…as some of you know, I’ve been making my own hard cider for years, but over the last year or so, I’ve been branching out into brewing beer as well. Since we had the space, this year I tried to grow some of my own hops…
You buy hops by the rhizome which are cuttings from the main root of a mature hop vine. You plant the rhizome vertically about 3-4 inches under the surface of the soil. The hop bine (not vine) will emerge once the rhizome’s roots take hold. I bought two rhizomes each of Cascade and Willamette varieties which are supposed to grow well in the Northeast.
Once the bines break ground, you thin out the weakest looking ones and train the main bine up a string…I used the shed as an anchor and ran the strings up at angles and along the roofline because some hop varieties can grow to be over 20 feet long!
By midsummer, the bine will flower and then produce hop cones which contain the active ingredient that we’re looking for as brewers- lupulin which contains the alpha acids (Humulone, Cohumulone and Adhumulone) that are essential to brewing. These acids act as a bittering agent and preservative in beer. Store bought hops contain an actual reading on the package in regards to the amount of alpha acids in the dried cones…I won’t know the exact amount, but due to the varieties I planted I will know the range that I can expect.
…another shot of the cones.
By mid August, the cones will become papery to the touch and fragrant which is the sign that they’re ready to pick. You start at the top of the bine and pick the largest cones first. About a week later, the lower cones will be ready for harvest…
…once the cones are picked, they will need to be dried on a screen and then packed in an air tight container and placed in the freezer to keep the acids from dissipating. I ended up getting about 3/4 of an ounce from my Cascade bines…enough to add to a batch of beer at some point…the Willamette didn’t fare so well- no cones formed at all…probably due to their location and rather wet summer…we’ll see what happens next year!
-Josh
