Hops on the allotment - viable?

[The Cobra]

Hi everyone. Just wondered if there are any home brewers on here, and if so do you grow your own hops? I'm really fancying getting some for on the allotment, but unsure of how much I will need to produce home brew ale throughout the year?

[WendyC]

Did a quick search and this site

Hops- For Homebrew Beer!

reckons on 100g per 40 pints. Now that doesn't sound a lot to me. I couldn't work out if they were dried but I think they are pretty dry when you pick them. You would have to store the hops if you want to make beer all year round but I can't see that being too difficult.
Having grown hops purely for ornamental purposes the plants die back completely in the winter but are vigorous growers. I suspect you'll need to do a bit of research as to the best variety to grow for the hops themselves.

[veggiechicken]

This may be relevant http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ops_70202.html For the record, i didn't have any hops from my 2 plants but some of the other members of the hop group did. I believe the beer that has been brewed from them is available at the microbrewery this weekend

[The Cobra]

Did a quick search and this site

Hops- For Homebrew Beer!

reckons on 100g per 40 pints. Now that doesn't sound a lot to me. I couldn't work out if they were dried but I think they are pretty dry when you pick them. You would have to store the hops if you want to make beer all year round but I can't see that being too difficult.
Having grown hops purely for ornamental purposes the plants die back completely in the winter but are vigorous growers. I suspect you'll need to do a bit of research as to the best variety to grow for the hops themselves.

This may be relevant http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ops_70202.html For the record, i didn't have any hops from my 2 plants but some of the other members of the hop group did. I believe the beer that has been brewed from them is available at the microbrewery this weekend

Quality guys!! Thanks so much for the replies on this. Decision made - there will be hops on my allotment!!!

[Bill HH]

I thought hops were grown up supports and from old pictures i have seen they were 20 feet high! do they have shorter ones nowadays?

[The Cobra]

I thought hops were grown up supports and from old pictures i have seen they were 20 feet high! do they have shorter ones nowadays?

Suppose it depends how big you want to grow them Bill lol.

[Olorin2001]

Most commercial varieties grow about 20 foot, you are welcome to try stopping them getting that high and you have to dry them within hours of picking, thats what the oast houses were for, and it is not a simple process. But you can freeze them and make your beer from green hops (undried) you will however have to experiment with quanities as this will vary with the variety of hop that you grow. I grow Fuggle with no problems and get a good yield, I pass these onto a home brewer and get beer in return.

[BertieFox]

We have never sown hops but they come up all around the house here where we live in rural France. I don't know if they are wild or cultivated but they have lovely large flowers and smell great. We have never used them for beer though we have made a hop pillow or two. The simply come back year after year. We let them scramble over other shrubs and hedges and don't bother to train them, but they will grow as tall as you let them. I'd certainly say they were a great thing to grow at an allotment if you have the space to let them rip and grow over some form of structure.

[snakeshack]

I planted fuggles last year from willingham nurseries which I bought as a rhizome online at about this time of year,I was not expecting a crop this first year but got enough to do a second hopping on a 40 pint brew which we are currently drinking.projected crop for following years is about 1-2 kilos per plant.mine grew to about 15 feet this year.drying was not a problem with small quantities for me,about 1 1/2hrs in the dehydrator followed by vacuum packing and freezing.hops go off rapidly if exposed to oxygen so commercially are pressed into bales for storage.for reference 100 g dried hops (this years harvest)uncompressed completely filled a 2 litre jug but vacuum packs down toabout half a teacup.

[The Cobra]

Great stuff, thanks for the info Snakeshack

[The Nichols']

A friend of mine grew hops by tying a long piece of string to his Sky dish (finally, a good use for the darn things) and the vine grew over the top of it. He got a good yield though.

[Olorin2001]

Hi everyone. Just wondered if there are any home brewers on here, and if so do you grow your own hops? I'm really fancying getting some for on the allotment, but unsure of how much I will need to produce home brew ale throughout the year?

I have a few 3 year old (fuggle) plants available, I can post bare rooted, deliver by bus if your local or you can collect. FREE

[The Cobra]

I have a few 3 year old (fuggle) plants available, I can post bare rooted, deliver by bus if your local or you can collect. FREE

Awesome mate. I'm not local to Southampton (I'm up in Yorkshire) so would need them delivering. How much would the postage be pal?

[snakeshack]

Hops on the allotment - viable?

Sitting waiting for the dehydrator to dry it's 3 rd load of hops. Harvested 3 x5 gallon buckets today from my fuggles bine . Probably another 3 loads to go.this should do me about 12 five gallon brews using them at the barrelling stage to add a heavy hop aroma. I use about 2-3 litres of dried hops per brew.this packs down in the vac packer to a small pouch , see pic and is added in its frozen state in a jelly bag


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[sparrow100]

A guy on our site has 4 hop plants on the go - the posts have a bolt halfway up so they can be lowered and the ropes have a quick release for easy harvest. They look amazing. His beer went down a treat at the site BBQ a couple of weeks ago.