Beer garden

[gnelson]

Jonnyboy isn't right. I grew two hop plants last year and I live 250m above sea level in county durham. Considering they were only in for one year I still got hop cones from one plant, the other dwarf variety was still establishing itself. This year I'm planting another two and expect to get enough for at least 2 or 3 10 gallon brews. The plants are very hardy and grow like weeds- you have to keep cutting them back, even in the cold dark north!

I would be interested to know if anyone has a good idea of what sort of weight conversions I should use- they dry incredibly easily, but the hop bitterness seems to suggest I need more than twice the weight of bought hops, based on the bitterness of those I got last year. Still, in terms of savings, it is the best thing to grow- as pointed out by someone else, barley takes up far too much space and is expensive to malt. Hops take hardly any space (except in the air), dry easily and are by far and away the most expensive ingredient we use.

 

[TartanSpecial]

I agree from an economic point of view growing your own hops would come top, but I still think there would be a certain satisfaction if you could produce one 23 ltr batch of beer with home grown and malted barley (and hops) and I really can;t see it costing 'thousands' to produce 4 or 5kg of malt. I'm not proposing it as a viable routine low cost alternative to buying 25kg sacks of malt. Attached an article from byo magazine on the topic. Main issue for me would be obtaining small quantities of suitable malting barley seed.
https://byo.com/mead/item/722-grow-your-grains

 

[Tony1951]

I could have access to an allotment and thought of growing my own barley, but the cost of malt from people like Geterbrewed and the Homebrew Company where we get a discount is so low that it would only be worth doing for personal satisfaction or as an academic exercise to see if you could grow and malt it. Gterbrewed are sending me another 25kg sack of Weyermanns Pale Malt for about £26 - a pound a kilo more or less.

Hops are a different matter. Vastly expensive for the weight we buy and can probably be grown by many of us.

I just ordered three Prima Donna plants from Willmington Nurseries. They are dwarf type, so can be grown into a hedge of sorts. Worth a punt for £26 delivered three roots. Only teh price of a few handfuls of the flowers. Fingers crossed.......

 

[ManseMasher]

I've just done a brew for less than seven quid from bought grain. Can't see growing your own would be much cheaper than that....

 

[Tony1951]

I've just done a brew for less than seven quid from bought grain. Can't see growing your own would be much cheaper than that....

Certainly not when you cost your time. Of course gardeners grow for the love of it and that is a different matter. I can see the attraction of doing everything yourself if you have the time and the land available. It would be pretty cool having your pals around for a beer of which every stage was your own work - even the hops and grain.

 

[gnelson]

Hi Tony,

Prima Donna grows slowly- I didn't get any flowers from that plant in the first year. I'm hoping this year it'll be established and grow well. My other plant wasn't a dwarf variety (I think it's Fuggles or Cascade, I can't remember sitting in front of a computer) and grows much more quickly. I don't think the dwarf varieties are really necessary- i just trained the vines along a wire about 5 foot high above a row of raspberries. It then grows along this quite happily, making harvesting really easy.

Also, if you have the space, the plants produce too many vine shoots each year which you need to cut back to 2 or 3 for a good yield: these shoots make excellent cuttings that root really easily. So this year you could easily double or treble your number of plants!

Glyn

 

[Tony1951]

Hi Tony,

Prima Donna grows slowly- I didn't get any flowers from that plant in the first year. I'm hoping this year it'll be established and grow well. My other plant wasn't a dwarf variety (I think it's Fuggles or Cascade, I can't remember sitting in front of a computer) and grows much more quickly. I don't think the dwarf varieties are really necessary- i just trained the vines along a wire about 5 foot high above a row of raspberries. It then grows along this quite happily, making harvesting really easy.

Also, if you have the space, the plants produce too many vine shoots each year which you need to cut back to 2 or 3 for a good yield: these shoots make excellent cuttings that root really easily. So this year you could easily double or treble your number of plants!

Glyn

Thanks for that Glyn... Hoping I can get some cones this year though.... Fingers crossed, and yes - I should have thought of training the vines along a wire. I have about twenty or thirty feet of sunny fence I could train them along.

 

[TartanSpecial]

Have just ordered rhizomes of First Gold (Prima Donna) and Cascade from Willingham nurseries...hopefully I'll get a few cones the first year :pray:.... Glyn, thanks for the tip about wire 5 foot above raspberries as plan to put the cascade fairly close to my raspberry patch.

 

[gnelson]

Best of luck, TartanSpecial. I'll try and remember to post an update this autumn with how well my plants have done in their second year.

Glyn

 

[Tony1951]

Have just ordered rhizomes of First Gold (Prima Donna) and Cascade from Willingham nurseries...hopefully I'll get a few cones the first year :pray:.... Glyn, thanks for the tip about wire 5 foot above raspberries as plan to put the cascade fairly close to my raspberry patch.

We are on a similar mission. My prima donna are going to be near raspberries too. I got my roots already - came about five days after I paid. Just smallish chunk of rhizome with a bunch of roots about ten inches long coming off them. I have mine resting in some light loam in a growing bag just now until I plant them out. Better wait a bit I think so they don't rot in waterlogged ground.

 

[TartanSpecial]

I have mine resting in some light loam in a growing bag just now until I plant them out. Better wait a bit I think so they don't rot in waterlogged ground.

Thanks Tony...I agree.. I was planning to pot mine up and keep in a cool greenhouse until the worst of the winter weather has passed, and the soil dries out a bit.