I decided last week that next year, I want to grow hops. I don’t brew beer, but I know a few people who do - and I think it’d be fun to donate my hops for the cause (and for some trade in return, of course). Doing a minimum amount of research, it seems easy enough (though getting a halfway decent yield seems to be a challenge for home growers - I’m not that concerned with that aspect of it). My main two questions are:
What variety would be a good choice? Signs are currently pointing towards Centennial (it’s the main hop ingredient in Alpha King, my favorite pale).
We’ve grown Wilamette, Centennial, and Cascade. Be aware, they try to go everywhere and can stretch their vines surprisingly far. Also, if you have pets, the cones are poisonous to dogs.
Removing them is a battle. It took us 2 seasons to finally kill all the remaining rhizomes.
You plant a rhizome, basically a piece of root, in the spring. They sell out FAST everywhere, so be ready to order- usually in the fall or winter.
It takes 2-3 years after planting to get any real amount of harvest. After that, they will indeed eat your house. I’ve had them grow under the roof into the attic.
Picking the hop cones off the bine sucks ass. Hard to pull them off, and the bine and leaves are all prickly.
And then you have to air dry them somehow for a week. Usually on screens in the garage.
The next year they grow back even bigger and badder.
This year I have 8 strings going with about 20 bines total, all of them over 15 feet long. I’m gonna have to make some serious IPA’s this winter!
Is there a market in the US for home grown hops? I have to admit that I don’t know any brewers that grow or buy home grown - they all seem to get their hops from the supply store when they go in to buy other brewing stuff.
Interesting answers so far. I have a side of my house that would be an excellent spot for hops. It’s already neglected and overgrown, so this would give me an excuse to rip everything out and plant hops. It also has terrible drainage (it gets pretty muddy), so the hops would probably love it. But I’m also pretty anti out-of-control growth.
What are my options for barley? Even higher water requirements, perhaps? Far too little yield for the effort?
Its a pretty good bet that whatever hops you grow you will sell. There’s been a hop shortage for a while (I can’t tell you the last time I’ve seen Simcoe in a homebrew store) so you could easily fill a demand.
And some hops you just can’t ever go wrong with, like Cascade. But be careful…those hopheads will start stalking you!
If your homebrewing sources run dry, remember that hops is also used as a medicinal plant, and you might find some plants at sources dedicated to herbal gardening.
I’ve never gone wrong with Horizon Herbs, and they have hops. They prefer to send out the vines in the early spring, but they’ll do it later, as long as you understand it’s not ideal for the plant.
As for what to do with excess hops, I’d try selling them to homebrew stores. Or even on Craigslist. I’d be shocked if you can’t unload all the hops you can harvest right now.
I don’t think small-scale barley production for malting purposes is all that common, but there’s no reason it couldn’t be done. In a 4-season climate barley is usually planted in fall or early spring to take advantage of winter/spring soil moisture, and the water requirements are not excessive. I don’t know how it would compare to hops, but would guess barley would require less water.
Based on my own experience growing barley (on a commercial scale, and for livestock feed rather than malting) the following figures might be useful:
Average yield of barley is 120-150 bushels/acre, and a bushel weighs about 50 lbs. One bushel will produce aprox. 400 bottles of beer. A .01 acre plot (about 450 square feet) should produce a couple of bushels, or enough to make maybe 500-600 bottles. Harvesting and threshing would be the biggest chore, it could be done by hand or, if money is no object there are small plot harvestersavailable.
SS
I can help you out here as I have been growing hops for 3 years now. Prep your soil now for next year is a tip for you.
Hops have 2 basic qualities, aroma and bitterness - both are important. Since you like pale ales (try some IPAs), I would grow at least one of each type - bittering and aroma.
Ok, hops damage control-- a friend came over with a hop rhizome last fall, dug a spot, and planted it, with no soil prep or creating a mound or anything like that (I think the soil where she lives is much better than here). It put out some bines and is growing but I suspect it could do much better. At the end of this season can I dig the whole thing up and replant it properly with more love and goodness?
Yes. Wait until all the bines die off in the fall and the plant is dormant, then you can replant. I don’t know what part of the world you’re in, but they need full sun and access to lots of water. They grow a LOT, easily 25’ or more in a season. The roots can grow down several feet as well.
Texas isn’t a good place to grow hops because they get burned by the sun and the soil is all bedrock. It’s possible to grow them, it just takes more soil prep.