Interestingly, New York used to be a
national leader in hop production when
more than three million pounds were
sold annually — back in the 1850s.
Then, along came prohibition, followed
by a devastating fungus that slammed
the door on the New York hops industry.
Beer & Brewing magazine notes that
hops came to New England colonies
with the first English settlers in the
1600s, quickly supplemented with wild
New World hops, and as settlements
moved west, so did hop farming.
Northwestern New York State in
the 1800s led the pack, despite high
humidity and cold spring temperatures
that made hop bines prone to mildew
diseases and aphid infestations.
“
Fresh American Hops wants to become
known as the fresh hops supplier for New
York State and perhaps two dozen other
states within an eight to 10 hour drive
from their home base of two outdoor acres
and more 1,000 square feet under glass.
“We don’t want to get into palletizing
and fight for a share of that market.
Freshness is our focus, going directly
from bine to batch to make a better
beer,” says Burrell in advance of an
outdoor harvest of second- and third-
year plants. “We should get a thousand
pounds with a fantastic alpha acid level.
Typical levels run between four to seven,
while our initial press runs tested out
at over eight with yellow lupulin just
gushing out of crushed cones.”
BY ADDING
CALCIUM,
NITROGEN,
AND SOME OTHER
SPECIFIC ORGANIC
ITEMS, WE’VE
MANAGED TO
MAKE SOME HOPS
ON STEROIDS.”
A fall harvest laboratory report
registered those higher-than-normal
alpha acid levels of 8.5 with beta
acids at 4.7, according to their
former company web page. “By
adding calcium, nitrogen, and
some other specific organic
items, we’ve managed to make
some hops on steroids,” Burrell
says, promoting the fact that
“We’re 100 per cent organic
with zero pesticides and
only organic insecticides.”
With 23 feet of vertical
indoor growing room,
Fresh American
Hops has an automated
Dosatron system that controls
the necessary variables involving
temperature (72°F year-round),
irrigation, drainage, with six
nutrients of measured ppm fed on
a computerized schedule. The first
indoor harvest of nearly 300 plants
(one-third Cascade, one-third Chinook,
and one-third Michigan Copper) was
grown out in an original formula
mixture of coco coir, perlite, clay
pellets, and soil from their property.
According to Great Lakes Hops,
breeders of Michigan Copper,
favorable comments have been
received concerning cone size and
yield, fresh aroma, and disease
resistance. Alpha and beta acids
have averaged 8.81-10.5 and 2.45-2.55
respectively. Cascade hops have been
around since the mid 1950s, “flowery
and spicy with a citrus-like quality”
according to Oregon’s Fresh Hops,
which describes the Chinook as
“slightly spicy with alpha acid content
ranging from 12 to 14 per cent.”
Says Harkenrider: “We have
aspirations of building several similar
greenhouses around the country,
selling only fresh product. We took
some of the techniques of what we
are researching, which turned out to
be a collegiate volume of knowledge,
about humulus lupulus — better
known as hops. Part of the research
included what NASA was doing at the
International Space Station to develop
sustainable food grown in artificial
light. All of this knowledge is added to
the traditional hop growing methods to
produce a better product. Some things
are proprietary in our bine to batch
process, so we can’t share everything
we do to grow a superior hop and
provide it fresher than ever before…
but we guarantee if it’s not the freshest,
most aromatic, and flavorful hop
you’ve ever brewed with, we’ll give
you your money back.”
60
Maximum Yield