The practical application of scientific principles to the art of hop agriculture and brewing science
We start by digging into the HGA’s data about 2019, which takes us into a conversation around your farm’s cost structure and specifically labor costs. Along the way we get into changes at Lagunitas, James being bitter and we interview Mark from Mountain View Hops again (without him actually being there).
We break down the mechanics of small and large scale harvesters, because if you know *why* it’s done this way it will help you to design the *how* to meet your needs.
Thanks to Chad for asking about seasonal tightening of trellis wire, we get deep into cable loads. This leads into a broader discussion of what else you can be doing during the non-growing season (there is no “off-season”, just a non-growing season). There’s No Relaxing in Hop Growing! For the heavy math involved there are […]
This week we check in with James for a blow-by-blow of his trip to the Nebraska Growers and Brewers Conference, which was in Kearney, not Lincoln. You’ll get the details of the presentations he gave and the reactions; it’s almost like being there (without the 2 hour rides back and forth from the airport). Here’s […]
Today, Tuesday, 2/11, marks one year of podcasting madness from James and I. We’ve learned so much and made a lot of new friends (you!), so to celebrate we are re-posting our first show, “Who is hopnology?”. I think it definitely holds up the test of time. Our message and goals haven’t changed, though […]
As a follow up to last week’s talk on pre-emergents, how about a look at cover cropping and companion plants as other ways to keep the weeds at bay? Be sure to check out Instagram to see us meet the challenge of spider mite explosions and we apologize in advance to the wild parsnip growers.
Weeding might be the most frustration, time consuming and expensive aspect of your hop yard. The use of pre-emergents can drastically cut down (pun intended) on the hand work you’ll need to do in-season. This week we’ll dive into the what/when/why/how of proactively getting after your weeds.
Pellet quality issues can impact your Brewer’s process – and therefore your ability to get a second sale. We’ll talk about pellet debris and then get into some trend predictions for the beer market in 2020 (spoiler: we don’t like many of them).
James just returned from Aruba so we hear about Aruba’s largest, smallest, only craft brewery: Fireson Brewing. We’ll also talk about a grower who had hops and then didn’t, and then I’ll critique James’ internal monologue while he’s channeling plants.
Welcome back and Happy New Year! We kick off the year with an uplifting discussion of nitrate poisoning in your hopyard. Then let’s spend some time talking about hop variety trends in brewing, followed by a look at just what happened with Ballast Point’s purchase and impending sale.