English, German, and New Zealand Hops in America (PA)

[NewPA_Brewer]

Has anyone ever tried growing English, German, or the New Zealand hops in America? Specifically PA (Central PA at that)?

 

[friarsmith]

I'm at about the same latitude as you, 39.8. Here are the hops I've had good success growing.

English: Brewers Gold, Challenger, North Down
German: Perle, Santiam (American Tettnang equivalent)
NZ: Super Alpha

Here are the ones that struggle or have been low-producers for me:

English: EKG, Northern Brewer
German: Hallertau, Tettnang, Spalt, Magnum
NZ: I've only tried Super Alpha

While Brewers Gold is super, uber, scratch-your-head in amazement productive, it has a fairly poor storage characteristics. So if you grow BG plan to brew with it in the first month or two after harvest. It makes a nice wet-hopped English IPA or Belgian ale, so that's a good way to use up the harvest quickly.

 

[PapaBearJay]

Of those you mention, I would hesitate to lump them into specific groups. BG is half wild North American (for instance). Both Challenger and Northdown are derived from BG.

The only ones that "fit the bill" here are EKG, Hallertauer, Tettnang, and Spalt. These are truly English or German, but the others are hybrids and contain mixed-parentage. It just happens they were bred by those different regions and selected for in their respective environments.

 

[NewPA_Brewer]

So is there any truly English/Europen/German/NZ ones worth trying in PA?

 

[PapaBearJay]

I can't say. The biggest issue for selecting a variety would be photoperiod. Nelson (NZ) is ~41 degrees, so anything they grow would likely yield well (provided that you can keep it free from disease).

 

[Greatlakeshops]

We have over 100 varieties at our facility that we have to grow side by side. While photoperiod is a factor it has become evident that the varieties are extremely bias to the PH and soil types they originated in where they are native. To PapaBearJay's point, New Zealand varieties are incredibly susceptible to diseases here that are not present in NZ.