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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator


Contents:
  calibrating the arrival of hops (Dick Dunn)
  Re: hops questions (dw)
  soda siphons (E-BIEV)
  soda siphons (Erik Biever)
  Re: Soda Siphons (a.e.mossberg)
  care and feeding of hops (florianb)
  Hop's (jamesb)


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Archives available from netlib at mthvax.cs.miami.edu


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Date: 27 Mar 90 01:57:25 MST (Tue)
From: hplabs!hplms2!gatech!ico.isc.com!raven!rcd (Dick Dunn)
Subject: calibrating the arrival of hops

I'm awaiting the arrival of the first shoots of hops as much as anyone, but
frankly I don't expect them to do much while we're still getting hard
frosts.  (Our weather is erratic...just because we were almost in the 80's
last week doesn't mean it can't freeze every night this week:-)

For everyone's peace of mind, it would be nice if, when you're talking
about how well your hops are doing, you'd tell us where the hell you are!
Sometimes bubba at znork.tipple.com doesn't really provide the information you
think it would.  I had a brief interchange with someone a few weeks back;
he was curious about what I had to say about hops, given his understanding
that I was somewhere in Georgia.  However, I'm actually in Boulder,
Colorado (the Homebrew Capital of the US), which presumably made it some-
what clearer.  [We're probably in the minority of homebrewers who have to
worry about wind as a brewing hazard, tho.]  I hadn't realized that the
organization part of the header doesn't necessarily make it out.

So...remember to say where you are when you're talking about cultivation,
temps, etc.
 ---
Dick Dunn	{ncar;ico;stcvax}!raven!rcd		(303)494-0965
			or	rcd at raven.uucp

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Date: 27 Mar 90 09:25:25 EST (Tuesday)
From: dw <Wegeng.Henr at Xerox.COM>
Subject: Re: hops questions

Mike Meyer says:
>While we're talking about sprouting hops,  can anyone tell me how long 
>they should take?

I've found that it takes a year or two for hop plants to produce very well.
The first year you'll get some growth, but nothing like what you'll
experience the second year.

You don't tell us what part of the country you live in, so it's hard to
predict whether your roommate's hops should have started to come up yet.
Here in Rochester NY, mine have barely started to come up.

/Don

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Date: Tue, 27 Mar 90 08:30:40 CST
From: E-BIEV at vm1.spcs.umn.edu
Subject: soda siphons

From: Erik Biever
Subject: soda siphons
  > I just had an idea. Will soda siphons carbonate beer? By soda siphons
  > I mean those bottles used to carbonate water that the three stooges keep
  > squirting at each other. I have a funny feeling that it will all come
  > out foam, but was wondering if anyone has tried it or knows for sure. If
  > it works, it would be great for those days when you've run out of home
  > brew but have 5 gallons sitting in the basement that you haven't gotten
  > around to bottling yet (actually, I have 10 gallons downstairs right now,
  > but nothing bottled :-).
  >
  > So, has anyone got a soda siphon that they have tried with beer? Did it
  > work?

Yes, it works. I have used my soda siphon to carbonate a sample of beer before
priming and bottling. I've also used it to carbonate Scotch, but that's
another story.

= Erik J. Biever                               (612) 625-9777 =
= Plant Pathology Library               BITNET: e-biev at uminn1 =
= University of Minnesota   INTERNET: e-biev at vm1.spcs.umn.edu =

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Date: Tue, 27 Mar 90 14:57:56 GMT
From: aem at mthvax.CS.Miami.EDU (a.e.mossberg)
Subject: Re: Soda Siphons

In digest <1990Mar27.081159.7719 at mthvax.cs.miami.edu> "Allen J. Hainer" <ajhainer at violet.waterloo.edu> writes:

>  So, has anyone got a soda siphon that they have tried with beer?  Did it
>work?

Yes, I do it frequently. If the beer is reasonably carbonated already, putting
it in the soda bottle and adding more CO2 does make it come out foam, at least
at first. Usually if I have a warm keg and want to try some of it, I'll take
out some beer and let it sit for a few minutes, then put it in the soda bottle,
and add the CO2 whippet. 


aem

- -- 
a.e.mossberg / aem at mthvax.cs.miami.edu / aem at umiami.BITNET / Pahayokee Bioregion
Amo--ergo sum.	(I love, therefore I am.) - Alma Mahler Werfel


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Date: Tue, 27 Mar 90 10:04:03 EST
From: timd at sct60a.sunyct.edu (Tim Dennison )

I have just subscribed to homebrew and would like some very basic info.

I have never tried to brew any beer, ale, etc. but would very much like to.

Can anyone point me towards a straight forward book on the subject? 

Thanks in advance for your responses.  Also any ideas on where to buy 
ingredients, equipment, etc.  Moreover, is it easier to buy mailorder, local,
both?

Tim Dennison
Systems Administrator (whatever that means)
SUNY Institute of Technology  Utica, NY 13504   (315)792-7440
E-mail tim at sct60a.sunyct.edu

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Date: 27 Mar 90 12:34:21 PST (Tue)
From: florianb at tekred.cna.tek.com
Subject: care and feeding of hops

Last issue, there were a couple of comments about hops:

Chris Shenton asked:

>Could you provide some hints? What kind of soil, how much light, etc? I
>understand they're real climbers. Are you going to use a lattice, trellis,
>or vertical string?

Then Mike Meyer comments:

>While we're talking about sprouting hops,  can anyone tell me how long
>they should take?  My roommate planted 2 Nuggets and 4 Cascades somewhere
>around 2/12 as well, and is starting to worry.  The Nugget rhizomes looked
>pretty meaty,  with 2 or 3 buds sticking out, while the Cascades were spindly

According to what I've read and experienced, the first year the plants will
be weak, with each passing year producing more and more vigorous growth,
analogous to grape vines.  The plants I mentioned that went crazy on my
front porch were three year old potted plants.  I simply dug a hole about
one foot deep, filled it with rich soil, stuck in the cuttings up to their
necks, and doused it with water.  I kept the soil moist all summer.  The vines
were in full sun most of the day.  They need something tall to climb on, but
will accept anything that happens to be in their reach, like a wall with
standoffs or a rail.  One of my vines snaked its way under the deck for about
six feet, then wound up on to a rail and took off from there.  It's really
exciting to see them grow so quickly.  They also provide beautiful adornments
to an arbor.

A friend of mine in Corvallis who doesn't brew beer uses the hops he grows
as an elixer.  He boils them down and saves the "broth" in the fridge.  He
then pours a little of it into commercial American beer to give it a "pep."

Last time, I mentioned Papazain's comments about hops and dreaming.  For a 
long time, I've suspected that there are ingredients in hops that account
for part of the feeling of "well being" that comes from drinking home brew.
Others have suggested this also.  These days, with all the anti-drug stuff
going on, I hope the government doesn't decide to do something about the
"potential evils" of hops cultivation.  Are hops growers taxed?

Florian (who cultivates legal substances after hours)

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Date: Tue Mar 27 15:48:49 1990
From: microsoft!jamesb at uunet.UU.NET
Subject: Hop's

It's probably to late now to plant them but 
what i the phone # or address of someplace that I can get
in on this grow your own Hop's.
>From the way they are supposed to grow, they would
be a perfect addition 
to the back of the yard, maybe I can even use them for BEER!!!
JIm Broglio
Microsoft
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********* I haven't had sex in so long, I forget who get's tied up. *******
*********                                     (bumper sticker)      *******
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #386, 03/28/90
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