Barnside Brewing Co.

Behind the scenes of Training Hops 🌿

Every hop plant in our yard is trained by hand. (Huge shout out to the crew!!)

The process starts by selecting three strong bines and carefully wrapping them clockwise around coir (coconut fibre rope). Why clockwise? Because that’s the direction hops naturally grow as they follow the sun.

Fun fact: if a bine is trained the wrong way, it will actually correct itself and start winding clockwise on its own.

The growing tips are incredibly delicate. If the head breaks off, that bine won’t grow any taller, so every plant requires a careful touch.

With over 4,000 hop plants in our yard, each with two ropes and three bines trained per rope, it’s a big job. Everything else is pruned away so the plant can focus its energy on going up and producing healthy hop cones.

We’re working our way through the yard, and the bines are climbing fast.🌿