Howdy Doody Ady. No spare brew right now, but I might have some for you to try in about October. You see, I'm going to grow my own hops this year; never did that before. Anyway, we always have a hello ... I mean heck of a time <what a minute> NOT SO FAST, NELSOC ... that says "hellOOOOO" <resume> ... getting rid of aphids. Anyway, we always wash our produce real well, but I don't know how easy it will be to wash hops, since the part that we will put into the boil looks like this ...

... and it might be difficult to rinse them well enough to get rid of all of the pesticide. I'm kind of wondering about that now ... whether any of it will collect in the between the petals.

Anyway, I'll send you some in the fall if you promise to write back and tell me how you're feeling ... ahem ... I mean how you feel about the taste of the beer.

Cheers.

Bill Velek

I was suggesting that I'd use you as a guinea pig -- to see if any pesticides got into the beer to make you sick or affect the taste.

I've never grown hops, so I can't answer about how difficult it would be to grown them organically. I do know that there are some brewshops which provide organically grown ingredients (at least the grains, and I would presume the hops as well, otherwise it sort of defeats the purpose). However, I've never been an organic gardener in the past -- just sprayed chemicals according to directions -- so I'm probably not going to change now.

From the reading I've been doing, it appears that hops are particularly susceptible to wilt (especially tomato wilt), and aphids and spider mites are supposed to be known pests, as well. Because of the chronic problems that I have each year in my garden, I anticipate the worst for my hops; however, hops plants grow up to 20 to 25 feet tall if you have something that tall for them to grow on, so I don't know how folks treat anything that high. I'm starting to thing seriously about using a trellis or arbor so they won't get so tall. But I'm still curious about whether those tiny crevices on a hops cone (see early picture this thread) will entrap pesticide. I'm sure I can find an answer; I just haven't had time to look yet.

Cheers.

Bill Velek

Bill --

I like the recruiting contest you have going. Good for everyone all around.

You will be happy to hear that I will be boiling my first batch since back in November this evening! I haven't really been up to it since my surgery back in the beginning of December. The complications from it are still giving me a bit of pain and trouble, but I decided that I had to give it a shot. Tonight's batch will be a SNPA clone recipe that I have done before, but I am going to kick it up just a tad by adding a pound of light DME. Last time I brewed it, the ABV came out to 4.7%. I hope to get it up closer to the 5.6% of the real thing (my Pro-Mash calculations show I might be a bit above that). Here's the recipe:

Grain/Extract
1.00 lbs. Generic DME - Light
1.00 lbs. Crystal 20L (steeped specialty grain)
6.00 lbs. Briess LME- Gold

Hops
1.00 oz. Perle Pellet 60 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade Pellet 15 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade Pellet 5 min.
1.00 oz. Cascade Pellet Dry Hop

I'll let you know how it comes out.

Dave, sorry to hear you've been out of sorts, and I wish you a quick return to health. Good luck with you batch tonight, too; I'm jealous -- I'd like to be brewing right now, too, but I'm out of too much stuff and really need to replenish my supplies. I'm out of grain except for some specialty malts; not much selection of hops left, and the only yeast I have is one smack pack that is probably a couple of years old. Haven't used it because it got wet or something and the marking came off so I haven't the faintest idea what type of yeast it is (I know it's an ale, because I've never done a lager and wouldn't buy lager yeast). I kept it figuring I'd use it in an emergency.

Dreamboat, I haven't tried Amarillo yet, so I don't know how it would impact the recipe.

I've been studying up on growing my own hops, and have tilled up some ground to plant the rhizomes.

As for the recruitment race, my sources are all petered out I guess, and I can't go back to the well too often. I don't think there will be a problem with me posting in my brewing forums again in a few months, but I can't post there again right now; it would be too soon and would annoy people. All I can do is my regular posting with my signature file. Maybe the HomeBrewers will manage to stay in second place. It's fabulous how well UserFriendly has done. That's great for WCG.

Cheers.

Bill Velek

No problem Bill - its got to be better for me than the meths I drink at the moment

I agree, the organic route would probably be alot of effort - I think you have to leave the soil untouched for 3 years or something to get 'organic certification'.

I'm sure the washing worry can be overcome - perhaps ask a major brewer how they do it? (I realise that the words 'major brewer' are probably swear words to you )

Anyways, good luck and let me know how it goes,

Ady