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Author Topic: Hopguard?  (Read 17923 times)

Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #20 on: January 05, 2011, 07:58:02 pm »
Grow your own 8-)

thomas
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2011, 09:19:23 pm »
. Been reading since Christmas and lurked on most of the forums since then, now from voracious reading I feel I can emerge and bee known.

I hope to have bees around April hopefully.

IPA in secondary fermenter and a nice 8% Scotch Ale on tap , plus Christmas Ale and Wet Hopped ale from Oct still has some.
S. German (Bavaria) Pilsner planned for this weekend.

as for the glut of Hops , yep , after the disaster in 2006 when a million lbs were burnt in a warehouse fire and the crop in Europe failed, and lastly the reserves that big boys had hidden were not enough to cover the losses, 1000's more acres were planted after that and prices came down a lot. The biggest distributors are now converting excess Hops into Hop Oils, this is stable compared to keeping plant material, so for average user the price is not back to 2001 pricing like we hoped.
Another interesting fact is that Breweries like Sierra Nevada are growing their own hops and also creating new varieties out of their own labs.
Newbee 2011

Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #22 on: January 06, 2011, 09:23:43 am »
Yeah, my taste buds love some of what the SN people are trying to accomplish (we're in the sticks, but I've got an in whenever a load of their ESTATE Ale comes in), The folks at dogfishhead are also inpiring and had a great (only 6 weeks) program on the discovery channel recently.  In last few years several folks around here have been trying to cash in on the "losses" from years back by growing hops, only to find the market full.  I keep telling them to start a co-op brewery.  We'll see.

For now we only batch a couple at a time, give away about half,  2 batches every three weeks or so,  Been calling myself (in my own head) the BBBBman as most of my treasured activities (Beekeeping, Brewing, Bread making and playing music with my Band) take up most of my time.  And my wife makes Hand-Bags 8-)  Good luck with your bees.  You'll learn plenty around here.

thomas
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Offline Zulu

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #23 on: January 06, 2011, 10:13:18 pm »
One of the posts also mentioned that Bees are attracted to beer and questioned maybe it was hops in the beer,

No, beer still has a lot of Maltose sugar, and even a dry beer still has sugar in it.

When I am brewing they sniff around a lot with all the sweet wort - maltose sugars - before it goes into the fermenter with yeast.
Newbee 2011

Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #24 on: January 07, 2011, 07:13:33 am »
You must be boiling outside then, right?  I still boil on the kitchen stove, gonna buy a huricane with a ten gallon pot for this year.  When I dump the baged grain residue into my compost pile, hornets (not honeybees) are all over it. 

I agree though, its more likely the sugar/malt they're after rather than hops when thinking beer.  I'm very intrigued by this hopguard stuff (not that I'll buy any) as a hop grower and beek, another form of companion farming I spose ;)

thomas
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Offline Course Bee

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #25 on: January 14, 2011, 10:05:54 am »
Just saw on a local beekeeper/Mann Lake supplier that they will be selling Hop Guard this year. I didn't see anything in the on line catalog but I assume it will be added soon.
Tim
Tim

Offline Acebird

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #26 on: January 14, 2011, 11:10:16 am »
We started growing hops before we got bees on our endless page fence and we warned about the proliferation.  It really hasn’t happened yet.  This spring will be the third year of growth with five plants started we are down to three and will see how many survive the winter this year.  We plan on planting more in the spring regardless of what the outcome is.  Is there a way to propagate the plant to get multiples?  We have about a couple thousand feet of fence to work with.  Also do hops prefer sun or shade?
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Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #27 on: January 14, 2011, 11:40:13 am »
Grow hops in full sun on line supports as tall as your willing/able to contruct.

They're very hardy, should have no problem growing and having them survive winters by you, there are plots of hops gone wild all over Wisconsin.

thomas
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #28 on: January 14, 2011, 12:16:53 pm »
Height is not an issue for us.  The fence is 6 feet page with another foot of barbed wire.  The soil may be an issue as it is at the perimeter of ashfault pavement.  The Mohawk Valley was once a premiere hops growing area and still has "Schultz and Dooley" (Utica Clubs West End Brewery), now Saranac in existence.  That is what makes me think it is soil related.
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Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #29 on: January 14, 2011, 12:31:15 pm »
Most folks I know who grow hops (myself included) are growing on lines upwards of 10-15 feet high.  I've seen fields of them climbing up 20 ft tamarack poles.

You may want to read up a bit on required conditions for optimal yields.  Anthing less than 10 feet will result in a mess at some point, due to the entangling of vines (which should be trimmed back early each season to just 2 min-4 max).

thomas
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Offline Acebird

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #30 on: January 14, 2011, 12:47:09 pm »
Yes, the vines are very harty.  Almost impossiple to get out of a page fence.  We feel the mess is prettier than the barbed wire.  Part of our intention is to pretty up the page fence and wire.  We would have to get a permit to go higher.  We don't harvest the crop.
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Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #31 on: January 14, 2011, 12:58:57 pm »
They do make a lovely living fence, as does the mexican bamboo mentioned around.  And bees love em both :)

thomas
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Offline danno

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #32 on: January 14, 2011, 01:52:21 pm »
We started growing hops before we got bees on our endless page fence and we warned about the proliferation.  It really hasn’t happened yet.  This spring will be the third year of growth with five plants started we are down to three and will see how many survive the winter this year.  We plan on planting more in the spring regardless of what the outcome is.  Is there a way to propagate the plant to get multiples?  We have about a couple thousand feet of fence to work with.  Also do hops prefer sun or shade?
you propagate by root division.   3rd year roots can be split.  We grow ours up our silo on ropes and also up 2 power pole with ropes run up to eyebolts.  For harvest we can lower the ropes to the ground

Offline Acebird

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #33 on: January 14, 2011, 02:46:06 pm »
Quote
We grow ours up our silo on ropes and also up 2 power pole with ropes run up to eyebolts.


Hey that might be an idea for our pole in the garden.

Brian Cardinal
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Offline T Beek

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #34 on: January 14, 2011, 03:12:10 pm »
Picture's worth a thousand words Acebird :-\

thomas
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Offline danno

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #35 on: January 14, 2011, 03:34:44 pm »
Quote
We grow ours up our silo on ropes and also up 2 power pole with ropes run up to eyebolts.


Hey that might be an idea for our pole in the garden.


hops grows a couple of feet a week so your going to need a taller bike

Offline Acebird

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #36 on: January 14, 2011, 04:35:41 pm »
You can't even find that bike in the summer.  This is late spring.

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Offline kingbee

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #37 on: January 16, 2011, 01:03:41 am »
As a... hops grower... I can... answer some of this... They [hops] are as easy to grow as weeds... You MUST...  contain them in the home garden as within 2 years you will have runners everywhere , just like Bamboo... growing up to a foot a day...

(Typing real slow... so Idee can keep up with me) You talking bout them thar hops there son... or are you taking bout that thar kudzuuu?  ;)

Offline Zulu

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #38 on: April 12, 2011, 03:06:49 pm »
So my first hive is flourishing and my hops are growing well too.

Found out Hopguard is a by product of real hops, they process out the Beta acids for making this product, whereas in brewing we are using mostly the Alpha Acids for the bitterness. Obviously we still have Beta acids too,and I am researching what part they play in Brewing
Newbee 2011

Offline GoodWeather

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Re: Hopguard?
« Reply #39 on: April 19, 2012, 12:43:35 am »
Do you think I can extract something off my hops for killing mites as opposed to buying the product. I have lots of hops of varying alpha acids.

 

anything