Reddit reviews The Homebrewer's Garden: How to Easily Grow, Prepare, and Use Your Own Hops, Malts, Brewing Herbs

I'm selling all my home brew equipment and books asking 300, its an all or nothing deal sorry. I will provide pictures for any one interested.

1-glass carboy and hauler

1-bottling bucket with spout

1-fermenting bucket with lid

1-1 gallon glass carboy

1-2 gallon bucket

1-Hydrometer

3-Air locks

1-Thermometer

1-wood stirring paddle

1-40 quart stock pot

1-turkey fryer with the timer removed

1-20lb empty propane tank

1-capper and about 50 -60 beer bottle caps

1-corker for wine bottles and some corks

Auto siphon, tubing, racking cane,some PBW cleaner and Star Sanitizer left over, I have I think 12 empty wine bottles and probably have about an empty case worth of beer bottles.....I mean pretty much everything you need to brew or make wine.

Books are listed below and are in great shape.

How to Brew Beer

Designing Great Beer

For The Love of Hops

Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation

Hop Variety hand book

The Homebrewer's Garden

First and foremost, did someone slip acid into my beer? Or are you guys seeing that too?


On a more serious note, this looks like a pretty good setup. However, it is my understanding that hops like full sunlight. Someone correct me if I am wrong here, but that is what I remember from when I grew hops (going on 4 years ago now). I'm up in Massachusetts though so maybe having some shade during the day will be good for the plants in the south because there it is hotter and you get more sun/direct sunlight.

Also, how long are those ropes? I had my plants growing up about 12' of rope and they got pretty bunched up at the top. I think that could have grown another 3-6 feet easily, more in the following years. I think once established, the bines can grow up to 20'.

Have you checked out The Homebrewer's Garden? I found it very helpful when I was growing.

Anyway keep at it.

Cheers!

Nice to see a fellow brewer who loves the classics. :) My kettle is MY happiness machine. XD
Oh, found a book. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. The Homebrewer's Garden. Although the recipe in here is a dandelion bitter, with hops. Still looking for THE book.

There is a really good book about doing exactly this. I think the guys where on an episode of basic brewing too.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Homebrewers-Garden-Prepare-Brewing/dp/1580170102

You can grow your own hops and grain for brewing. But why stop there? You can grow a lot of herbs that you can use in brewing and cooking. Grow some chillis (Peppers) make your own hot sauce, grow some cabages and other veggies make your own saurkraut and other fermented foods.

Gardening isn't really all that hard. Get yourself a book or ask for some advice over at /r/gardening.

I just planted some rhizomes last year, so I'm hardly an expert!

I learn a log from following these guys: http://www.greatlakeshops.com/hops-blog. They are more geared for commercial endeavors, but I've learned a lot from reading them. I also follow them on Facebook.

Also:
http://msue.anr.msu.edu/topic/info/hops
https://www.amazon.com/Homebrewers-Garden-Easily-Prepare-Brewing/dp/1580170102

I also watched whatever youtube videos I could find about hopgrowing.

I just finished a recipe I got out of Charlie P's "Microbrewed Adventures" and it turned out nice. It's more of a craft beer history book though, but it really is a cool read for the "why" of homebrewing. As far as the "how" goes, http://www.amazon.com/Homebrewers-Garden-Easily-Prepare-Brewing/dp/1580170102 is pretty cool. Comes with a lot of nice recipes for using things you can find it your back yard. Hops, juniper, dandelions, whatever. Has a recipe for Sahtti I've been meaning to try out for a while now.

The Homebrewer's Garden is a pretty good resource. Some very interesting beer recipes that use herb mixtures instead of hops.

Malting is a lot of work. Check out The Homebrewer's Garden (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Homebrewers-Garden-Prepare-Brewing/dp/1580170102). There is a small section that covers malting and I can imagine the process is very similar for alternative grains.

I have grown my own barley, but never have done the malting yet for the same reason you pointed out. If you can buy malted millet, then that is the way I would go with.

If you're getting at least 6 hours of sun the plants should be okay, but I wouldn't expect much out of them.

The pots will be a problem though. You should really try to find something bigger or they are going to get root bound in no time. Some sources suggest a pot with a 20" diameter.

Lastly, be careful with fertilizing especially in pots. Over-fertilization is more detrimental than under-fertilizing.

If you are interested in growing things to use in beer, might I suggest herbs and spices. The Homebrewer's Garden talks about growing grain and hops, but it also has a large section on brewing herb. A lot of those plants would tolerate the small space or lack of southern sky.

Yes, but not very well. I have cascade and fuggles, and the japanese beetles love them. The cascade blooms don't get very big, and the fuggles is new, I kind of pared it back this summer to let the roots grow. The cascade vines are getting wild, growing all over the place. I have a very clay-ey soil amended with some sand and compost, on a western exposure. I think I need to move to get more sunlight, and add miracle grow liberally.

There are a number of good books on growin your own hops, I like this one: The Homebrewer's Garden

Have your soil tested, spread a bunch of milky spore if beetles are a problem, and build a sturdy trellis.