greg g Posted January 20, 2009 Report Posted January 20, 2009 Thinking of putting in some brewers hop plants this spring. Probably start with 16 to 20 vines. Try to keep them organic, wondering with last year's shortage, what kind of market there might be? Looks like they are currently selling from 2.00 to as much as 6 dollars per ounce. May try freeze drying some. Quote
Flatie46 Posted January 20, 2009 Report Posted January 20, 2009 I got a home beer making kit for Chistmas haven't tried it yet. Iv'e made wine in the past.The kit I got is a MR Beer homebrewers kit.Now if your into making it I'd be glad to sample it:D Quote
Norm's Coupe Posted January 20, 2009 Report Posted January 20, 2009 Careful with that homemade beer. It can be hazardous. When stationed at Granite City Army Depot we had a guy from one of the St. Louis suburbs stationed with us. One Saturday a few of us were going up to Washington, MO to visit another guys family for the day. So..........I gave the guy who lived in the St. Louis suburb a ride to his house on our way. His father was into home brewing. So........he gave one of the guys a bottle of fresh made beer. Of course it was warm and it was a hot day too. We got back into my 52 Dodge to head up to Washington, MO. I told the guy with the beer not to open that thing in my car until we got to Washington, MO. Well..........about half way up there while on the freeway he decides he's going to open it anyway. As soon as he got it partially open he realized it was going to really spew out. So.........he quick moved the cap off and stuck his thumb in the bottle opening to keep it from spewing all over the place. Then the idiot wants me to pull over so he can get out of the car. Told him no, he had to keep that thumb in there until I could get off the freeway. Also told him if he didn't and it got all over my car, he'd have to walk. Well..........the closest exit wasn't for another 20 miles. By the time I got to it and he got out of the car to release his thumb, his thumb was as red as a beet when he pulled it out of the bottle. Yes, he lost about half the bottle when he pulled out the thumb too. That's one of my favorite old army days stories. Don't know about the rest of you guys, but we always had a lot of fun, no matter where I was stationed. Quote
RobertKB Posted January 20, 2009 Report Posted January 20, 2009 Don't brew beer but makes lots of wine with a good buddy and former colleague of mine. If I have less than 100 bottles on hand, I think I am running short. Quote
Flatie46 Posted January 20, 2009 Report Posted January 20, 2009 I bought a book a while back that had all kinds of wine recipe's in it. Some were really strange like onion wine, can't even imagine that! Quote
homebrewer Posted January 21, 2009 Report Posted January 21, 2009 I am a master homebrewer with many awards to my credit. Including California State Fair Best of show Winner and many more 1st places. I'm Also a certified Beer judge. I have a couple of cascade hop plants growing in the garden and have had very good luck with them with minimal maintainence. The only problem with using home grown hops, is there is no way for the home grower to know the alpha acid content of the hops. Without that knowledge, it is impossible to duplicate a batch of beer from year to year because the bitterness will change depending upon the IBU's ( International Bittering Units) of the brew you are making. I'm still pretty new to this forum, but when it comes to beer, I would consider myself Zen Master. If you need any brewing help. let me know and I'll send you my E mail. George Quote
greg g Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Posted January 21, 2009 Thanks George. Check your PM. Quote
Norm's Coupe Posted January 21, 2009 Report Posted January 21, 2009 As mentioned before, I'm not into this stuff but..........here's a tip you may be able to use, if you can find one. I know a guy here that is into making home brewed bear and wine. Some years back we both knew a guy in charge of replacing medical equipment for a large clinic. They were tossing out several sterilizing units. So...........he got one of them. Said he could use it to help do something with the hops, don't remember what. I assume something to do with aging them faster. Like I said, not into that but for you that are, you can probably figure out why along those lines. Quote
Tim Frank Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 If you are seriously thinking of growing your own hops, beyond George's point that the results can be notoriously unpredictable, you should also try to match the type of hop to the type of beer that you intend to brew. Lagers do better with something like Hallertaur or ideally Saaz if you can get seeds. Ales are better with Goldings or Bramlings. Water type also has a large impact....hard water brews better ales....soft is better for Lagers. There is lots of reading material available on line, and if you want a specific rec, the best intermediate reference that I have run into is by a guy called Ken Shales titled Advanced Home Brewing. You could pick up a copy somewhere on line. Ken was a true guru and has a great way of explaining things. I used to brew in an old 25 gallon copper hot water tank with immersion heaters.....took longer to clean and polish than tto brew. Had a couple of 20 gallon oak barrels for fermenting and aging before bottling. A couple of moves and most of the gear got scattered across the country. There are now brew-on-premises plces here that allow all the benefits of brewing your own with none of the mess and space constraint. They have steam kettles and great equipment as well. Quote
greg g Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Posted January 22, 2009 Not planning on brewing just selling the crop. There is a bit of an initiative regionally to attempt to bring hops growing back to the area. Quote
Don Coatney Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 They were tossing out several sterilizing units. Called an autoclave. Do a search on the bay. I got 150 hits price ranges from one hundred bucks to several thousand. Quote
randroid Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Gents, My brother is a research biologist who needed an autoclave for a project at home but didn't want to pay the price of one so bought a pressure cooker instead. He pointed out that except for having a lid rather than a door they do exactly the same job. -Randy Quote
Norm's Coupe Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Called an autoclave. Do a search on the bay. I got 150 hits price ranges from one hundred bucks to several thousand. Don, I'll take your word for it being an autoclave. :D Not into medical equipment. That price range is a lot more than we use to get the stuff for from the medical clinic though. We use to get all kinds of equipment for free. If we or one of their employees didn't take the stuff, it went in the dump. We got some really nice stuff out of there over a few years. Those doctors evidently don't like to keep things more than about a year. Most of the stuff didn't have a scratch on it. No wonder our medical cost are so high. Another guy we know that has a small machine shop business has steel floor cabinets from the same clinic that stretch about 50 feet along one wall and about 4 feet high, then the wall cabinets to match from the same clinic. Last time I was in his shop, he still had a bunch of them in his storage room for future use. Quote
MacGyver Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Give this a good read: http://home.netcom.com/~dluzanp/backyard.htm Regarding Homebrewer's comment on Alpha Acid content, see the section of the above link towards the bottom of the page titled: "Estimating Hop Bitterness" Quote
homebrewer Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Good article on the hop. I had never seen or heard of the method described to estimate hop bitterness before. I guess you learn something everyday. George Quote
greg g Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Posted January 22, 2009 Hope all that tasting doesn't do the same thing that it did when my grandmother made catnip tea.....not good to see an old lady rolling arounf and chasing a yarn ball............................ Quote
Don Coatney Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Hope all that tasting doesn't do the same thing that it did when my grandmother made catnip tea.....not good to see an old lady rolling arounf and chasing a yarn ball............................ I am not so sure....How old was the old lady rolling around chasing the yarn ball? :D Quote
greg g Posted January 22, 2009 Author Report Posted January 22, 2009 Hey Coatney, the operative word was Grandmother, and she would have washed your mouth out with Fels Napths just for having that thought flash through you littl pea brain......... Quote
Don Coatney Posted January 22, 2009 Report Posted January 22, 2009 Hey Coatney, the operative word was Grandmother, and she would have washed your mouth out with Fels Napths just for having that thought flash through you littl pea brain......... Careful Greg, I am married to a grandmother and you may be well qualified for the grand status soon..... I almost forgot what a mouthful of soap tasted like:p Quote
homebrewer Posted January 23, 2009 Report Posted January 23, 2009 Don't worry, relax. Have a home brew. ( This is the motto of the American Homebrewers Association) George Quote
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