Time to grow your own hops!

It’s nearly spring, and the rhizome sales are popping up on every homebrew supply site on the web.  That means it’s time to think about planting your own hops.

If you’ve never done this and you’re a homebrewer or gardener, you should try it.  Buy a single hop plant and put it in the ground.  Or, better yet, talk to the guys in your homebrew club and ask anyone if they have any rhizomes they’d like to share for free.  Homebrewers who grow their own hops have to trim back the root ball periodically, and many of those homebrewers love to share the hop love.

If you’re not a brewer, you should still grow some and find a home brewer with which to trade.  Offer to trade your hops for some of their beer.  They won’t refuse. 

If you’re interested in growing your own, you might want to check out the Homebrewer’s Garden, or at least read this.

I started growing mine last year.  I have four Cascades and a Tettnanger in my back yard, and I managed to talk my mother in law into planting four Centennial and four Willamette plants at her house last year.  The first year production wasn’t pretty, but I attribute that more to the drought we had here than to anything else.

I bought my hops at Great Lakes Hops for a single reason: They sell whole hop crowns, not just little sticks to bury.  It gives you a head start and can give you a larger yield in the first year.  Of course, that didn’t matter last year because of the drought, but seemed like it was worth in my hop-eyed fantasy world where I would grow hundreds of pounds of hops to share with every homebrewer I’ve ever met.

Speaking of hop-eyed fantasies, I know a couple of guys who are working to make theirs a reality.  Two friends of mine are working on their first commercial hop-growing venture right here in the Ozarks.  I’ll not give too many details right now, as they’ll be coming on the show before long, but they will be planting a quarter acre of hops as a trial this year.  If things go well, you may be drinking their wares in a harvest ale brewed locally by this fall.  I’ll write some more about them later. 

Anyway, happy growing.  Let me know if you have a good year at it.  Maybe we’ll work out a trade.

Gluten-Free Beer Recipe for Big Brew Day

I posted recently about the AHA Big Brew Day.  Here's the recipe I came up with for the More Fun Blonde.  It's pretty simple, really.  I substituted the Breiss Sorghum syrup for the pale malt extract and I subbed in the T-58 Belgian yeast (dry) for the liquid yeast, which tends to have small amounts of gluten in it.  If you're not a celiac and not allergic, the yeast substitution may not be a big deal, but this yeast is gluten-free, so if you are a celiac, I'd stick with it.

On a similar note, you should also be very careful about your corn sugar.  Verify with your homebrew supplier that the corn sugar they use is gluten-free.  Some corn sugars are produced in plants that also produce wheat and barley products, and cross contamination can be dangerous for those with severe allergies.

If you're interested in seeing the other recipes converted to a gluten-free recipe, let me know.  I'll be happy to take a crack at it for you.  I'll not guarantee it will taste exactly the same as the non-gluten-free versions, but they will be good. I think this recipe for the blonde ale will be pretty close, though.  the spiciness of the sorghum will probably be hidden somewhat by the spiciness of the yeast, adding some great depth to the character of the beer.  Give it a try and let me know if you like it.

Big Brew Day, Gluten Free Brewing, and Free Food.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted to this blog.  Between my day job, the radio show, and the homebrew club, I’ve been pretty busy.  Plus, my garage is a wreck and I need to sort it out before I can really pick things back up from where I left off. 

So, I’ve decided to set a deadline to resume my brewing on Big Brew Day this year.  May the 4^th be with you.  Why Star Wars Day?  Because it’s also the American Homebrewers’ Association (AHA) Big Brew Day.  Big Brew Day will unite AHA members and the home brewing community in an effort to raise awareness and educate people about home brewing as a hobby.  Each year, the AHA releases recipes which everyone who participates will brew.  They then tally up the amount of brew and publish the total number of gallons of each beer produced.  It’s a fun way to show solidarity and to participate in a rally in your area.