Growing Hops in Containers update 07/26/2011

The hops have been chuggin along.  The recent severe heat hasn't been all that friendly to them.  The hops Centennial hops which are planted in the ground kept getting yellow leaves and then dying.  I figured they were getting too much due to all the rain we'd been getting last month.  So I was a little apprehensive about over-watering the hops.  I was watering once every two or three days.  Well now that it is over a 100 I think the hops are suffering quite a bit so I'm trying to get them watered every day.  Bugs also think my hop plants are a nice looking desert so I had to go buy some organic insecticidal soap.  I've been using it sparingly but I think I should be using it more as some entire leaves have been eaten off.  So with all the perils the hops are doing the best they can.  Hopefully at the end of the season I will have something to show.

Centennial planted in ground

The Centennial is doing fairly well but we have no cones developing yet.  Some leaves are starting to curl up from the heat presumably so I'm struggling to keep them adequately watered.

Hallertau

The Hallertau was the late bloomer but is looking healthier than all of the other plants.  No cones are visible yet and some of the leaves are curling up on this plant as well.

Cascade

 The Cascade started out the best and grew the fastest.  Their were cones starting to develop and all was looking well.  Then I came out one day and every single leaf on the main vine had curled up and was dying.  Now the only thing left is a secondary vine climbing the wooden stake itself.  I'm not sure if it was lack of water that caused the downturn or if it was my lack of pruning.  I didn't prune the plant at all and it was starting to get bushy down by the base.  Perhaps the excess growth could not be supported by the new root system and the plant started dying.  That's my guess.  So I pruned all of the plants the other day and started watering more.  I also started using Miracle grow fertilizer once a week on all of the plants.  I suppose this could also be the cause of the Cascades sudden down turn but all the other plants are fine.

Life's a garden, dig it?

Hop University – Day 3 How to choose hops for homebrew

It is the final day and you are close to graduating. This last bit is geared exclusively towards homebrewers and how to utilize the Hop University knowledge. For those of you who are not homebrewers, I do have a reference below from a Beer Advocate thread giving you examples of commercial brews with specific hop profiles. If you want to experience specific hop flavors, this list will be a good start. The Sam Adams Deconstructed sampler was a great way to try different hops profiles, but I think it is very close to being sold out in the area.


You have a good idea of what you want your hop profile to be, now what? Well now you have to do some leg work and pick out the hops which will fit your intended profile. Luckily, I’ve done most of the leg work for you. You have two choices for the resource you can use to help define the hops you will use. If you are doing a traditional style, you can find the style guidelines in the BJCP guide and it will usually tell you what hops to use. You can also find websites or books that will explicitly tell you what hops are traditional for a style. That is the easy way out.

The other avenue you may choose is to make up your own hop profile regardless of what tradition says. Going this way is a little more tricky because there are no guides on the internet for the style in your head. You have to decide what hops to use on your own. There are several great resources for the composition of hops and their oils. Yakima Chief and Hop Union provide Hop handbooks that list information like the Alpha Acid percentage, Beta Acid percentage, Cohumulone percentage, as well as the percentage of the four essential oils (Myrcene, Humulene, etc.). It will be a good idea to look at both handbooks as each will have more information in different areas than the other. You can now narrow down the hops that will fit into your intended hop profile.

Hop University - Day 2

OK homebrewers and the brave few who have made it to day 2.  Hop history is down, on to the fun stuff, how hops are used in beer making.  We’ve discussed that hops offer bitterness to beer which balances the sweet malt.  In order to get the bitterness out of the hops, they must first be boiled in the beer (wort).  The boiling causes the hop oils to isomerize and become soluble in the beer.  The hop oils contain two types of acids, Alpha acids and Beta acids.  Alpha acids provide the bittering component.  The Beta acids do not isomerize in the boil making them insoluble and provide only hop aroma to the beer.

Hops are typically rated based on their Alpha acid percentage by weight.  This rating gives the brewer a guideline for how much bitterness can be expected from a particular hop.  For example, a Cascade hop is around 4.5 Alpha acid % and a Galena hop is around 12.5 Alpha acid %.  So the brewer will need to use a lot less of the Galena hop at 12.5 AA% then they would Cascade at 4.5 AA% hop to get the same amount of bitterness.  Brewers measure the amount of expected bitterness for their beers with IBUs (International Bitterness Units).  The higher the IBUs, the higher the expected bitterness in the final beer.  Below are some typical values for certain styles of beer.

