Home Brew in Donegal: grow your own hops

Monday, September 10, 2012

Grow Your Own Hops

So much better than grapes, and loads easier to grow!

I did try to grow and malt my own barley, last year. This year I'm letting that go to the professionals. However, I am sucessfully growing my own hops. And to help anyone else trying to do the same, or wishing to, read this:

www.gyohops.blogspot.ie

Within this new, small site you'll find much of the information needed to buy, grow, harvest dry and brew. It's a great aside to the homebrew hobby (sorry, not hobby, um... art), and when I harvest later this week I'm sure it'll prove to be a worthwhile one too.

I hope the information proves useful or inspiring: and if I can grow hops way up where I'm living, then anybody can anywhere.

http://www.gyohops.blogspot.ie/

Bookworm:

Brewing Britain, Andy Hamilton

Very excited to get this through the post, for a number of reasons. The book will guide you through every aspect of brewing, from growing and malting barley, growing your own hops, alsorts! However, that's the preamble to the main focus of the book, how to brew 'one of each' of the beer styles familiar to British drinkers.

Brew Like a Monk, Stan Heironymous

This was a loan from a NHC member, and it's going straight on my Christmas list. It's a fantastic book for anyone thinking about brewing Trappist style, or Belgian inspired beers. Frankly, I wasn't, but I well am now!

Brew Your Own Real Ale at Home, Roger Protz.
This book is a great addition to the library. Along with the usual stuff on mashing etc. that I'm familiar with, it's got over 100 grain recipes for cask ales from the UK. Can't wait to try Landlord, Felinfoel, Archer's Golden Bitter, and so on, with extract versions too. Not much about the yeast mind, but I suppose brewers are allowed some secrets.

Stan Heironymus's For the Love of Hops. It's a very pretty book, and very clever. Lots of science on aromatic propertieas, ideas on how to use hops in your beer, how to grow, and much more.

Pete Brown's Shakespeare's Local. I enjoyed it; it was a light read, not too bogged down in history or facts, but a nice glimpse into the life of a coaching inn. Not half as funny as his travelogues, but then maybe time-travel just isn't that funny. Not necessarily a brewing book, mind.