Grow Your Own Brew

Sure, the local homebrew store has everything you need to make your own beer at home, but if you have a sunny backyard or even a decent sized porch, you can grow at least a portion of the hops, barley, herbs, etc. to really enhance the aroma, flavor, and unique quality of your homebrew.

While growing enough barley in a backyard setting to make malt for beer might seem unrealistic, consider that you can yield a bushel (47 pounds) from an 800 square foot garden plot, which is enough for five batches of all grain beer, or 30 batches of extract or partial mash. On a smaller scale, even a 100 square foot garden can yield up to 15 lbs with ideal growing conditions.  Barley is by far the most used grain in beer making and a third of the barley grown in the US is used for malting.

Harvest barley when the stalks are golden, the ears are bent over and the grains are pale yellow and pull easily from the head.  The stalks must be threshed and winnowed before they can be used for malting. Store the finished grain in burlap sacks in a cool dry place until ready for use.

Ready to buy seeds for your own backyard barley crop? Check out  bountifulgardens.org 

While hops aren’t technically grains, they are a major component of beer making. Hops are also attractive looking vine plants that look great on arbors, trellises, etc.  The advantage to growing your own hops is freshness ; you can pick them at their peak, maintaining the essential oils crucial for optimum flavor and aroma. Commercial whole hops have been harvested, packed, dried, baled, shipped, repackaged, and shipped again before they reach your local homebrew supply store.  Inevitably,  some of the hops’ bitter resins and essential oils will be lost during this process. Your own home grown hops will bypass this process, and be more aromatic and flavorful than any you could buy.

Harvest hop cones at their peak of readiness ; when there are an abundance of the small yellow lupulin grains  clinging to the base of the bract. Inspect a ripe cone by breaking it open and checking for the dark gold color and strong hop aroma. To preserve the essential oils, dry your crop immediately after harvest, in a warm, dark place with good air circulation. Never place your dry hops in direct sunlight or artificial light because it will give your beer a skunky flavor.  Seal dried hops in plastic bags, removing as much air as possible, and freeze whatever you won’t be using right away.

Want to grow your own hop vines and have the freshest tasting home brew on the block?  Visit seedrack.com