Light Lager (Bud Light, etc) – 5-10 IBU

Dry Stout (Guinness) – 30-45 IBU

American Pale Ale (Sierra Nevada) – 30-45 IBU

American IPA (Founder’s Centennial) – 40-60 IBU

Double IPA (Stone Ruination) - 60-120 IBU

Generally speaking the higher the IBU the more bitter the beer will be.  Although the Dry Stout and the American Pale Ale have the same IBUs, the stout has sweet malts which will balance the bitterness.  So even though they could have the same IBU, the stout will seem less bitter because of its sweeter malt components.

Now that we know how hops provide bitterness to beer, we need to figure out what is it going to taste like.  There are two types of Alpha acids, Humulone and Cohumulone.  Humulone is thought to provide the softer more desirable bitterness.  Cohumulone in contrast is thought to be harsher in its bitterness and therefore less desirable.  The next consideration is the four main essential oils in hops which contribute to flavor.  They are Myrcene, Humulene, Caryophyllene, and Farnesene .  The two oils that brewers are concerned with (at least I only worry about the two) are Myrcene and Humulene.  Myrcene lends a more citrusy and tropical note to the beer while Humulene has a more spicy and floral signature.   With information regarding the Cohumulone levels and the amounts of the essential oils in particular hops, brewers can get a good idea of what hop characteristics they can expect from their finished brew.  Below are some examples of hop flavor characteristics for certain styles.

IPA – Bell’s Two Hearted – uses Centennial hops which are high in Myrcene causing big citrus and grapefruit character.

Pilsner – Pilsner Urquell  - Uses Saaz hops which are high in Humulene lending a mellow spice and floral note.

American Lager – Sam Adams Boston Lager – uses Hallertau which is high in Humulene making it spicy.  It is also low in Cohumulone so the bitter is more pleasant and less aggressive.

IPA – Bridgeport The Czarr – is brewed with Chinook hops which are high in Cohumulone and give it a very aggressive, harsh bitter character.

 References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hops

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Adlupulone#Adlupulone

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/3808775

Hop University - Day 1

Ever wonder how to choose hops for your homebrew? Ever think, I don’t homebrew so what the hell is a hop? Well fret no longer because I present to you over the next couple of days Hop University! In my personal quest to brew an IPA, I have conducted extensive research on hops. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and Founder’s Centennial IPA inspired me to single hop my IPA. So I set off on a quest to pick my one magical hop that will make FatCat’s IPA the best ever. My research, coupled with the Sam Adams Deconstructed sampler, has given me great insight into which hop I will choose. If you wish to attend Hop University proceed onward and bask in the knowledge of hoppy goodness.




Day 1 – Background and History of Hops

Hops (Humulus Lupus) are used in today’s brew to provide a bitter flavor to balance the sweetness of the malt. Only the female flowers/cones are used in the brewing process. The bitter flavor was the original reason for brewers to use hops in brew, but hops had a much greater impact on the brew and those who drank it than flavor alone.

The first documented cultivation of hops was in the year 736 in the Hallertau region of present day Germany. Hops were not used in beer in that area until 1079. Before then brewers used dandelion, burdock root, marigold, horehound, ground ivy and Heather as bittering agents. When hops are used in the brewing process, it not only provides a bittering element but also provides an antibiotic effect to help ward off bacterial infections. The Discovery Channel documentary, “How Beer Saved the World”, explained how the beer and the hops used in the beer had health benefits for people in the past. Hops prevented the beer from spoiling and provided a safe alternative to water. Untreated water will eventually develop bacteria that would cause illness and even death in ancient times. Beer which had been boiled with hops was more resistant to bacteria and could be consumed with lower risk of getting sick. Beer was also prescribed to treat illnesses in ancient times. It turns out the chemicals from the hops actually have a limited medicinal effect which can help treat some illness.

Hops are a climbing plant and grow on vines. These vines can grow upward of 25ft in a single season. The main hop producing regions are Hallertau in Germany, Yakima Valley in Washington, Williamette in Oregon, Canyon County in Idaho, Kent and Worcestershire in the UK. Only female plants are allowed in the hop fields to prevent pollination. The hop cones are harvested and dried before being used for brewing. Commercially the only major use for hops is in beer with some other minor uses in other beverages. Hops are also used in herbal medicine to treat anxiety, restlessness, and insomnia. But beware hops are not all rainbows and butterfly dust, they are toxic to dogs. So don’t let Fido eat any.

The source for most of my information was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hops.