Wood Green Hopping

Hi 

A friend and I are putting together a community hop growing project with the aim of making a local 'green hopped' beer. I know their has been talk of growing hops together on here before but we're looking to form a larger growing community group along the lines of groups in Hackney and Crystal Palace. We're offering act as organisers of the not-for-profit group to by plants and equipment, liaise with local breweries to get the beer made and generally try make the whole thing run smoothly. 

We'd really love to get as many people as possible aboard.

Below is a fact sheet of info we have put together:

Wood Green Hopping

Wood Green Hopping is a community project in Haringey that aims to coordinate a multi-site growing project to produce hops for making an autumn harvest community beer. We’re a not-for profit group who’d like to develop relationships that might help improve our local area, whilst having some fun (and a pint or two) at the same time.

How does it work?

The way it works is that we organise enough people to come together to each grow one or two hop bines so that collectively we can produce enough to do a commercial brew on harvest day.

Anyone who wants grow will pay an initial subscription fee of £20. For this you’ll be given a plant and a  kit with most of what you need to grow a hop bine and advice on how to plant and grow. You’ll also get membership into our community beer group that will hold events over the year and brew our own harvest beer.

People who already grow hops are very welcome to join for a reduced subscription that doesn't include the plant or growing kit. This will be what new growers would pay in their 2nd year.

Hops are perennial and so will grow back every year. They take around three years to reach full maturity, so essentially we’ll be able to increase our yield every year, meaning more beer!

We’re currently talking to local breweries about collaborating to do a special one-off harvest beer that we’ll all have helped to produce.

Why start a project like this?

Hops are a vital ingredient in beer, providing both flavoring and bittering qualities. What makes a project like this special is that it enables us to produce a ‘green’ or ‘wet’ hopped beer using fresh hops that have been harvested that day. This is something most breweries are unable to do because commercially hops are pre-dried by farmers and it’s both logistically difficult and financially prohibitive to obtain them freshly picked.

The idea of a community hop project is not new and for anyone who’d like to know more about how a project like this can work this article from the guardian in September 2014 is a helpful starting point.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/11/hops-herbs-of-beer-growth-of-local-harvest-groups

How do we grow hops?

Hops are grown from a rhizome, which is a small piece of rootstock. They’re planted in well composted soil and grow up as shoots, which are trained up a guide string or wire. Most varieties grow as tall as 25 feet (7 to 8 meters); however, we’ll be growing a dwarf variety that only grows to about 6 feet (around 2 meters).

You can plant hops in the ground or grow them out of a pot. They need to be planted before spring comes and are harvested in September. You can grow them in your gardens, allotments, or even on a porch or balcony but you’ll need to put them in the sunniest spot you can. We’ll provide you with more comprehensive growing instructions when we distribute your growing kits.

How do I get involved?

We are organising a meeting in The Westbury pub (57 Westbury Avenue, N22 6SA) on Thursday 4^th February 2016 at 7.30pm You’re welcome to come and join us to have a chat about the project then if you like.

Alternatively you can get in touch by:

Email: woodgreenhopping@gmail.com

Twitter: @WGhopping

Web: woodgreenhopping.co.uk

We need to get planting before springs breaks out and so our current plans are to get everyone signed up by the beginning of March so we have enough time to order in all the supplies for our planting day. We’ll set up a distribution point on Saturday 12^th March so everyone can come and collect their growing kits.

We’ll arrange a harvest day in September and will be on hand to support and advise you along the way. We’ll also arrange a number of get togethers between March and September so that we can all share growing tips and stories and maybe do a ‘meet the brewer session’ or something like that.

Lets make Haringey a little greener!

Key dates:

First meeting of Wood Green Hopping- Thursday 4^th February

Deadline for subscribing- Tuesday 1^st March

Growing kit handout and planting day- Saturday 12^th March

Harvest and brewing day- September (tbc)