Expert: Ed Westemeier - 3/25/2009

Question
I live in the Portland Or. area and make beer 2 times a year or so. I like to make ipa's. Should I consider growing my own hops of just continue to buy fresh hops? Thanks. --Tom

Answer
There's certainly no reason you couldn't grow them, but consider it just a hobby or for decorative gardening purposes. The nice thing about buying hops is that you can get exactly the variety you want, and you know the alpha acid percentage (homegrown hops would be unknown for AA% so you would have to guess about how much to use).

You need a location with good soil and full sun all day long, and some way of attaching lines for the hops to grow up at least 20 feet or more high.

Why not drive out to the Yakima valley and look at a hop farm, so you can see how they're grown? That might give you the answer -- either to encourage you or make you realize it's a bit more trouble than you want.