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Hops

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The hops bines are out of the ground & the older plants are growing fast. At last I guess that it is finally Spring. Looking foward to the brewery's growers party.
 
I have one plant next to the house the sent a runner up against the house. It's out about a foot... The rest of my hops are snow covered and in frozen ground.... :(
 
Potted plants usually don't fair as well as ones in the ground....What kills them is the number of freeze/thaw cycles. Plants in the ground tend to stay frozen, whereas potted plants can thaw out on a sunny day.

Additionally I have found that a little much helps hops....I have uncovered them in February ad bound them growing.
 
I have wild hops growing on my farm. I have not home brewed in years.

2 years ago I picked a bunch of the hops, put them in the dehydrator and gave them to a guy at work that said he would brew up a batch with them.

Unfortunately, he has not done anything with them.

Fleener
 
He has had them in his freezer for 2 years, sealed in bags. I keep telling him to throw them away and quit taking up space.

fleener
 
I'm not familiar with the WW2 beer ?? You'll have to educate me.

It's just suppositional..., imagine you're in an area where there's a brewery....., in France, the Netherlands, or Belgium, which of course has bought and stored dried hops. Now the Allies are bombing the manure out of Germans in your area, and what better place for the Germans to try to hide armor or artillery or infantry than under the hop vines at the local hop farms? So the allies probably bombed them to bits, and no hops this year, or the previous year ...and so you'd have to rely on old, dried hops from the previous year(s) to make a simple brew for your house. So imagine some whacky "prohibition" brew from local materials and some very old hops that you scrounged...., if you didn't have the idea to grow some small plots of vines for personal use, and had the land to do it.

:wink:

LD
 
During the Second World War, more than 20,000,000 gallons of Canadian beer was shipped to the troops overseas. Canadian beer helped those on the front lines cope with the toughest conditions. Beer calmed the nerves, relaxed the body, and uplifted the soul. It built bonds between the fighting men and helped carry the Allied nations through the war and on to victory.

A funny side note, Canada's Prime Minister issued the 'Wartime Alcohol Beverage Order' which restricted domestic beer consumption during the war. This led to a nearly immediate black market and protest:

No other shortage brought more of an uproar during the war than the lack of beer. Canadians proved to be willing to put up with a virtual famine of other items. But the inability to get a glass of beer after finishing a day’s work was something that wartime workers and military men could not stomach. Their protests were many and often. In Vancouver, for example, angry shipyard workers threatened to boycott the sale of victory bonds if they did not get more of their favorite beverage. ”No Beer ”“ No Bonds” was their battle cry. Across the nation, wartime workers and veterans signed petitions to register their disapproval of the beer restrictions. Although the medium took many forms, the message was always the same: “We want more beer.”
 
Here's an interesting story.

"On June 13, 1944, (D-Day plus seven) number 412 (Falcon) Squadron, along with the others comprising 126 Wing gathered for a briefing by W/C Keith Hodson at our Tangmere base.

The Wingco singled me out to arrange delivery of a sizable shipment of beer to our new airstrip being completed at Beny-sur- Mer.

The instructions went something like this ”“ "Get a couple other pilots and arrange with the Officers Mess to steam out the jet tanks and load them up with beer. When we get over the beachhead drop out of formation and land on the strip. We're told the Nazis are fouling the drinking water so it will be appreciated."

"There's no trouble finding the strip, the Battleship Rodney is firing salvoes on Caen and it's immediately below. We'll be flying over at 13,000 so the beer will be cold enough when you arrive."

...

In reflection it now seems like an appropriate Air Force gesture for which the erks (infantrymen) would be most appreciative.

...

Wheels down and in we go, three Spits with 90 gallon jet tanks fully loaded with cool beer.

They were told to get out fast...


"Look," he said "can you see that church steeple at the far end of the strip? Well it's loaded with German snipers and we've been all day trying to clear them out so you better drop your tanks and bugger off before it's too late."

Beer drop under sniper fire? worth it!"
 
In the United States grain rationing led to the use of adjuncts in the beer like rice and corn. This led to the American style of "light" beer, introduced by Budweiser.
 
Dragonsfire said:
Hops are used in tea for calming and health benefits.

Yes!...Lupulin (A compound in hops) is a sedative.
I have made hop tea several times....It is extremely bitter, but both times I was asleep within 20 minutes.

In the days before mechanized hop picking, it was reported that naps were common among the hop pickers while they were working.
 
During World War II, Italian and German prisoners of war worked in the Kentish hop gardens.

Many Londoners also went to pick hops to escape the bombing.

Here's an interesting article.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1163634/The-hoppiest-days-lives-Recalling-summers-spent-fields.html
 
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