Hop Harvest

[Aust1227]

I love brewing and gardening. So it makes sense to grow my own hops. ONly problem is, I have been told they won't grow in Florida.. THEY WILL!! And I have pictures to prove it.

Here are the 8 month old hoplings. I was told if they grew at all I could only expect 6' - 8' of growth the first year. So I gave them an 8' trellis.. They tried to kill the trellis, one vine grew up-down-up-down-halfway up (36')!!
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z267/Aust15/DSCF0009.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z267/Aust15/DSCF0012.jpg

They hops on there is one plant of chinook and one plant of cascade.. These are Chinooks that I am holding in my hand.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z267/Aust15/DSCF0011.jpg

Wet weight of these guys was a little over two pounds. They looked and smelled great.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z267/Aust15/DSCF0014.jpg

I layed them out and prepared them for the de-hydrater.
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z267/Aust15/DSCF0015.jpg

When finished, I had 6oz of dried hops. Ready to brew with whenever I am ready!!
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z267/Aust15/DSCF0018.jpg

[sunsetpizza]

I'm not into gardening or brewing at all, but I gotta say, your raised beds, kegerator, and enthusiasm for what you grow and brew is terrific. almost inspires me to do it - almost but not quite. ;)
I'll bet those hops smell great. I lived 5 blocks from Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis for years and loved the smell of the brew!

Keep the pictures coming as the harvest comes in. I'll go to the grocery store and pretend I'm eating some home grown stuff ;)

[Irish]

Very Nice! What was the reason they supposedly shouldn't grow in FL, too hot/humid? This and the home brew thread has started me on researching a starter home brew setup of my own...

[Aust1227]

Very Nice! What was the reason they supposedly shouldn't grow in FL, too hot/humid? This and the home brew thread has started me on researching a starter home brew setup of my own...

Too hot.. Too humid.. Not enough daylight.. Too many crop eating bugs.. I have heard all kinds of reasons. But, I get sick of excuses and just try to grow whatever I want, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!

Brewing is a ton of fun. I highly recommend it! Jump right in, but do a lot of research and ask yourself how in depth you want to get.. By deciding what you want ahead of time you can save yourself a lot of money by not buying all the transitional crap that you will soon outgrow.

[Doctor_XXX]

Well done! Nothing like "fresh" hops! Damn...I can almost smell them via da intertoobz!!! :rolleyes: They don't grow very well in Southern California, either. Dang.

By deciding what you want ahead of time you can save yourself a lot of money by not buying all the transitional crap that you will soon outgrow.Some of the best advice, ever! Jump in, don't be afraid...but do some research ahead of time & don't feel like you have to start with the cheapest equipment. For example, a bigger, nicer brew pot/kettle could always be used to boil lobsters or pasta, if necessary! :cool:

[sunsetpizza]

Here's a cool article about a home brewer who's trying to make it big. I read it yesterday on a St. Louis newspaper website.

POKIN AROUND: A man, his dream, and beer

By Steve Pokin
Monday, August 25, 2008 9:21 AM CDT

Follow the tubing from the boiler - your standard turkey fryer - down the back stairs. Into the basement of this St. Charles house. You'll find a 6½-gallon glass container, called a carboy.

There's another one, a blue carboy, "rescued" from a pharmaceutical company.

"Look at this thing, isn't it great?" asks Sean Sweeney, who lives here.There are beakers and bottles, large and small, with and without labels. Some are filled with liquid and have handwritten stickers: MB1, MB2, MB3, MB4.

There's a glass container of a red fluid. A bag of beechwood chips. A 25-kilo sack of European grain. A milk container labeled "Orange Blossom Honey, spring 2008."

We've got old soda-syrup canisters. And more grain - buckwheat and sorghum.

In the clutter is a gram scale. As well as an old baby's scale from a pediatrician's office. Plus more tubing.

What's this man up to? Should someone call the FBI?

STARTS WITH A DREAM

Sweeney, 40, is a tall man (6 foot 2) with a big dream. It's not an Olympic dream. It involves beer.

For 17 years he's been a home brewer. He cut his teeth on wine and moved on to beer. That's not to say there weren't other adventures in fermentation.

"Sean has been experimenting on us for 20 years," says longtime friend Vince Nack of St. Charles. "He has made everything from cider to wine to a particular cherry moonshine that had us howling at the moon."

Sweeney wants to be a professional brewer. He wants, someday, to own a brewery and sell his own beer.

Oh sure, you say, just like every Little Leaguer wants to be a big-leaguer. What are the chances?

It's a tough road, but Sweeney has talent and persistence. He routinely wins brewing awards and in 1997 created a gluten-free beer that gathered national attention after he met a man with celiac disease - an autoimmune intolerance to all forms of wheat and related grains.

On Wednesday night Sweeney stepped closer to his dream when he pulled a custom tap handle - which he made - and drew the first glass of his very own beer at the Buffalo Brewing Co., 3100 Olive St. in St. Louis.

This time he wasn't giving it away. It cost $3.75 a glass. There should be enough to last a month.

The beer, Belgian Dubbel, was made from Sweeney's recipe. He also did much of the grunt work when the brewing process started at the pub July 19.

Dave Johnson, the brewer at Buffalo Brewing, could have picked anyone. But he immediately thought of Sweeney and his Belgian Dubbel.

