Scott Mast from Hang ‘Em High Hops joins me this week to discuss how to grow and dry hops at home.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (52:51)
- This week I welcome back hop farmer Scott Mast. Scott Mast is a hop farmer in Michigan with 10 years in the business and owner of Hang’em High Hops, which sells Great Lakes varieties to professional and home brewers.
- We start with a discussion of Scott’s expansion both of his online hop and beer supply offerings and his hop farm in Michigan.
- We discuss the basics of growing hops at home and how hops are grown from rhizomes and not seeds. We also talk about why female plants are used and how measures are taken to ensure the purity of a given variety.
- Scott explains public versus proprietary licensed hop varieties and how the licensing works for proprietary hops. We also talk about where you can purchase hop rhizomes to grow hops at home.
- Next we discuss the ideal soil and environment for hops. They enjoy a wet environment but require good drainage as they do not like to sit in water. We also discuss why the northern states have the best overall climate.
- Scott talks about how hops take on the “terroir” or character of their local soil, and why growing hops in the Midwest creates its own combination of flavors.
- We talk about how hop bines grow on a trellis and Scott provides some great tips to save time training your hop plants.
- Scott explains why it can take several seasons for a hop to reach full commercial production, but he also says you can use your first season hop cones as a homebrewer.
- We discuss harvesting the hops and how the decision is made on exactly when to harvest them.
- Scott and I talk about fresh or “wet hops” which can be used for brewing but have a very short shelf life.
- We also discuss how you can dry your hops at home using a few methods so your hops can be stored and used months from now.
- Scott offers his closing thoughts.
Sponsors
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