Hop growing info

[Barr]

Anyone know of a short course or workshop or even a good book that will give me the basics on hop growing? Maybe a bunch of us could get together and find someone who could teach us.

[amartin]

http://www.crannogales.com/HopsManual.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - this has a lot of good information.

[Barr]

Thanks Amartin. Looks great. Ill give it a read.

[chalmers]

We do have a hops researcher in our midst, who I'm sure will check in shortly. But in the meantime, that pamphlet is awesome.

[spears104]

I recommend "The homebrewer's garden." The link above is great but a lot to digest. This book tells you all the basics from building a trellis to making an oast. Lots of recipes and stuff in this book too.

[amartin]

I want an oast. Climbing into a hot attic several times over a week to rotate everything sucks.

[wortly]

We do have a hops researcher in our midst, who I'm sure will check in shortly. But in the meantime, that pamphlet is awesome.

There will be another hops workshop in Sackville NB probably on April 23rd. This is geared more towards people who are looking to grow on a "larger" scale (5-10 acres). AKR was at the last one.

If there is enough interest, I could put a bunch of material together for a sticky. What do you think of a hops growing/gardening forum under the main forum Jimmy?

[mr x]

Maybe as a DIY subforum....

[akr71]

We do have a hops researcher in our midst, who I'm sure will check in shortly. But in the meantime, that pamphlet is awesome.

There will be another hops workshop in Sackville NB probably on April 23rd. This is geared more towards people who are looking to grow on a "larger" scale (5-10 acres). AKR was at the last one.

If there is enough interest, I could put a bunch of material together for a sticky. What do you think of a hops growing/gardening forum under the main forum Jimmy?

It was a great workshop, however my timeframe for that kind of scale is about 5 years off. The biggest thing I took out away from the workshop was if you can't afford mechanized harvesting, you need to rethink your business plan. Think about getting one of these.

[wortly]

Maybe as a DIY subforum....

That could work - I like how TBN does it with a "Homegrown" section to cover hops, malting, toasting, gardening etc.

There was a fairly significant "growing hot peppers" thread a while back that was posted under "Food", and folks have been posting malting and toasting techniques under "General homebrew discussion". A "Homegrown" forum (or sub-forum under DIY) might be a good place to put all of that stuff.

[Barr]

I've brewed with some hops from my mothers garden but have no idea what breed they are. Haha Looking to get deeper into hop growing. Have lots and lots of land and a tractor so I half plan to go big scale if I'm any good at it on the hobby level.

[Maritimer]

some good info here too...

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/06/29/gr ... odcast-41/

[Jimmy]

I'm good with whatever the consensus is..

[wortly]

Just to re-iterate what X, AKR71 and others have said previously: Growing hops is a fuckload of work and I would not recommend non-ag folks jumping into it.

It is possible to get a much higher quality product when growing your own, but we are limited with the varieties that are available.

If I get some time over the next week or so, I will start posting some fertility recommendations that may help, and I will post some of the stuff that we are up to with our demonstration hopyard on PEI.

The UVM site is by far the best source of information for the small-scale grower http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/hops. The person who is behind most of the work at UVM is actually starting her Ph.D. at Dal-AC this spring. So we should have lots of expertise on the East Coast.

[Barr]

All great stuff guys. Thanks. I'm taking in as much as I can. I am a farmer but I usually deal with thing with teeth not leaves. Lots to learn.