2008 Hop Plantations

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Hi Folks,

just comming on board with the whole taking cuttings and producing new plants etc.. (been concentrating on the wurtenburger(sp) for now)

even though I've had a couple of plants now for a couple of years I've had a nagging question, it's possibly been answered else where so apologies if I've missed it.

Basically my question is, How do you know what the Alpha Acid Unit is of your home grown plant?

Himzo.
 
what time of year do these things die off??
 
Hi Folks,

just comming on board with the whole taking cuttings and producing new plants etc.. (been concentrating on the wurtenburger(sp) for now)

even though I've had a couple of plants now for a couple of years I've had a nagging question, it's possibly been answered else where so apologies if I've missed it.

Basically my question is, How do you know what the Alpha Acid Unit is of your home grown plant?

Himzo.

You don't. You would have to get it measured to know exactly what it is. You can't go by type of hop either as there can be seasonal variations.

About the only way (apart from testing - unsure where or what process would be required) would be to buy hops with a known AA and do a comparison brew (same ingredients, probably same hops for flavour and aroma, but different hops for bittering, same weight tho) and do taste testing. This will give you some idea of where the AA is (higher or lower than the hop with known AA).

However, there may be another easier way that I don't know of.
 
Himzo,

Sorry i don't know how to make a link to the discussion but its under the common ground "Hop Alpha Acid Testing (at Home)", While there are many methods of guessing the a-acid content the primary method previously used by industry and STILL used by broardly today is "Conductmetric titration with Methanolic Lead Acetate (a very nasty chemical if not contained, I take no responcibility for any one piosening them selfs in attempting the process), in saying this I started this thread to see if anyone had treaded this path before me, it apears not (so far). I'm still kiting up to perform the test, burette and more accurate scales on the way, but lead acetate in hand. The process is very simple, extract the a-acid and bittering compounds from a sample of the hops with methonal. Monitor the conductivity of the liquid extraction while slowly adding the lead acetate solution. The lead acetate will react with the a-acids and bittering compounds and precipitate out of solution leaving the conductivity unchanges. Eventually no more a-acid remains in solution to react with the lead acetate and the conductivity increases proportionaly with the additon of the lead acetate. The intersection of these two straight lines will give the titration end point and through a simple calculation you are given the Lead Conductance Value (%LCV~=%a-acids).

Note:
1. This process does not measure the b-acids.
2. As hops age other bittering compounds are produced in the hops, these compounds also react with the lead acetate contributing to the LCV. Therefore this method is very useful for brewers calculating their hop additions for beer bittering. HPLC does not make this distinction. Nore do light refractance methods.
3. Lead Acetate is nasty stuff (must repeat).

Hope this straight farward explanation helps, as always the devils in the detail. :ph34r:

Smashin
 
what time of year do these things die off??

this is part of anm instruction leaflet I got with my rihzomes,

Flowers (cones) will develop Late Jan to early Feb. Maturity will not be reached until late March. Ideally, they should be picked in the first two weeks of April.

Cones can be dried in the sun for two or three days until they are fluffy and light. Afterwards they should be vacuum packed (freezer bags are OK) and kept in the freezer.

Whilst growing, the plant should be thoroughly watered every 4-6 days with small amount of high nitrogen fertiliser added once a month.

IMPORTANT: Once the plant has reached a few meteres in height the bottom metre or so of each vine MUST be stripped from the plant by hand to avoid the growth of various soil borne fungi and to ensure that the vines get maximum benefit.

Once the hops have been picked, the vines can be cut about metre from the ground and the vines pulled down. Our grower suggests the bines remain in place for the next year.




Hope it helps,

Himzo.
 
Thanks Tyred and Smashin,

I'll have a hunt for that thread and see where it leads me. Not That it looks like I'm going to get any flowers this year, weather up my way has been very cool and the plants keep stalling.

Himzo.
 
not sure if this has popped up before or not but i'm not looking through 13 pages if someone can give me a quick answer. i'm first year hop grower, and have a POR, cascade and a vienna gold growing in big-ass pots now. i've set up some creeper mesh in a cylinder shape in the pot for the bines to grow up, but a couple of times now i've noticed my bines have been topped by something. it's so bad that my cascade is turning into a bush rather than a creeper... anyone know what is causing it?
 
