Hop Rhizomes

[jyo]

Hi all, new to the site. Just to let everyone know, Hopswest is now advertising rhizomes on ebay. Reliable bloke, would definitley go with him again. Has cluster, hallertau, chinook, hersbrucker, cascade and others. Keep a look out. John.

 

[t2000kw]

Hi all, new to the site. Just to let everyone know, Hopswest is now advertising rhizomes on ebay. Reliable bloke, would definitley go with him again. Has cluster, hallertau, chinook, hersbrucker, cascade and others. Keep a look out. John.

If you'd like to learn more about growing your own hops, you're free to join our Grow-Hops Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops/

Just mention that you're from Aussiehomebrewer forums and we'll see you get approved as a member.

Be ready for lots of email, though. I recommend setting up a separate email folder for Grow-Hops and an email filter to send all Grow-Hops messages to that folder. That way it doesn't clog up your regular inbox and you can get to it when you have time. Yahoo and Hotmail have folders that you can set up with filtering capabilities.

I have about a dozen varieties growing here in the US right now, but will be getting rod of two that are disappointing in their second year.

The Homebrewer's Garden recommends planting more than you plan to take care of and getting rid of those which don't perform well for you. There's some good information in that book but there's more in Grow-Hops and it's free--you don't need to buy the book. You can search for some things but feel free to ask questions there. With very nearly 3,000 members, there are plenty of others who want to discuss growing hops and other brewing herbs and grains, but the main discussion is about hops.

Don

 

[rysa555]

Can anyone suggest a good hop to grow?
I'm new to home brewing, doing only kits, generally either ales or lagers.
I like my veggie patch so would be keen to try this.
Cheers

 

[raven19]

Can anyone suggest a good hop to grow?
I'm new to home brewing, doing only kits, generally either ales or lagers.
I like my veggie patch so would be keen to try this.
Cheers

Any type you can get your hands on!

I had some Pride of Ringwood & Chinook that grew well in Adelaide (last season).

They are all 'essentially' weeds, and will grow well anywhere, so grab any type you can and get cracking!

 

[raven19]

For more hop growing info... Article Linky

 

[HoppingMad]

+1 Pride of Ringwood & Chinook. Everything I've read seems to support these two - POR can even grow in the hotter parts of Queensland quite happily.

Hallertau can grow well but depends on the area.

Have heard from people who have grown Perle and Fuggles that yields on flowers can be disappointing (this is from a backyard grower in Melb).

I had a Columbus that barely even grew off the ground last year - only about a foot high so I wouldn't recommend that one unless you have good ground and great fertiliser.

Have heard from a hop merchant that commercial growers are having some difficulty growing large yields of Summer Saaz in Tassie and they are high maintenance - not that I've seen any rhizomes about but something to bear in mind.

Hopper.

 

[drsmurto]

Love the chinook rhizome, its a bloody weed!

Had another brewer taste my chinook APA using home grown flowers and backed up my observation that its more like B Saaz than US chinook.

All good IMO :icon_drunk:

 

[pdilley]

feeling jazzed, had picked up POR and Chinook at the LHBS last week. Cant wait to try the Chinook hop cones and compare.

 

[jeddog]

Yep Hopswest are the best.....

I won a Cascade rhizomes on ebay last week for $47, not sure if thats a good price but was very very happy.

Planted it with the little brewer last night...



STOKED!!!!!
WET HOPPING HERE WE COME!!!!

 

[Stubbie]

Love the chinook rhizome, its a bloody weed!

+1

It's an alien!

 

[t2000kw]

Cascade seems to do well almost everywhere. In the Yahoo Group Grow-Hops, we get more good reports about it than any other type. Centennial is similar but a higher-alpha hop and also does pretty good, almost as well as Cascade. Both are great in an American pale ale. Probably in some other beers as well but I have only tried them in an APA and a pumpkin APA.

A more neutral hop that has done well for me is Nugget. Willamette has not done as well but it gets more shade, so it's not fair to rule it out as a good performer based on my experience.

The best answer is that the best hop is one that will grow well for you, in your coil and climate conditions.

The Homebrewer's Garden book recommends planting more than you will want to keep, get rid of (or give away) the ones that don't perform well for you, and keep the ones that do.

I planted 13 last year. I got rid of two early this year, another two just got removed (with glyphosphate) to make room for two more (Saaz and Tettnanger). Centennial gets moved later this year to one of the latest "openings" and the Saaz will come out of the pot and go into the other spot.

Lots more information in the Grow-Hops group. See my earlier post for the link. There's about 3,000 members now.

Set up a separate folder for the messages and a filter to direct them into that folder. (That means that Gmail won't be a good email candidate, but Yahoo and Hotmail would.)

 

[Bizier]

I will add POR to the article, as it is supposed to be related to Australian hop growing. I had great success with this hop. I also had immense success with cluster, it rootbound an 8 inch pot in a month at the end of winter last year and threw shoots the size of my small finger once it was in the ground.

ED: Done

 

[WitWonder]

Yep Hopswest are the best.....

I won a Cascade rhizomes on ebay last week for $47, not sure if thats a good price but was very very happy.

Planted it with the little brewer last night...

You planted it now? I thought it was the first week of spring (or somewhere around there) that was the prime time?

