North East Newbie

matchy · Sep 17, 2014

I have recently moved into a new house with a rather large garden which previously belonged to a, shall we say, 'new age' couple. I recently discovered that their seemingly wild, overgrown garden is actually home to a number of weird and wonderful (as well as quite ordinary) fruits, herbs and most surprisingly (and relevant to this website).... Hops!

I've always had a latent interest in home brewing but always told myself I never had the time or space to get started and I would get round to it eventually. Well, this discovery has ignited that latent interest and I'm pretty keen on not allowing these beautiful looking (and magical) flowers to go to waste.

So firstly, hello everyone, I'm really looking forward to getting more involved in the community. Secondly: as a complete newbie, how do I go about starting a'brewing - hopefully using my own hops. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

rodwha · Sep 17, 2014

Hello!

That's awesome that you've found hops growing on your property! As you have no idea what they are I'd see if you can find brewers that are local to you to see if they can help you figure it out. Maybe you could make a hop tea and compare them to other typical hops found in the UK.

You can certainly use them as an aroma addition or for dry hopping.

To get started I'd say the easiest and least expansive is to go with pre made kits. These will help you get the feel for what's involved to a lesser degree. Ultimately I feel the types of kits that come with extract, steeping grains, and hops are a little better approach in that you are actually making the beer instead of it being pre made and just heated. They typically are a little more expensive as someone did all of the work for you. But it will certainly be enjoyable regardless.

The best advice is to seek out other brewers who wouldn't mind allowing you to peek over their shoulder while they brew. I recently did that with a fellow I met at a homebrew meeting. Next month we will go to a homebrew store and find a kit to go halves on and brew it at my place. This way he can get a little experience and buy equipment a little at a time instead of dropping a larger amount for a starter kit (bucket(s)/carboy, siphon, hydrometer, pot, spoon, etc.). I wish I would have had someone knowledgable to teach me. I wouldn't have dumped my first 2 batches...

stout les · Sep 17, 2014

Hi & welcome.
there's three good homebrew stores in the Northeast, i've used them all.
any of these will sort you out with equipment.

Elderberry homebrew shop is in Whitley Bay next to the metro station.

http://www.wine-on-line.com/page2.htm
https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/

Hopping_Mad · Sep 17, 2014

Even with kits you can have fun experimenting with you own hops, by making hop tea (boiling the hops in water) or dry hopping (adding to you vessel at the end of fermentation) and these can add both bitterness and that hoppy aroma to you fairly plain kit!

Your hops might be ready to pick around now. Do a search on the internet for homegrown hops - there's plenty of advice on growing/picking/storing it!

North East Newbie

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matchy

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North East Newbie

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

matchy

New Member

rodwha

Landlord.

stout les

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