Growing hops

[thatguy314]

So I ordered some hops the other day

2 cascade rhizomes
1 chinook
1 magnum

Pretty much all I could find that I was interested in for a first purchase.

I've since heard that you should really only use home-grown hops for late additions because you don't have a good idea of the alpha acid content.

Magnum's a bittering hop. It rangest form 10-13% usually. 2.5oz of 10 is basically 2 oz of 13, so I'm not sure I could get correct bitterness every time. It's supposed to be easy to grow, but once you get it in, it's supposed to be a huge pain to remove the rhizome completely. Is it worth planting then?

On a side note, Magnum's known as a great clean bittering hop. Does it have any flavor of its own?

[Thirsty Mallard]

What do you mean by "remove the rhizome completely"?

[oneal66]

You can still bitter with homegrown hops. You just have to estimate the alpha content. I think that most people just estimate based on the average yield during the year.

Grow and give it a shot. I think the rhizomes are tough to remove once they get established, but I don't think that its impossible.

[Thirsty Mallard]

Am I missing something? Why do I want to remove the rhizome?

[thatguy314]

What do you mean by "remove the rhizome completely"?

I have a limited space I can use, so if I decide I'd rather have a different hop variety I'd have to remove it. Once they're planted, they're fairly difficult to remove.

[Thirsty Mallard]

Ok, that makes more sense. You want to plant something else in its place. This is my first year to grow hops and I thought I was missing something!

[Field]

So I ordered some hops the other day

2 cascade rhizomes
1 chinook
1 magnum

Pretty much all I could find that I was interested in for a first purchase.

I've since heard that you should really only use home-grown hops for late additions because you don't have a good idea of the alpha acid content.

Magnum's a bittering hop. It rangest form 10-13% usually. 2.5oz of 10 is basically 2 oz of 13, so I'm not sure I could get correct bitterness every time. It's supposed to be easy to grow, but once you get it in, it's supposed to be a huge pain to remove the rhizome completely. Is it worth planting then?

On a side note, Magnum's known as a great clean bittering hop. Does it have any flavor of its own?

I think you are correct on all of those points. I'm a fellow 1st year home hop grower, I'm not worried about my Cascade, but I'm also planting Willamette, Mt. Hood and Goldings, and if those don't grow I'll want to pull them out.

1st ... if you know you're going to pull them out, bury a non-permeable item around their circumference such as a clay pot or some of that plastic weed barrier.

2nd .. if they're not growing above ground, how much are they growing below??? Sure hops might grow like a wolf, but if it's a variety not suited to your area it should be pretty easy to pull up compared to a robust varierty.

[Field]

also on the Magnum

I've been using Magnum in my lagers due to the lack of German aroma hops .. there is no obtrusive taste from it .. N.B. my lagers include pilsner malt so I'm doing 90 minute boils



for the A.A.
the first year try splitting a batch .. with one split use commercial hops with a known A.A. with the other split use your homegrown hops

compare the resulting beers for bitterness

once you've got that done you know what your hop plant turns out for A.A .. well this was 2/3 as bitter as beer made with 10 A.A. Magnum, so I've got a 6.6 A.A. Magnum, growing conditions will vary from year to year, so maybe repeat this experiment for a few years, after awhile you'll know what your plant does, after 3 years I imagine it would be pretty set

a lot of work I know, thats why I only went for the aroma types