 

[Quintrex]

You planted it now? I thought it was the first week of spring (or somewhere around there) that was the prime time?

I think it's only if you have a problem with frosts, and possibly if the night temperature doesn't get low enough for it to vernalize. As long as you are in a cool but relatively frost free area or make sure the tips are covered, you should be fine.

Q

 

[Bizier]

Yeah, if you put it into soil, it should throw hair roots that will be absorbing moisture and preparing the plant to take off when the time is right.

 

[Weizguy]

Cascade seems to do well almost everywhere. In the Yahoo Group Grow-Hops, we get more good reports about it than any other type. Centennial is similar but a higher-alpha hop and also does pretty good, almost as well as Cascade. Both are great in an American pale ale. Probably in some other beers as well but I have only tried them in an APA and a pumpkin APA.

A more neutral hop that has done well for me is Nugget. Willamette has not done as well but it gets more shade, so it's not fair to rule it out as a good performer based on my experience.

The best answer is that the best hop is one that will grow well for you, in your coil and climate conditions.

The Homebrewer's Garden book recommends planting more than you will want to keep, get rid of (or give away) the ones that don't perform well for you, and keep the ones that do.

I planted 13 last year. I got rid of two early this year, another two just got removed (with glyphosphate) to make room for two more (Saaz and Tettnanger). Centennial gets moved later this year to one of the latest "openings" and the Saaz will come out of the pot and go into the other spot.

Lots more information in the Grow-Hops group. See my earlier post for the link. There's about 3,000 members now.

Set up a separate folder for the messages and a filter to direct them into that folder. (That means that Gmail won't be a good email candidate, but Yahoo and Hotmail would.)

Saaz? really? I didn't think that we had any Saaz in this country due to quarantine laws.
is it perhaps another variety being sold under the Saaz name?

BTW, the herbicide's name is Glyphosate, not Glyphosphate. Commonly used to spray and destroy large illegal Cannabis and Coca crops in the southern Americas.

Saaz, if it is real Czech Saaz, is a hop I'd like to grow. Can anyone document the authenticity of this hop variety?

I'll be here waiting

 

[gap]

Saaz? really? I didn't think that we had any Saaz in this country due to quarantine laws.
is it perhaps another variety being sold under the Saaz name?

BTW, the herbicide's name is Glyphosate, not Glyphosphate. Commonly used to spray and destroy large illegal Cannabis and Coca crops in the southern Americas.

Saaz, if it is real Czech Saaz, is a hop I'd like to grow. Can anyone document the authenticity of this hop variety?

I'll be here waiting

Les,
I think you will find that t2000kw is in the USA not Australia.

 

[t2000kw]

I'm not familiar with the temperatures down under this time of year, but if it doesn't freeze, it should be OK. They are actually frost tolerant and a bit freeze tolerant, at least the above ground parts.

Here in the US, people generally plant them in the spring, the "best" time. If they plant it in late summer, they don't expect a harvest but it will grow the root/rhizome system. The longer the growing period, the better it will do the next season.

In your case, don't expect much out of it until the days get longer, like in the springtime. If it does anything, even a little growth, that's good for the underground part of the hop plant.

That would be a good topic for Grow-Hops. There must be some other Australian hop growers on the list out of the 3K members.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops/

If you think you might have a problem with your weather, you could put it in a large pot and grow it indoors with artificial light.

As for the lighting, at least with aquarium plants, it appears that the cheap florescent bulbs (around 3,500 to 4,000 Kelvin) do better than the Grow-Lux bulbs or the 10,000 Kelvin bulbs.

Hopefully, your hop will do fine. Generally, they do better in the ground than in pots, and if they are in pots, pots in the ground should do better than above ground since they will keep watered better.

If you decide you want to grow hops, save your money and get smaller rhizomes from a commercial source other than eBay. You got a really healthy looking rhizome that will probably do very well much faster than a small one, and these DO cost considerably more than small ones, but in the US at least, we can get rhizomes for less than USD $6.00. Some sources are in our links section of Grow-Hops:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grow-Hops/li...s_001197133665/

You may need to join to see the links, but here's two:

http://brewerschoice.net.au/html/contact%20us.htm

http://www.grainandgrape.com.au/articles_o...prhizomes01.htm

According to the last link, the time for buying hop rhizomes is in July, so you're only a little bit early. GrainandGrape have these varieties:

Chinook, Pride of Ringwood, Cluster, Goldings, Hallertau, Hersbrucker, Mount Hood, Nugget, Perle, Precoce dBourgogne, Tettnang, Willamette, Wuerttemberger

I have never heard of Wuerttemberger and Precoce dBourgogne, but you have some varieties in Australia that we don't have here. Same for Pride of Ringwood except aht I have heard of that one.

 

[t2000kw]

Les,
I think you will find that t2000kw is in the USA not Australia.

You are right. I live in the USA, but I'm a "citizen of the world" in a sense.

 

[altone]

You planted it now? I thought it was the first week of spring (or somewhere around there) that was the prime time?

I've already planted a couple of rhizomes in pots and am keeping them in one of those cheap plastic coldframe/greenhouses.

Don't know if it's the right thing to do for hops as this is my first season with them, but I know it works well with other frost intolerant plants to give them a headstart for spring.

I've done this for years with various plants that struggle to fruit before the end of of the season down here in Melbourne.