HomebrewandBeer.com forum

Here's something I was pondering with a mate...

Hops more notorious cousin has been cultivated to great success by hydroponics for some time now. By growing hydroponically and tweaking lighting and nutrient schedules, people have been able to improve yield and potency of their, err, crop.

Sooo....

Could hops be successfully cultivated using the same principles? I mean, in theory the two plants are closely related and it's the same part of the plant that we're interested in. Has anyone tried this with hops? Or is it likely the lack of soil and chemicals used would completely destroy the flavour and aroma profiles of the hop varieties? Would it be possibly to create extra-high alpha acid crops for bittering purposes, etc?

I know that high AA and high oil (e.g. US style) hops react better to aggressive fertilisation and higher heat (i.e. pushing them).
ED: Noble hops are pretty much exactly the opposite here, although you might be able to re-create Czech conditions somehow using hydroponics.

I plan to grow some Cluster and Chinook outside my Sydney apartment block in tubs of soil using hydroponic chemicals this season to see how stanky I can get them. I am going after the chronic equivalent. The rest of my hops get a much more natural treatment at a family farm.

Beerbelly has a hydro setup in his shop to grow hops................ its the size of a walk-in cool room!

The only issue you will have is the height they want to grow. I will be setting up a trellis system for mine this year and am aiming for a height of at least 4 metres.

They are such vigorous growers that even if you let them grow a combo of horizontal/vertical each bine is likely to grow the best part of 4m. How do you fit a plant with this sort of growth habit inside a hydro setup?

Hi, new from Perth, Australia and I am unable to understand, what do you mean by tweaking lighting. Could anyone please explain?