Newbie Looking to Brew

[HotRodTractor]

Hey everyone!

I'm a small part time farmer in central Ohio that has been looking at expanding his crop to include some specialties. Long story made short, I'm currently investigating growing hops and tossed some plants in the ground last June just to see how they fair on my particular ground. I'm getting some promising results that make me believe there is some potential. I harvested a small crop of Zeus last fall. I dried them and dropped them off at a buddy that home brews and he stuffed them in the freezer and just recently brewed some beer (which I need to go pick up some!).

Anyway - with this being my second year growing hops and am expecting a varied crop from my 6 test plants (Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Newport, Willamette, Zeus), I figure that I would be best served to learn to home brew myself. If I do go into full blown commercial hops production - I want to know EXACTLY what I am growing and why so I can hopefully use that knowledge to grow a better product.

I believe the best way for me to start is just to jump into an all grain setup - nothing too spendy, but something I can use to brew say 5 gallon batches to play with. I'm a farmer at heart... it would just be odd to start with an extract when I already know that I will have fresh hops in the fall.

So that is why I am here - to learn what I can - and start all grain brewing right out of the gate to end up brewing my own brew using home grown hops (and maybe some other home grown goodness) later this fall. So any advice about all grain brewing - or even discussion about hops production - I am all ears.

 

[Build]

Hi HotRodTractor, I know where Cable is (nice farm country), used to be in your area a couple times a year.

It sounds like you're off to a good start by feeling out what to grow. The varieties you have are definitely go to hops for most brewers, but many are also seeking the more extreme flavors of new varieties these days.

Have you looked into BIAB (Brew in a Bag) for starting out in all grain? Its a clean simple way to do all grain. I started out doing 3 vessel all grain, but switched to BIAB and love it. I do 5 and 10 gallon batches and my total brew day is just a few hours start to finish. The basics to get you started is a kettle, heat source, mesh bag, chiller, accurate thermometer and hydrometer, and a carboy or bucket. There will be a lot of little stuff too, bottles or keg, etc etc. A good read is the biab forum on this site.

I wish you a lot of luck and any question you may have, homebrewtalk will have the answers!

 

[HotRodTractor]

What brought you to my area?

I'll look into brew in a bag. It sounds like an easy way to get started. Thanks!

 

[Amadeo38]

it would just be odd to start with an extract when I already know that I will have fresh hops in the fall.

Not that I'm against starting with all-grain straight away, but I just wanted to clarify that you can totally use your farm-grown hops as an extract brewer. The extracts you would use are the concentrated end product of mashing the grains in an all-grain brew. You still have to add your hops in during the boil of an extract brew. Starting with at least one batch of extract to get the feel for the process, but purchasing the equipment necessary to quickly switch to BIAB is what I would recommend.

Best of luck to you!