds IMO.

I was very surprised to see the ad for hop rhizomes as I had always heard that growing hops is illegal.


Was this true and if so when did the laws change?

So has anyone else grown hops?
Is there anywhere in Victoria that I can get my hands on some?
Would any of the noble hops grow in our hot climite?
When is the best season to plant?

http://search.ebay.com.au/search/search ... p=1&fsoo=1

be quick, though........

Colexis2 wrote:So has anyone else grown hops?

Yes am growing some now.

Colexis2 wrote:Is there anywhere in Victoria that I can get my hands on some?

Join a homebrew club. Many members swap rhizomes.

Colexis2 wrote:Would any of the noble hops grow in our hot climite?

Yes, I am growing Mt Hood, a Hallertau copy.

Colexis2 wrote:When is the best season to plant?

2 months ago!

Thanks ACT I'll look into that. Too bad it's not June

i just recieved some hop rhizomes bought on ebay, yep it was probably me who out bid ya got a hallertau,tetananger and perle!!! they arrived wrapped in moist paper inside ziplock bags got em in a mix of pot and peat,mushroom compost and a bit of cow shit might have a cutting or two in a coupla months

hops have sprouted already!!!

This is my first year to grow hops, and it has been difficult to find answers to some of my questions on the various brewing forums because it appears that only a small percentage of homebrewers grow their own hops. Instead of having to tediously search through lengthy archives or a large number of threads in forty or fifty different homebrew forums and mailing lists, I felt it would be better to try to gather as many growers as possible for a consolidated mail-list or group dedicated _exclusively_ to the topic of growing hops, including trellis and arbor design, diseases, and even exchanges of rhizomes. I've received nothing but positive feedback in all the places I've posted about this, and I hope that this will be received in the same spirit here because my group is certainly not intended to replace any other group. In just the first three days after my group was formed, I had already reached 60 members. Members can choose to hide their email addresses if they want; however, those members who do so must post messages on our webpage rather than by email. I am also moderating the group to prevent spam, flames, etc.

I'm looking for informative websites about all aspects of growing hops, including photos, so if anyone can recommend any good links, it will be appreciated. Members are also able to post their own links, photos, and files on our group's Yahoo pages.

If interested, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/grow-hops -- and thanks for your time.

Cheers.

Bill, if memory serves me, and it usually does, that was you looking to get that International Grid Computing Team going a couple of years ago?

Wow. You have a tremendous memory. I was the founder of the Homebrewers grid computing team on the World Community Grid, and I allowed another homebrewer to take over as Team Captain but I still belong, and crunch for the team, and even promote the team on my personal website, http://www.velek.com -- which will give anyone who is interested a very good overview of the project. Then if someone wants to join the Homebrewers team, specifically, they should go to this page -- http://home.alltel.net/billvelek/team.html

The Homebrewers is one of the best teams on the grid. I need to update that page because we slipped down to #72, but that's out of 15,804 teams.

Anyway, to get back on-topic for brewing beer, I've been doing a LOT of brewing lately and I'm real anxious to try some fresh hops. Most of my plants are doing very well.

Howdy, neighbor! It's good to see not only an American, but an Arkansan here. Furthermore, it's odd that we both joined the site on the same day.

Hope to see you around.

Wooooo! Pig Sooiee!

John
Searcy, Arkansas

Well, the day after anyway



Dogger

Dogger Dan wrote:Well, the day after anyway

It's the difference in time zones and their relationship to the International Dateline that are causing the confusion. Bill and I live probably less than an hour from each other, and relative to each other, we joined on the same day (the 25th of May), but relative to Australia time, which is the default time used on this forum, I'm pretty sure it shows that I joined the day after he did.

Dogger, thanks for all your enlightening and informative posts; I've learned from reading your replies to others' questions.

Um, quick (potentially dumb) question - how do you work out the alpha acid concentration on home grown hops?

Sorry for the delay, but my son was in a basketball tournament this weekend (KIP, Searcy had one but we were at the one in Clarksville); his team won 1st place.

Also, let me ask KIP if there is a homebrew shop in Searcy or if he goes to "Fermentables" in North Little Rock? -- the only one I know about in central Arkansas.

Now, to try to answer Ash's question -- and this is based on what I read since I'm just starting to grow my own hops for the first time this year -- about all a person can do is a careful taste comparison between beers of similar style using one of a known bitterness. I don't know how that is really accomplished, because I've never noticed IBUs printed on a bottle, but then I'm usually more busy drinking than reading. Anyway, that is the advice contained in "The Homebrewer's Garden", along with the following additional info, summarized for what it's worth:

First, it is probably better to use homegrown hops for flavoring and aroma hops rather than bittering.
Second, homegrown hops usually contain a slightly higher percentage of alpha acids than commercially available hops, so you can start out using somewhat less than the amount of commercially available hops, try it out, and then adjust accordingly for future recipes.
Third, the taste comparison test mentioned earlier is technically known as the "taste-titration method", and a complete description -- which the author said is too lengthy to include in his book -- can be found in Mark Garetz's book, "Using Hops" (HopTech, 1994), and that that is really only important if you plan to enter your beer in a contest.
Fourth, a side-by-side test can be done by equally splitting a batch of homebrew runnings, use identical recipes (boil time, yeast, etc.), but use your homegrown hops in one batch and the same type of commercially grown hops of a known AA% in the other batch, and then do a taste comparison.

Anyway, I guess I'll figure something out, and perhaps I'll get other ideas from my new hop-growing group -- http://groups.yahoo.com/group/grow-hops

Cheers.

Bill Velek

P.S.: Did _I_ do something to cause the need for hoizontal scrolling? If so, I don't know what ... but I apologize. Seems like word wrap would be automatic.

billvelek wrote:P.S.: Did _I_ do something to cause the need for hoizontal scrolling? If so, I don't know what ... but I apologize. Seems like word wrap would be automatic.

No I think it was the long ebay link that Timmy posted.

Sathias wrote:

billvelek wrote:P.S.: Did _I_ do something to cause the need for hoizontal scrolling? If so, I don't know what ... but I apologize. Seems like word wrap would be automatic.

No I think it was the long ebay link that Timmy posted.

In a word: "Tinyurl". If 'Timmy' and anyone else doesn't know what I'm speaking about, please go to http://www.tinyurl.com

Cheers.

Bill Velek

billvelek wrote:Sorry for the delay, but my son was in a basketball tournament this weekend (KIP, Searcy had one but we were at the one in Clarksville); his team won 1st place.

Tell him I said "Congratulations!"

I'm pleased to meet you, Bill. It's great to meet a like-minded individual so close to home.

billvelek wrote:Also, let me ask KIP if there is a homebrew shop in Searcy or if he goes to "Fermentables" in North Little Rock? -- the only one I know about in central Arkansas.

Actually, "no" on both accounts. Fermentables is the nearest HB shop, without a doubt. Searcy is a very conservative town in a dry county, and I don't think there will be an HB shop here anytime soon, but ya never know. I haven't been to Fermentables; for that matter I don't have any HB equipment yet. But I do want to pay the shop a visit the next time I'm in NLR and take a look around. I'm very interested in the hobby and the science (and art) behind it, and I want to get into brewing pretty soon.

Great to hear back from you. Thanks for the info on growing hops, by the way.

Cheers,
John