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They hope their crops will help encourage a new style of fresh-hop style brews in WA and help to develop the production of wholly WA-grown beers. The pair met at university in the United Kingdom and travelled to Australia in as backpackers. A stint helping on Michael, Paula and Jason Green's farm in Youngs Siding, between Denmark and Albany, blossomed into an enduring friendship and now the couple have returned to their friends and their farm - renting a house and half an acre 0.
The Alexanders are one of a handful of small-scale hops growers in Western Australia and they are excited to be harvesting their first commercial crop of Great Southern Hops in March - working with a few WA micro-breweries to offer them fresh, straight-off-the-bine hops and dried hops for their selected brews. By doing so, they hope to encourage more production of wholly WA-grown beers, including more of the fresh, wet hops-style which hasn't been easy to make in the West.
Mr Alexander is a keen home brewer and he said when contemplating their green change the pair considered a commercial micro-brewing operation - but quickly realised how fast growing and competitive that market was.
The couple's hops yard is about 50 per cent full this year with 10 hops varieties, including Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus, Nugget, Williamette, Hallertau, Saaz and Perle. Typically the plants provide about 20pc yield in their first year, depending on the climate, increasing to about 50pc in their second year and pc from their third year on.
For the past three years the couple has been running trials to see which varieties of the hardy plant best cope in the Great Southern climate and will aim to narrow their selection down to a commercial crop of about six varieties - but with a small patch of other varieties for their own brewing use and any special projects which come up. The hops are at their freshest and most flavoursome and aromatic fresh off the bine and it's this option which Aaron and Laura are most keen to introduce to WA brewers.
Mr Alexander said fresh, wet hops were usually picked when their moisture content reached pc. He said unlike other beer ingredients, like malted wheat, or barely, hops could not be sourced locally. Mr Coates said he expected to see an increase in the number of people growing hops in the state.
He said fears of a hops shortage had driven many larger brewers to invest in growing hops. Mr Coates hopes to use the hops as a platform to starting his own wholesale brewery on the farm. The hops and the brewery are a part of diversifying the farm, as well as planting barely and wheat crops to include in the brewing in the next few years.
Mr Coates' hops trials have grown reasonably well, but he said there were challenges to growing the crop in WA. With the absence of sufficient frosts or chill in the region, he will use an irrigation experiment to create a frost for the hops, which require a period of dormancy to grow. Mr Coates said the plants will not cope very well with temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, so he will install a mist machine to cool the bines.
Hops also require extended daylight hours during the growing season, which Mr Coates said may be solved by using LED growing lights and he will also add lime to the soil to balance pH levels.
Britt Butler said the couple began growing the plants, but she said they soon moved into breeding and creating new varieties. Mrs Butler said she and her husband were creating their own home brew to test their varieties. Mrs Butler said hops were still an emerging crop in WA, but she believed there was demand for the product.
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