starting a hops garden

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jake-k

want another? Yip
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So Im planning on starting a hops garden and have everything planned out except varieties. I'm looking for some advice on which combination of hops you would start out with.

In full disclosure, the beer I brew the most is pale ales, IPA, brown ale, variety of cream ales like cream of three crops. I also brew a few stouts and porters.


If you could start over hops growing, which three would you pick if that would be all you had access to. One for bittering, and one or two for flavor/aroma.
 
I grow Nugget. I picked it out before I knew wtf I was doing and as much as I love my plants, I am not happy with my uninformed decision. I'm going to start a few new plants this year and hopefully have the same massive success as I had with the Nugget. My new choices would be Mosaic/Citra/Cascade.
 
Personally, I don't know all the hops out there, but I know what I like so far:

Columbus
Cascade (or Centennial)
Amarillo

:)
 
Columbus
Cascade (or Centennial)
Amarillo

Yeah. Amarillo is a good one too. I just threw Citra on the list because... why not just have a freezer full of Citra on hand at all times? I'd sub it out now though. My vote is Mosaic/Cascade/Amarillo. Honestly, anything but Nugget :D
 
Citra and Amarillo are both proprietary species aren't they? So not available to us mere mortals
 
Citra and Amarillo are two of my favorite hops. To bad they wont release them to the public.
Add mosaic to the list of can't find.
 
I currently have 3 cascade, nugget, centennial, brewers gold, hallertau, and williamette. The hallertau and williamettes were pretty disappointing and might try to give them away to someone locally. Next season I will be adding galena Columbus, and sorachi ace to the yard.
 
Grow your favorite aroma hops and buy bittering. If you buy the bittering, someone else has tested the Alpha acid so you know exactly (or approximately) what you are getting. Too many homegrowers pick early or screw up the drying so they don't end up with as much alpha as they thought.

Cascade should grow well for you, though its not hard to find. Centennial and Columbus are sometimes hard to find. Go with something with native plant heritage like Brewer's Gold if you want better chance of success. Stick with 2 or three to get started. Also keep the varieties at least 5 feet apart so they don't inter-twine with each other.
 
That's what I'm trying to avoid to many hops to start. I am a farmer, maybe I should just start a hop farm.:D

Careful...then your plant selection is a whole different story, as is your workload. Maybe you are kidding but don't go lightly into that decision. Even a 1/4 acre can quickly replace your marriage as your #1 time consumer.
 
Grow your favorite aroma hops and buy bittering. If you buy the bittering, someone else has tested the Alpha acid so you know exactly (or approximately) what you are getting. Too many homegrowers pick early or screw up the drying so they don't end up with as much alpha as they thought.

Cascade should grow well for you, though its not hard to find. Centennial and Columbus are sometimes hard to find. Go with something with native plant heritage like Brewer's Gold if you want better chance of success. Stick with 2 or three to get started. Also keep the varieties at least 5 feet apart so they don't inter-twine with each other.

That's good advice as far as bittering hops. I am new to hops growing so I'm sure there is a learning curve when it comes to drying and getting moisture content just right.
 
Most people don't dry them down as low as commercial hops...which can be fine from the storage standpoint...but if moisture is supposed to be 10% of the weight of the hops but instead it is 30% of the weight, then your recipe will be way off. You end up with a very weak beer.
 
Cascade, Willamette, Chinook, Centennial

That is what I planted this year. The Willamette grew fine, but zero cones. I've read a number of threads about it, and it doesn't seem to do well in the Ohio climate.

The others grew well, with lots of cones .......... but once dried, I only got 2.5 ounces off 3 plants. The most expensive hops I've ever bought! It was fun, and supposedly you don't expect much the first year. The second and third years are supposed to be bigger producers. I laid runners off the plants late in the year, and now have two of each plant ready to grow this spring. I don't have room for any more.

I don't know whether it was the 'fresh' hops, or the pellets I used with them, but I used all my 2.5 ozs in a single hopstand with a mix of Cascade and Columbus pellets for the rest of the beer, and it produced a great beer.
 
I grow northern brewer and some unknown, local varieties.

It's all that will grow this far up north......

luckily my favourite smash is nb/vienna, so i get to use my own nb for flame out/dryhopping.
 
This fall I started Cascade, Centennial, Horizon, Liberty, Magnum, Saazer, and Zeus. We'll see how they fare. I don't plan bountiful harvests next season so I'll take what I get. I plan to eventually expand three-four fold on each plant. I prefer lagers and wheats
 
Grow your favorite aroma hops and buy bittering. If you buy the bittering, someone else has tested the Alpha acid so you know exactly (or approximately) what you are getting. Too many homegrowers pick early or screw up the drying so they don't end up with as much alpha as they thought.

Cascade should grow well for you, though its not hard to find. Centennial and Columbus are sometimes hard to find. Go with something with native plant heritage like Brewer's Gold if you want better chance of success. Stick with 2 or three to get started. Also keep the varieties at least 5 feet apart so they don't inter-twine with each other.

I begun to just use German Magnum exclusively for bittering. It's cheap and economical in terms of AA.
 
My LHBS always has sales, and when I get back into it, the next time they have a sale on some high AA hops, I am buying them just for bittering. Last time they had something called "Super Alpha" (from NZ I believe???) that is obviously a nice bittering hops. I figure anything over 12% AA is good, and if I am boiling it for 60 minutes, there is little-to-no flavour left from the hops, just the IBUs.
 
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