Growing Hops with Dave Wills – BeerSmith Podcast #15

This week my guest is Dave Wills of Freshops and we talk about how to grow your own hops in your garden. Dave is a long time brewer, hop grower and also microbrewer at the Oregon Trail Brewery and he provides some great advice on how you can start your own hop garden.

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[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/beersmith/BSHB-15-Growing-Hops.mp3]

Topics in This Week’s Episode (43:44)

This week’s guest is Dave Wills of Freshops.com (a hop and hop rhizome provider) as well as Oregon Trail Brewery. Dave has an extensive background in hop growing, home brewing and professional brewing.
In the announcements, I cover my blog article containing a first look at BeerSmith 2.0. I’ll be working pretty hard on the BeerSmith 2.0 release the next month or two, so I apologize if the podcasts come a week or two late during the launch period.
Dave talks a bit about his background in brewing and hops – including home brewing, fresh hops and his microbrewery.
We talk about how hops are grown and processed for use by brewers, as well as modern hop storage (near freezing).
Dave explains the ideal climate for growing hops, and how hops are grown from rhizomes and not from seeds.
We walk through how to plant your hops the right way up.
Dave explains why it takes two years to really get your hops going, and also talks about how to water and care for your hops.
We talk about the importance of full sun (South side) and a good solid hop trellis.
Dave walks us through harvesting, drying and packaging your hops as well as how to best store them and shares a few more tips on brewing with your own hops!