ok another offshoot from the brewing thread....i'm wanting to do this but i want to start with my own fresh hops.

does anyone grow their own or can recommend a certain type or place to order from? i prefer lager type beers, semi-dark is ok.

 

My boss grows his own hops. He's really good at making beer too. He's usually a judge at national competitions. I can ask him what he recommends.

 

i'm as new as it gets to this stuff. also i need something that will grow in my climate which should be similar to to yours. My mother is a horticulturist so i won't have any problems with the actual planting and care.

 

FYI, if you plan to grow hops THIS season, you might need to get a real move on. IIRC the last time I looked into growing them, the rhizomes ship in early spring, but are sold out months in advance. You might even be too late for this season.

Northern Brewer used to be my favorite source for homebrew equipment, if my memory serves they sell rhizomes too.

 

if that's the case, then oh well. My research came up with planting no later than the first week in may. though no harvestable hops till 2nd season. hadn't planned on them selling out

 

a quick check of NB shows they are in fact not selling at this time, but Freshops Rhizome Varieties seems to show that they are.

now that i'm not drunk and can process information correctly -

don't let home-grown hops factor into your calculations when deciding whether you want to homebrew or not. at least for your first few batches, you'll want things as simple as they get, and that means hop pellets. when you're trying to refine your technique to make GOOD beer, you want as much consistency as possible - that means the only thing that should be inconsistent is your technique - which means your ingredients should be high quality. use a good liquid yeast (XL smack packs from Wyeast, or tubes from White Labs), excellent malts (start with extracts, not grains), and consistent hops (again, pellets). the alpha acid percentage of your fresh hops would be all but impossible to determine, and that's an important number for a young brewer.

besides, you don't want to waste your fresh hops in the bittering additions, you want to use them as aroma additions or dry hopping.

so, in short (damn, i still sound drunk, that's not good):
go learn to brew beer with hop pellets. plant your rhizomes. if you brew once once every 8-12 weeks, you'll be ready to use them by their second year

 

Hey man, take a trip to Montgomeryville and hit up Keystone Home Brewing on 309 by the mall. They sell hop growing stuff there too, along with everything else under the sun.

 

good call, funny thing is my wife said the same thing. I must have passed by that place hundreds of times. Checked out their website and they are taking orders. I think i'm just gonna go in there friday. after work