BeerBorg

I bought 6 hop rhizomes to plant on my sons new 9 acre property that he is just about to go to contract on. I figure he will have the space for them if they grow well.
What do you think for my varieties?
(2) Cascade
(2) Centennial
(1) Magnum
(1) Zeus

I didn't add any noble hops but maybe I should have. The ones that I ordered should be good for IPAs I believe. I don't know about Zeus hops but Magnum is a standard hop at 60 minutes and Cascade and Centennial are very often used in IPAs. I'm wondering if I should add a couple of Fuggles or EKG so that I can brew English Ales. Its all about personal taste but what would the borg do? Or what do you grow?

Perfect hops for IPA's. Zeus is also known as Columbus. In fact, alot of times you'll see that hop referred to as CTZ, which stands for Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus. So your choice to grow those for IPA's is spot on. If I had the room, I would grow exactly what you picked as I love IPA's and Pale Ales and they are most of what I brew.

Banjo-guy wrote:I bought 6 hop rhizomes to plant on my sons new 9 acre property that he is just about to go to contract on. I figure he will have the space for them if they grow well.
What do you think for my varieties?
(2) Cascade
(2) Centennial
(1) Magnum
(1) Zeus

I ordered same thing last year minus the zeus

If Zeus is the same as Columbus, I would recommend trying it as a flavor and aroma hop.

The AA% would have you think it is just for bittering, but I love it as a dual purpose hop! In fact you can skip the 60 minute boil and get loads of IBU with just a hop burst.

Be sure you have the roots captured somehow, they are very invasive. Something like maybe large pot sunk into the ground for each for the roots to have room but not spread. Six rhizomes may turn into couple dozen quick.

Dawg LB Steve wrote:Be sure you have the roots captured somehow, they are very invasive. Something like maybe large pot sunk into the ground for each for the roots to have room but not spread. Six rhizomes may turn into couple dozen quick.

Thanks for the advice for growing hops. I will need a lot of help with growing these.

It looks like I bought the classic C hops. Can't really go wrong with those. Somehow I've become an IPA lover since I've been brewing.

jpsherman wrote:If Zeus is the same as Columbus, I would recommend trying it as a flavor and aroma hop.

The AA% would have you think it is just for bittering, but I love it as a dual purpose hop! In fact you can skip the 60 minute boil and get loads of IBU with just a hop burst.

I'm looking forward to brewing with these. Hopefully I'll get some this year but I'm. It expecting much until next year.
I got these rhizomes from Thyme Garden. I got the larger rooted rhizomes.

jpsherman is right on with using the CTZ hop for flavor and aroma. It is classified as a dual purpose hop. I too love adding it later in the boil.

One more thing to add....I have read that a lot of homebrewers that grow and use leaf hops usually use them for only the flavor and aroma addition, and choose pellet hops for the bittering addition. They can better manage their IBU rating this way. Since most home growers don't send their hops out for analysis, they have no idea what the actual AA% is.

BlackDuck wrote:One more thing to add....I have read that a lot of homebrewers that grow and use leaf hops usually use them for only the flavor and aroma addition, and choose pellet hops for the bittering addition. They can better manage their IBU rating this way. Since most home growers don't send their hops out for analysis, they have no idea what the actual AA% is.

Maybe I should remove the Magnum because I would use that for bittering and put something else in its place. I will be better off using pellets for the reason that you mentioned. These are the other rhizomes that Thyme Gardens sells. I have used many of them.

1.Brewer's Gold
2.Chinook
3.Crystal
4.Fuggle
5.Galena
6.Hallertauer
7.Kent Golding
8.Mt. Hood
9.Newport
10.Northern Brewer
11. Nugget
12.Perle
13.Pride of Ringwood
14.Saaz
15.Sterling
16.Sunbeam Golden Hop
17.Tettnanger
18.Willamette

Just got your beer mail Banjo!

Oh..Oh...Oh....get the Pride of Ringworm!! You could make beer that tastes like all of the new MB recipes!!!

BlackDuck wrote:Oh..Oh...Oh....get the Pride of Ringworm!! You could make beer that tastes like all of the new MB recipes!!!

I also would say the CTZ is great for flavoring. I used a half oz of Columbus hops boiled for 12-15 minutes in with a batch of Mr. Beer Classic American Light and it was one of the only Cooper's buyout beers I've ever liked. It had great citrus flavor, most being of grapefruit. A very refreshing beer that I would definitely make again.

Most of our brewers use Zeus primarily for bittering as it has high alphas (I think the last batch was in the mid twenty percent range) and also grows great here in Michigan. Fort Street Brewery made an all-Zeus "Zeus Juice" which was a hit. I agree with Duck on the usage. As a home grower, it is difficult to know your alphas unless you have them tested and hence difficult to get the IBUs where you want them. I would primarily use as flavor and aroma where alphas arent as important. Making an LBK sized batch may help you get into the ballpark especially if year to year the plants are fairly consistent. We send out hops out from time to time to KAR to validate the internal lab, so if you have a good yield it may be worth it as they are not very expensive when testing just alphas although you do have to give up some of your precious hops.