Does anyone grow bittering hops?

[Anthony_Lopez]

I'm going to pick up my hop rhizomes this weekend, and I have pretty much decided that I'm growing flavor/aroma hops due to the inability to measure AA % in bittering hops. I know there are companies that you can send your cones to for AA% testing, but I'm not going to spend that kind of money for a hobby. (kinda hypocritical since all my spare cash goes to brewing anyhow)

So my only question is do any of you grow hops for bittering? If so, what is the outcome of your beers? Is there any rhyme or reason to the pH vs AA% measurement?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I do.

Currently have Nugget, Chinook, Magnum, Zues, and Brewers Gold growing.

Honestly, there is no reason given you use a a fertile soil and provide adequate watering why any given plant won't produce the goodies within their known range. Sure they may fluctuate year to year, big deal.

It's just this simple. You brew a batch. Base the alpha on whatever makes you comfy within the range. Most start at the bottom end (say 12% if the range is 12 - 15). If the beer comes out too bitter you back off on the next batch or vice versa.

It's kinda like when you first started brewing and learned that there is a quantitative numerical representation of hop contribution to beer for bittering. At first, it might as well been written in barcode because even tho' you knew that your LHBS got hops that were packaged at 12% you had NO IDEA what that meant to YOU or YOUR PALATE.

What's more, over time, your palate changed it's mind ( I am guessing). Where 50 to 60% IBU's used to make you look like you were auditioning for a Milwaukies Best commercial now, you need something more in the 80 - 100 range just to discern the actual flavor of the hop.

 

[PseudoChef]

You can still use the hops for bittering.

I have heard that because the home-grower is never going to have the most ideal conditions, that a rough estimate of your AA% for any homegrown hope will be around 1.5 points lower than the average.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

Ya I have heard the same things that you guys have said about backing off on the next batch if its too bitter or vice versa. Since I'm still a relatively new brewer, I'm still thinking "inside the box" as far as recipes, etc. Also, I haven't really accepted the fact that after a few hours spent brewing, I won't be able to sample my product for 1-2 months.

I think for now, I'm going to grow some flavor/aroma hops and see how the process goes for crop consistency and yield. Once I have a year under my belt of growing, and I can see what I need to change to get a more consistent plant, I will go ahead and grow some bittering hops.

Thanks guys!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

"I have heard that because the home-grower is never going to have the most ideal conditions"

Why is this?

Neither the home grower nor the commercial grower can control climate conditions but, the homegrower can feasibly provide just as good soil fertility, if not better than the commercial grower. Sure, we don't have labs that routinely analyze the soil but then again, soil test aren't that prohibitive.

It's nothing for us to amend our little plots with compost and manure or other micro nutrients as needed. It's a rather large and expensive endeavor for the commericail grower.

Point is, given our scale, a little bit of study, and a lot of observation there is no reason why we can't provide optimum growing conditions with respect to soil.

"....a rough estimate of your AA% for any homegrown hope will be around 1.5 points lower than the average."

Perhaps but, on the other hand, our hops are not near as processed as even the commercially provided leaf hops. That is, the compounds are fresher and more likely left whole and intact as a result of the lack of mechanical processes.

 

[cheezydemon]

Agreed Gila.

Commercial growers grow to get the most per acre, not per plant. I firmly believe that individual care to a plant (not over feeding or over watering) will work better than the blanket fertilization and growing practices of commercial growers.

And yes, I plan to bitter. I also plan to brew with fresh hops.

 

[PseudoChef]

It was something I heard Vinnie Cilurzo talk about on one of the podcasts. I'll have to re-listen to see exactly what he says.

 

[k1v1116]

I think because AA degrades with time / light / heat exposure fresh home grown hops will be at the upper end of the AA range for the variety. You could also do a side by side comparison, boiling a small amount of home grown hops and the same amount by weight of store bought hops of the same variety in a small amount of water for say 30 - 60 minutes and tasting each tea produced to decide how much more or less home grown hops you would need to approximate the bittering of the store bought type. this wont tell you the AA of the home grown hops but it will show you the taste and since thats whats important in beer anyway its more than adequate.

 

[david_42]

I grow bittering hops and just use an average AA value for the hop to aim at the middle of the IBU range for the recipe.

This won't work if you're OCD or AR.

 

[Danek]

I have heard that because the home-grower is never going to have the most ideal conditions, that a rough estimate of your AA% for any homegrown hope will be around 1.5 points lower than the average.

Interesting. In "The Homebrewer's Garden" book, they seem to take a different view. They say that home-grown hops are likely to be at the top end of the AA% range for any given species of hop. I think their reasoning was that commercial hops sit around for longer and degrade a lot more than home-grown hops.

 

[gwood]

Interesting. In "The Homebrewer's Garden" book, they seem to take a different view. They say that home-grown hops are likely to be at the top end of the AA% range for any given species of hop. I think their reasoning was that commercial hops sit around for longer and degrade a lot more than home-grown hops.

+1

I would tend to think that if they are well cared for and harvested near peak that they are going to be at the high range of the scale. Assuming all goes well with my Chinook (highest AA hop I have going now), I'm going to estimate them at the top of the range at around 14 to 15%.