Homegrown Hops

In the last post I mentioned that after finishing the kegerator shelf, we would be looking for a new 'brewery project.' Well, what better project than starting our very own hop garden.

Hop flowers that are used for brewing come from female plants. Males produce too many seeds and are therefore undesirable for brewing. And even though hop plants can reproduce sexually, they can also be propagated asexually. Female plant root systems after the growing season can be cut to yield rhizomes, which when planted will grown into a clone of the parent variety.

Normally, when people order rhizomes they are delivered in March/April-ish. We decided a little later than this to grow hops, so they have only been planted for 10 days so far. Also, as a result of the late ordering, the selection was somewhat limited.

We are going to start with 2 plants this year: Centennial and Newport. Centennial is an American hop that Elise and I really like. It has a medium alpha acid content but is mostly used for its citrusy, piney, dankness. Newport is a relatively 'new' hop comparatively. It has a high alpha acid content making it a good bittering hop similar to one of its parents, Magnum. It was bred specifically for its resistance to downy mildew and therefore will hopefully grow well in North Carolina.

The first year we wont get too many cones as the plant is focusing on root growth, but hopefully by the 3rd year we'll get a couple of pounds of hops per plant.

Next year we'll also probably start growing some Cascade and Chinook to round out the 'farm.'

The first picture is the Centennial plant's first buds peaking through in the planter. They were planted about 10 days prior and hopefully the Newport isnt too far behind. Below is a picture of the rhizomes. As you can see, its is much thicker than a normal root, and has lots of off-shoots (the purple/white things below the twisty tie are the sprouts coming out).