Our First Year Of Growing Hops
We originally were only experimenting this year with growing hops, since Ryan has been enjoying brewing his own beer. We had no idea that our plants would yield some much! The twine we used to attach to the roof began to sag quite a bit from all the weight.
Cascade hops are very fragrant, typically found in northwest IPA’s giving beer the bitterness and aroma. They especially thrive in Oregon and Washington, and are a hardy perennial is easily grown at home. Be sure to provide ample space for growth, they can average about two feet per week. Yes… They grow fast!
We planted 3 small hop plants on the side of our home this spring.
They grew up the stake and to the roof, along some twine.
By the time we harvested the 3 plants we had 2.5 gallons of hops.
After harvesting, the hops need to be dried out and then properly stored. Ryan laid them inside some two screens to dry out. For brewing, you typically need about 3-5 ounces of hops for a five gallon batch of home brew. Ryan was hoping to get enough hops to make a batch of beer, instead we have enough hops for several batches!
We didn’t want to use our dehydrater when we could just use the sun!
I am sure we will follow up with Ryan’s next batch of beer, a batch he has already named Cascade Crush. If your interested in growing your own hops for next year, we planted three plants about 18 inches apart in full sun. To be honest I wasn’t even very good at fertilizing them, so I would say they are very hardy!
Thanks for stopping by, Happy gardening! Cheers!
Have a beautiful Sunday friends!
#colecampfireblog, #gardening, #hops, #harvestinghops, #beer, #plants, #cascadehops, #hopharvest, #homebrew,
Categories: beer, Blogging, brewing, Gardening, Harvesting
Holy mackerel those are gorgeous plants! My husband made beer once but he purchased everything on line. I’m curious, I have a food dehydrator, do you think it would work just as good drying them out in the dehydrator?
Thank you! Yes it would, I was going to put them in our dehydrater but it puts off so much heat I wanted to try this first…
Good luck!
Oh, how fun! And so smart, Lana! I love all the ideas you two come up with!
They look like beautiful plants! I have no idea how to brew beer, but it sounds like an awesome project for you!
What beautiful hops. I wish we could grown them in Alaska.
We were surprised how well they grew here… what type of garden are you able to grow in your area?
The hops will grow here but will never produce. It is sad. We can grow cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes. We can grow carrots but they usually end up being short. We have a very short grow season here.
Wow, that is too bad about hops… I would be bummed if we had a shorter growing season here. Always trade offs, I guess… I follow a photo blog in Alaska that is so gorgeous! Bears and eagles all the time… I’d love to visit!
Holy cow, that is awesome! I have a mini garden in my apartment… Wonder if I could start growing hops!! 🙂
Could be fun to try!
I think hops are so beautifully decorative! Yours look abundant – i’ve only got a few!
I agree they are, and they grow so fast! That’s too bad, with your hops. I think we are just in the right climate for them… I didn’t do anything special caring for them and they sort of went crazy for a first year plant. ☀️