[Artemisia] Attn: Brewers

[Ted Elliott]

Thank you for the info Your Excellency.
Unfortunately I will not be able to make the A&S this time, but I would love 
to sit down and talk Ale with you one day.
Finlay

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judy Chapman" <chapman at lolopeak.com>
To: "Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list" <artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] Attn: Brewers


>
> Greetings to all the homebrewers in Artemisia from Baroness Judith.  As a 
> wine maker, homebrewer and owner of a Home Brew Shop let me give you some 
> more information.
>
>> Germany is in the middle of a drought and their hop crops have failed.
>
> This is news but as as most of the hops used in the US are grown in the US 
> it is not a big worry.
>
>> One of the major US distributors has had a fire in one of the hops 
>> storage facilities with a total loss.
> Yes, a major US distributor of US hops did have a fire and lost hops but 
> it was not a total loss.  This loss was about 3% of total hop production. 
> What this means is that some varieties may run short before the '07 crop 
> is processed.
>
>> Large scale hops shortages and rising prices.
>
> My supplier (a large one in Portland) is not worried.
>
>> It was recommended by my local brewing store that we stock up on all 
>> types of hops and freeze for future use.
>
> Freezing is a good way to keep hops at home for future use.  Just remember 
> that the new crop will be available later this year when you stock up. 
> The amount of hops sold through homebrew shops is pretty small when 
> compared to the amounts used by the comercial breweries.  I personally am 
> not worried, if one hop runs out it is a good opertunity to try something 
> new.
> One more item of interest, did you know you can grow your own hops?  They 
> are easy to grow and very prolific.  By the second or third year they can 
> reach 20 feet and produce three to four pounds of fresh hops per plant. 
> Right now, here in Montana I am growing Cascade and Willamette.
>
>> Just some FYI
>
> Thanks for bringing up the subject and now for a shamless plug.  May 5th 
> is Kingdom A & S and Colugium.  I will be teaching a class on "Making 
> Period Ale/Beer"  and would love to get a chance to talk to other brewers 
> and introduce everyone else to the joys of homebrewing.  If you let me 
> know ahead of time I can have a hop start for you at the event.
>
> Baroness Judith of Sherburn, OP
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>
>