Cameron Stokes’s Blog

Since planting the hops back in March we’ve made numerous trips to Bogart to water, trim, and just overall tend to the hops.  A few of the rhizomes didn’t make it but of the 23 vines, we ended up with about 18 that took off and have been growing like crazy ever since.

Hop Cones

Based on my research I wasn’t expecting the plants to actually produce any hops given they’re in their first year but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what they’ve produced.  Since early July we’ve had 4 pickings and have over 6 ounces of Cascade and Chinook hops vacuum-packed in the freeze.

Getting ready to dry.

The best part of growing hops is the smell…they smell incredible.  Being a hop head I can’t get enough of the smell and dunked my head into our picking bag several times.  Breaking a hop cone open you can see the lovely lupulin glands and imagine the wonderful beer they will produce.

I’m already thinking to next year about what new varieties to plant and how to expand the hop farm.  All those goes to show you really can grow hops in Georgia.

More photos of the harvest are here.

We ventured up to Bogart this past weekend to check in on the hop farm.  My expectations were low after talking to my cousin who had stopped by the farm the previous week and not seen any seen anything growing.  My mood quickly improved when we arrived Saturday morning and found 4 plants that were peeking out of the ground, 2 Cascades and 2 Willamettes.  The Chinooks haven gotten off to a slower start.

The hops are growing.

While there we strung up the lines for the vines to grow on and gave each row a good watering from the nearby creek.  We’re working on a way to pump water from the creek to make watering easier and will hopefully put an automatic watering system in place shortly after that.

More photos of the hops are here.

Having taken up homebrewing lately, I decided to take it a step further and grow my own hops.  After doing some research regarding growing hops in Georgia, of which there is very little information, I picked up the book The Homebrewer’s Garden.  The section on hops is really short but has some good information on how to plant, care for, and harvest your own hops.

After waiting a few weeks for the hop rhizomes to become available, I ordered from Freshops on March 1st and received my goods a few days later.  I ordered three varieties: Cascade, Chinook, and Willamette.

Cascade, Chinook, and Willamette Hop Rhizomes

This past weekend I planted them on the farm up in Bogart.  It was the first nice weekend of the year and was a great excuse to get outside and have fun on the tractor.  The hops are split into three rows, one for each variety.

Bogart Hop Farm

There are 23 vines (Freshops sent me extra Willamette on accident).  From what I’ve read we won’t get much off them in the first year.  Next year I hope to be drowning in hops.

More photos are here.