"For one thing, every time I've had it it's been fantastic," said Johnson, 46, who also works as a brewer at O'Fallon Brewery.

The plan at Buffalo Brewing is to intermittently feature various other home brews. Owner Dushan Manjencich wants to offer something different at his pub, which opened in March.

"The Belgian Dubbel can create some excitement," he said.

REJECTION AND 'BEER BOMBS'

Sweeney has come a long way. In his early days, friends were not always enthusiastic when he showed up at parties with samples of his developing craft.

"I've had my fair share of dogs in my time," he says.

Home brewers cannot sell their finished product, he says. They either drink it or give it away.

"Most people would be cordial and try to be polite," he says. "You can tell from their first sip it wasn't so good. They really didn't need any more of it."

He also had the occasional "beer bomb," when mistakes in carbonation caused sealed bottles to explode.

But all that's changed. Friends today often request one of his brews for parties and housewarmings.

Sweeney still makes an occasional honey wine, also called mead, for weddings. In fact, he became a minister via the Internet so he could preside at friends' weddings. He once dressed as a monk, officiated, and then served his wine.

WHY A BREWER?

First of all, Sweeney says, it's a creative outlet.

"It's similar to cooking," he says. "Formulating a recipe is a very creative act."

Brewers typically are a cross between artist and nerd, he says. It takes an artist to experiment with new ingredients and new combinations of hops, malts and yeasts, he says.

But it also takes a nerd - or someone with a scientific bent - to make meticulous, recorded measurements of ingredients, temperatures and times. Without that, he says, when you finally hit something good you have little chance of replicating it.

Sweeney, a 1986 graduate of St. Charles West High School, lettered in drama. He worked behind the scenes in set construction and lighting.

"I gravitated toward the nerd end of what would typically be considered an artistic high school experience," he says.

He was drawn to brewing for many reasons. There are the social aspects. He shares his brews and is an active member of two home-brewers clubs: the St. Louis Brews, with 140 members in St. Louis County, and the Garage Brewers Society, with 50 members in St. Charles County, which meets monthly at the O'Fallon Brewery.

Finally, there's something else derived from brewing your own beer, he says.

The beer.

"You have to love beer," he says.

THIS MAGIC MOMENT

For Wednesday's debut, Sweeney made his own tap handle. It includes a picture of a monk. Trappist monks first brewed Belgian Dubbel 500 years ago. They made it during Lent, Sweeney says, because of its nutritious value. The monks considered the hearty brew a "liquid bread."

Although the basic ingredients are the same, not all Belgian Dubbels are identical. Just like not all hamburgers are the same.

The time has come. Sweeney moves behind the bar and draws the first glass.

"Now that's a great-looking beer," he says.

The brew is served in snifter glasses, which have a bowl that narrows at the top. The servings are only 10 ounces because of the high alcohol content: 7 percent. A typical beer is 4 to 5 percent.

About 25 people are in the pub. Most are from the home-brew clubs. They are complimentary of their friend's beer and use words like "clean," "fresh" and "fruity."

At a far booth is Stacy Connelly, 25, of the Central West End. He does not know Sweeney. Connelly just finished a six-beer sampler and judged Sweeney's the best.

"It's got a good, bold flavor," Connelly says. But unlike some of the other samples, he says, "it wasn't overwhelming."

For Sweeney, the night is a success. (He was reimbursed for expenses, but was not paid.)

"It could be a nice jumping-off point to help me get into this business," he says.

His livelihood of today is computer repair and consulting. He is single, never married, and lives with his mother in her home. He moved back after a virus attacked his heart in 2004. He was on a heart transplant list when the swelling subsided.

Sweeney poses for photos at the front of the bar with friends. They hoist their snifters.

In terms of life's milestones, Sweeney ranks this night, this accomplishment, as a sweet moment.

"It's right up there with being born," he says.

[Irish]

Brewing is a ton of fun. I highly recommend it! Jump right in, but do a lot of research and ask yourself how in depth you want to get.. By deciding what you want ahead of time you can save yourself a lot of money by not buying all the transitional crap that you will soon outgrow.

Thanks, definitely good advice from what I've read so far! :) I figured I could save a few bucks by bypassing the typical "Mr Beer" or bucket fermenter starter kits and skip right to a decent carboy/better bottle setup. I don't plan on doing all that much for now as I'll be brewing in the kitchen in my basement/cave and don't have the room or setup area for a nice permanent setup (no garage :(). That'll be a must for my next house :D

[Blake]

And always remember....Sam Adams brewery started out as a guy in his kitchen with an electric stove and a pasta pot who wanted to make his own beer.....So should we start talking now about franchising deals for the "All-in Poker Lounge and Brew Haus" ? haha

[syklopz]

Aust,
in March the Family and I will be moving to a place where I will have some space to garden. I'm planning hops, sweet peppers, chilies, plum tomatoes, and some flowers. Any chance I can talk you into a few rhizomes when I get my garden going?

[Aust1227]

I just burried my first vine, seeing if I can get it to sprout some root cuttings, I will let you know how it works out, and if it propogates I would be more than happy to send you a few.

[tele_pathic]

Aust,

Those look awesome. I never progressed past my Mr.Beer keg, but I've always wanted to get deeper into home brewing. Some of the set-ups here look enticing.

TP