You may have already gathered from the images, posts and (perish the thought) name of this blog that the author has a great affection for fermented beverages and good food. I hope to share some bits and pieces of interest with you, generally relating to but not entirely restricted to items of this nature.
I am an electronic engineer by trade, but please don’t hold that against me. I am South African by birth, English by tongue and European by descent. What does that all mean? Well, when you work it out, please let me know. All I know is that I appreciate the finer things in life, as I suspect you do too if you’re reading this.
I strongly believe that life is simply too agonisingly brief to eat bad food, drink crap beer or cheap wine. To this end, I love to cook (and to eat!) and my hobby and passion is craft brewing. I love how it allows me to experiment with different malts and hops to create something new, exciting and above all else – delicious.
Please leave a comment if you’ve enjoyed anything you’ve read on the site, and the same goes if you haven’t. If nothing else, I implore you to grab yourself a hunk of fresh bread, a piece of mature cheese and a glass of your favourite beer or wine and toast the good life!
fat gary 
Hello, I am in Augusta, Ga(home of the Masters golf). In Dec. 2009 I dug up some wild hops from Michigan, but not really thinking they would grow well down here…. they do. The only thing I have noticed is that the plants are thinner and not to many buds. Due to the high heat, 105 yesterday, I have them in an area of indirect sun. Should I do something diffent?
Hi Craig,
Thanks for visiting the site. I hope you pop back from time to time!
I’m not familiar with the different states, but I’m guessing Michigan has a fairly cool climate? In any case, 40°C (105°F in old money) is really hot for hops, which tend to prefer cooler climates. I’ve never tried to grow them in heat like you’re experiencing, but I would imagine that it’s just too hot for them. I definitely don’t recommend putting them in full sun as I think it may kill them. You will probably have better luck buying a rhizome of a commercial hop like Cascade, which is known to be more resilient to higher temperatures, and you can brew with them when they bear flowers.
Look at the leaves. If they are a dark green then the plant is happy, but if the leaves are a pale shade of green then the plant is lacking nitrogen. Other things to look out of are aphids, japanese beetles and other pests as everything seems to like eating hops. Also, make sure the plant has enough water, but the roots should have really good drainage.
Hope that helps. Drop me an email at fatgary at calcom dot co dot za if there’s anything else I can assist with.