“Grow Your Own Beer Hops” - I’ve probably just wasted £2.40

[MickDundee]

I’ve just been in Debenhams and spotted a “grow your own hops” kit with a really smart tankard-shaped plant pot reduced to £2.40 so thought “what’s the worst that can happen!”.

At the very worst I’ve got a quirky plant pot, at best I might get a random green-hopped brew in a couple of years.

 

[terrym]

Does it say what hop it is?
And if its been kept in a shop I suggest you need to get it watered asap, and in the ground or a big pot not too soon after.

 

[druid1966]

My mom told me a couple weeks ago that she has been growing hops in her yard for 6 years...…..and never thought to tell me! Sheesh. She is trying to find out which kind she planted, and if they are conducive to beer making, I will harvest them this year.....

 

[MickDundee]

Does it say what hop it is?
And if its been kept in a shop I suggest you need to get it watered asap, and in the ground or a big pot not too soon after.

Nope, non-specific “beer hops”. If it’s not a disaster then it’ll be a nice surprise.

 

[terrym]

Nope, non-specific “beer hops”. If it’s not a disaster then it’ll be a nice surprise.

Hopefully a nice one!

 

[BassoonBrew]

Managed to locate them on the source company's site, https://www.cnseeds.co.uk/shop/, and they are pretty generic there too. From the picture they are almost certainly humulus lupulus aureus, or "golden hops", which aren't "normally" used for brewing, but there are plenty of previous posts of folks trying ("lemongrass" flavour amongst others and AA ranges of 5-7%).

I bought one today too, mainly 'cos I liked the pot, it'll be useful for my annual horticultural society hop display!

 

[Leon103]

So was it a seed or a plant?

 

[BradleyW]

I got one of these for Xmas too. Hopefully they'll turn out better than the Flytrap seeds I got last Xmas which ended up being some odd weed, quite pretty but definitely not a venus flytrap!!

 

[Hoppy]

If they are seed, they wont be true to type, ie the female will have provided some genes, but the male pollinator will be unknown.
This is very hit and miss, but some varieties have been found this way.
Even if they are ornamental hops, the female attributes will have been diluted. Each seed could have differing attributes.