Influence on homegrown hop AA?

Does anyone know....Is there anything that can be done with the soil, to manipulate the AA of homegrown hops? I know that there isn't going to be a 5% point increase/decrease, but has anyone seen/read/heard of anything like this? Manipulating the soil's ph, adding nutrients, etc...

Resin production is strongly tied to how much sun the hops get. The variation will be much less than you think.

I've wondered about this same thing. Lye/acidity/alkalinity of the soil can have a big influence on many plants.

Do tell David, how does sunlight effect AAU production? Of course my interest here is because I'm growing in so much shade, see my earlier thread on the subject!

Schlante,
Phillip

More sunlight means more energy for resin production. One of the reasons the PNW is the main hop growing region in the US. Lots of sun in August.

Many hops that are grown with full day of sunlight (13+ hrs) should be rated at the highest end of their hop AA%. So if your hops are Cascade and rated from 5 to 5.5 AA% then take the highest end of that spectrum. The reasoning according to the Home Beer Garden book is that these are the freshest hops you will ever get and in the prime of their season you should consider the highest alpha acid content.

If you pick early subtract .1 from the highest AA% rating or if you have shaded plants take .1 as well. Those reductions consider the circumstance your can find yourself.

- WW