Allotments 4 All

Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: GodfreyRob on January 03, 2010, 18:09:28

Title: Hops for brewing
Post by: GodfreyRob on January 03, 2010, 18:09:28
Hope to  grow my own hops this year - does anyone know of a good supplier of plants?
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: manicscousers on January 03, 2010, 18:16:56
I'll be interested in any answers, I'm looking for one
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: DavidW on January 03, 2010, 18:36:36
Try this firm, i purchased some few years ago for my allotment


http://www.aplus-hops.co.uk/
David
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: Vinlander on January 04, 2010, 00:16:30
As with most unusual stuff a good source is agroforestry.co.uk - you will find lots of other stuff you'll be interested in too - a warning on that - if it is new to you and just says edible then it means famine food. If it says edible and delicious then it's worth buying.

Cheers.
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: adrianhumph on January 04, 2010, 08:48:18
 Hi Godfreyrob,
                          I do not know much about purchasing hop plants, but as a keen brewer I do know a bit about hops :D Please bear in mind that if you want them for brewing rather than decoration, you will have to dry the bines, then strip the cones from the bines. Then before you brew with them you will need to know the alpha acid content of the hops. This is a measure of their bitterness. To brew successfully  you will need to know this figure. I do not think this is practicable on a DIY basis. You could take a chance & brew some beer, but you could be wasting an awful lot of time & money on ingredients & end up with undrinkable beer :(  Personally, I always buy my hops from a specialist retailer & I can formulate recipes knowing the type of hop I am buying.

                                                                                         Adrian.
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: Robert_Brenchley on January 04, 2010, 17:50:24
How did people manage before the science was invented?
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: DavidW on January 04, 2010, 18:40:38
Hi, i've grown hops on my allotment for 6 years and brewed all grain beer with them, no problems to date. I've used Golding and Fuggles hops both approx 4.5 IBU's. You can use these quite succefully as bittering hops but are most usefull as aroma hops in the last mins of boil. The hops are easily grown, but you will need a high frame for them to climb up. the only pain is picking them and drying them.

Hope this helps
David
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: tonybloke on January 04, 2010, 19:53:22
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on January 04, 2010, 17:50:24
How did people manage before the science was invented?
probably had several years to perfect the technique / amounts used?
Title: Re: Hops for brewing
Post by: DavidW on January 07, 2010, 21:30:54
Just follow the recipes, nothing special about that

David