Continual Hopping

No, not jumping up and down until your leg falls off, but a hopping technique that involves a hop addition to the boil every minute for a given period of time.  This obviously needs to be done with careful amounts so as not to create an overly hopped beer, and careful thought needs to be given to the strength of the beer and alpha acid utilization rates (beer geekery).  Commercial beers that use this technique include Dogfish Head’s 60 Minute IPA, 90 Minute IPA, and 120 Minute IPA.  They come out at 6.0, 9.0 and 18.0 percent and have IBU’s of 60, 90, and 120.  There’s a certain symmetry here…and it certainly sounds like an interesting technique to try.

Growing my own hops

I’m going to start growing my own hops this year.  It’s supposed to be quite easy, as long as you have something they can climb.  They’ll grow on any soil, although the plants can be susceptible to wilt and mildew in some seasons.  They grow fast, and crop abundantly.  Only the female plants produce the conelike flowers, called lupulins, which are harvested in late August and September.  Hops then need to be dried and stored away from air and light – most commercial growers vacuum pack, but home brewers will find that hops apparently freeze very well.

Anyhow, I plan to plant the following (and there may well be a surplus later in the year if people want some):

Wye Northdown (dual purpose bittering/aroma)
Wye Challenger (dual purpose)
Target (high alpha – bittering)
Cobb (Goldings variety) (aroma)
Fuggle (aroma)

and possibly some German noble hops such as:

Tettnanger
Hallertauer
Saaz