Hops - Growing



Cascade plant



Nugget Hop tower

After making your own beer, whats the next level? How about growing your own ingredients?  While it isn't practical for the homeowner to grow fields of barley, hops are actually not so difficult.  There are numerous websites selling hop rhizomes (Root cuttings you can use to propagate the plant)

I forget if these plants are on their second or third year, but I do know I only got hops from one of them (Nugget) last year.  It was enough to make a nice IPA and I plan to do the same this year - but hopefully with enough hops left over to dry and save for later batches too.

I moved the Cascade plant to a better spot with more sunlight and it has thanked my with tons of hop cones.  I have it growing horizontally along the fence.

For the nugget plant, I made a 20' pole and hung strings for it to climb.  In only a few months, it climbed to the top and back down another 6'.  It looks like this single massive hop tower.

In a few weeks, I will harvest and use a ton of them in a nice IPA.  Most recipes use dry hops, which weigh about 80% less than fresh, so I will need to adjust by about 5x, so while a normal IPA recipe may ask for 1/2# or so of hops, I will need more like 4 pounds...

I will post more on that IPA when the time comes.

Drying hops - Assuming I have enough to save for future batches, I will need to dry them for proper storage.  There are a number of methods suggested out there.  I am leaning towards filling a pillow case and putting it in the dryer.  Once they lose 70-80% of their weight I will pack them in ziplock bags and store in the freezer.

Other uses - I also like to make Hops tea from the fresh hop flowers.  For this, just break up a few cones, put them in a tea steeper, fill a container with hot tap water and put in the fridge.  Once it cools down you have a nice refreshing hoppy beverage.  Now that I have a carbonator cap, I may try some hops soda...mmm.  My wife has a recipe for ginger hop soda that we want to try.



Lambic 2012 (Peach) blending

2/3 of my 2012 Lambic blends now completed and aging.
I did the raspberry last week and will do the gueuze sometime in a few months probably.
For this beer, I also took 1 gallon from each of the 2011 and 2012 base beers. We went peach picking on Saturday and picked 9pounds of yellow peaches. The white were not ready yet. Since only a few were ripe, I added 2.5 pounds on Saturday and another 1.5 Monday night for a total of 4 pounds in 2 gallons. This should be enough to get a nice peachy aroma and flavor.
Sometime next year we will get to see how well that goes...

Raspberry Wheat - Tasting

This beer (Recipe) (Brewing) has only been in the keg for about a week and its just about ready for drinking now.  Just in time for tomorrow's party.
 Low malt flavor, just enough hops to balance and a neutral yeast make this wheat beer a clean canvas for the local raspberries to shine.

Appearance:  It has this reddish amber or maybe copper color.  Not as bright red as I would have liked, but this is what you get without food coloring.  The head is nice foamy slightly pink, but mostly white.

Aroma:  the smell is mostly fruity (I would guess raspberry) with a little wheat in the background.

Flavor:  It has a slight tartness and up front berry flavor with a little wheat.  I think there are some hops sneaking in too.

Mouthfeel:  Thin, but in a nice refreshing way.  The carbonation gives it some body.  Just about what I would want for a light refreshing fruity summer beer.

Overall: I do like the beer and I hope it is taken well tomorrow - but I do hope they leave me some to savor over the next month or so too.  Also it gives a preview to what the lambic version may be when it is ready.

 7/8/12 - Brew 5.25 gals.  BR=12 OG=1.046
   Wort was surprisingly clear/white
   US-05 pitched @71 - In swamp cooler w/ ice bottles.
  7/13-15/12 - Picked 7.5# raspberries (total)
  7/15/12 - Added 5.5# Raspberries to Primary  G=1.005
  7/26/12 - Secondary G=1.006
   Not a whole lot of raspberry aroma.  Some flavor. OK warm.  should be better cold/carb
   Good clarity.  better than expected.  color good, little lighter.
  8/2/12 - Keg  ABV=5.25%