Where to go from here?

[RealFloopyGuy]

I started brewing about 5 years ago. I have made a couple brew in a bag beers, and dozens of extract. I had 15 corny kegs, 10 co2 tanks, and a soda machine at one point. I sold most of it, though I do have a few 20# CO2 tanks and 3-4 glass carboys, a couple regulators, ball lock connections, a couple faucets(including a Guinness tap) and misc stuff. I got this stuff crazy cheap and I can say that I am probably the only person who ever made money on his brewing hobby.

I made my own kegerator from a chest freezer with 4 taps and sold it. I recently made a cider for the heck of it and now I have the bug again.

I went ahead and ordered some stuff from northern brewer and a kit, as well as a new racking cane, air locks, and misc. I am making Caribou Slobber right now(with a lb of local honey in it.) I still have enough carboys and gallon bottles/jugs to bottle the entire thing without using my capper(though I still have hundreds of caps and 2 cappers)

I am going to go all brew crazy again, but the question is... where should I go?

One of the options is getting an all steel fermenter. I see them on ebay for $300 or so all the time. It seems like this would be something that would make it easier to clean and sanitize as well as just being easier to bottle and put into secondary containers.

I don't know that I consider bottling into gallon jugs and quart flip tops any worse than kegging other than the showing off factor.

I don't have any all grain equipment. I didn't really see any difference between the grain and extract beers I made. I am indifferent to the color and clarity of beer. I tend to lean towards IPAs and Imperial Stouts. Mostly stronger flavored beers, I doubt I will ever make a lager aside from a bock(spaten optimater style) beer.

I am having a hard time deciding where to go.

Finally, have any of you ever seen hops grown indoors? Another of my hobbies that filled in the gap while I wasn't brewing is hydroponics. I have all the equipment(professional style equipment) to grow anything I like. Are there any short hops?

 

[aiptasia]

Finally, have any of you ever seen hops grown indoors? Another of my hobbies that filled in the gap while I wasn't brewing is hydroponics. I have all the equipment(professional style equipment) to grow anything I like. Are there any short hops?

First, allow me to say this...

Sucked back in.... YESS!!!!!

Ok, so... yeah you can grow hops indoors if you have sufficient light and space. Just consider them long, leggy, stretchy.... um.... tomato plants. Yeah, that's it. Tomato plants.

If you came across SCROG gardening while growing your... um... tomatoes, then you'll understand the importance of trellising the plant. I would perhaps consider growing them in a medium sized greenhouse and only growing out three to four bines from your rhizomes. You have to remember that these plants can eclipse 20 feet per bine per season.

 

[RealFloopyGuy]

First, allow me to say this...

Sucked back in.... YESS!!!!!

Ok, so... yeah you can grow hops indoors if you have sufficient light and space. Just consider them long, leggy, stretchy.... um.... tomato plants. Yeah, that's it. Tomato plants.

If you came across SCROG gardening while growing your... um... tomatoes, then you'll understand the importance of trellising the plant. I would perhaps consider growing them in a medium sized greenhouse and only growing out three to four bines from your rhizomes. You have to remember that these plants can eclipse 20 feet per bine per season.

Some people actually grow legitimate plants in hydroponics setups.

I have an entire climate controlled room and enough lights to summon batman. I live in Florida or I would grow them outside. I am totally capable of using a screen to keep them flat.

How much hops do people get off of one vine? After reading a bit more about it, it seems like people are only getting an ounce or two of hops off a vine?


Do hop plants do ok with topping? Lets say I fill a wall up and just cut the ends off each time, will they be ok with that?

Anyone have any ideas on whether they can be grown hydroponically?



Anyone use something like this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Conical-Fer...583?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c6bc9a2ef

or one of the plastic ones?

 

[unionrdr]

You can't top'em. They grow like pole beans. You cut the vine,it grows another one. They must be allowed to vine & given a lot of room. They take a couple years to mature,& will produce a lot more than an ounce per bine.

 

[RealFloopyGuy]

I could run a vine up the wall and down it. Does anyone have any idea of the light needs for these plants? I have 400w, 600w, and 1000w lights in different flavors. Do they require massive amounts of light? How much hops do people generally get off of one bine? It almost sounds as though I might be better off planting barley in the yard lol.

What about the steel fermenter? Does anyone use one of those? Any negatives vs carboys?