Comments on: Hey, Farmer! Growing Hops, Part 1

By: Growing Hops: What I Learned from Year One : BS Brewing's The Champagne of Blogs

Growing Hops: What I Learned from Year One : BS Brewing's The Champagne of Blogs — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:28:46 +0000

[...] Growing hops for the first time last year turned out better than expected: I actually had a decent crop and was able to brew a beer with it. And frankly, if I’d known then what I know now about growing hops at home, I probably could’ve made a much hoppier brew. (update: See the fresh hop ale recipe and homegrown hops photos.) [...]

By: Brewing Fresh Hop Ale with Homegrown Hops : BS Brewing's The Champagne of Blogs

Brewing Fresh Hop Ale with Homegrown Hops : BS Brewing's The Champagne of Blogs — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:19:10 +0000

[...] across these photos and realized I never used them. Ha!) 2 oz of Cascade Hops When I built the raised beds for our hops, lots of people told me I might not get a good crop the first year. (Remember, you need probably [...]

By: Thom

Thom — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:30:37 +0000

Note: Just posted a few lessons on growing hops from Year One.

By: Thom

Thom — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 05:25:15 +0000

Hi David,

I just measured my boxes out, then snapped a chalk line. I did the spade work, and laid out the boxes. It wasn’t super-precise the first time, but a little digging and finishing fixed it right up.

By: David Anderson

David Anderson — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:22:25 +0000

Nice setup there. How are you so precisce when you dug up the spot in the yard? I would not be able to do that.

By: Joe L.

Joe L. — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:57:42 +0000

Sweet! I’m glad I was wrong, now I’ll cross my fingers that you’ll get those lovely little flowers come summer!

By: Thom

Thom — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:08:02 +0000

Magnum (photo’d above) is sending up shoots like crazy, even with our crappy weather. The Willamette has sent up two. Nothing yet from the Cascade (eep!). I’ll snap an iPhone photo on the next sunny day we get and update.

Also, we found Vietnamese bamboo (very strong, rot resistant, and easy to work with) for the trellis at the Bamboo Craftsman over off NE Fremont. Now my wife and I are just negotiating over the height! I want it super-tall, she wants it a little less so.

By: zak@portlandbeer.org

zak@portlandbeer.org — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:14:26 +0000

At first scan, I thought that was a picture of a rib. But hop rhizomes are just as good.

By: thom

thom — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:32:49 +0000

We got our first little finger of the magnum hops tonight! And yes, I have been checking everyday when I get home.

I do plan to tie off twine horizontally at the tops of the bamboo for any excess growth. I’m thinking the trellis will be 15 feet. We will see how that works out.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:07:05 +0000

Good man. Joe’s probably right about yield, although you will get vines. I planted hops at our old house (which wasn’t under a uniform canopy of trees, like our current house) and actually got a decent number to use the first year. In homebrew quantities, you don’t need much.

Incidentally, hops want to get high. Dunno what you plan to do with them when they reach the top of the bamboo, but you may have to consider something. Mine got to the top of the house and had no place to go–it became a bit of trouble.