Himzo,

Sorry i don't know how to make a link to the discussion but its under the common ground "Hop Alpha Acid Testing (at Home)", While there are many methods of guessing the a-acid content the primary method previously used by industry and STILL used by broardly today is "Conductmetric titration with Methanolic Lead Acetate (a very nasty chemical if not contained, I take no responcibility for any one piosening them selfs in attempting the process), in saying this I started this thread to see if anyone had treaded this path before me, it apears not (so far). I'm still kiting up to perform the test, burette and more accurate scales on the way, but lead acetate in hand. The process is very simple, extract the a-acid and bittering compounds from a sample of the hops with methonal. Monitor the conductivity of the liquid extraction while slowly adding the lead acetate solution. The lead acetate will react with the a-acids and bittering compounds and precipitate out of solution leaving the conductivity unchanges. Eventually no more a-acid remains in solution to react with the lead acetate and the conductivity increases proportionaly with the additon of the lead acetate. The intersection of these two straight lines will give the titration end point and through a simple calculation you are given the Lead Conductance Value (%LCV~=%a-acids).

Note:
1. This process does not measure the b-acids.
2. As hops age other bittering compounds are produced in the hops, these compounds also react with the lead acetate contributing to the LCV. Therefore this method is very useful for brewers calculating their hop additions for beer bittering. HPLC does not make this distinction. Nore do light refractance methods.
3. Lead Acetate is nasty stuff (must repeat).

Hope this straight farward explanation helps, as always the devils in the detail. :ph34r:

Smashin

I dont know what sort of scientific training you have smashin but i find it quite amusing that you think HPLC is an inferior method to a titration which has large degrees of error due to the fact a human is doing the work rather than a machine. I highly doubt thats how its done commercially.

Funny thing about HPLC - it does discriminate every compound, its the point of HPLC!

But if i was going to test my hops i would be using GC-MS which is even better (IMHO) then HPLC. This would enable me to work out the quantity of essential oils in the hops and well as both the alpha and beta acids and oxidation products of them and identify them based on their molecular weights. It would aslo only require a few mg of hops as the dectection limits are in the order of ng/mL (or ppb if you prefer)

While i applaud you effort to work out your alpha acid at home please dont rape the science.


Mike - sounds like something is eating the growing tips which is a sign of spider mites (IIRC). Earwigs eat the leaves so if they are around you will see holes in the leaves. If you dont want to go organic then use white oil. Organic version is oil mixed with a surfactant such as hand soap. I like to add chilli and garlic and sometimes some pyrherum to the mix just to widen the kill.

If it earwigs then patience and trapping does the job or else go nuclear on their arses and use carbaryl.
 
About time i posted some pics of my hop garden.

First up the chinook
DSCF2060.jpg


Which is in flower!
DSCF2072.jpg


Goldings (right), POR left)
DSCF2061.jpg


Another shot of the goldings with the spuds in the foreground
DSCF2068.jpg


And finally the cascade which has been slow to get going but has a few new shoots and is ready to go nuts (fingers crossed)
DSCF2066.jpg


Next season i will build a dedicated trellis just for the hops... altho i did say that last season :(

The cluster is still stuck at 1m and the Victoria i picked up from Boston has a few new shoots. Not too shabby.

Cheers
DrSmurto
 
About time i posted some pics of my hop garden.

First up the chinook
Cheers
DrSmurto

Very nice Dr S...
Those hop flowers shall go well in the Golden Ale no doubt?
I potted those chinooks into bigger pots.
Bring on the warmth to really kick them into action.
I had to spray mine with your chill/garlic/soap/water mix also, as leaves were being eaten. Seems to have worked a treat.... hurt the bugs good, "hurt them real good" as I think you said previously! :lol:
 
Mike - sounds like something is eating the growing tips which is a sign of spider mites (IIRC). Earwigs eat the leaves so if they are around you will see holes in the leaves. If you dont want to go organic then use white oil. Organic version is oil mixed with a surfactant such as hand soap. I like to add chilli and garlic and sometimes some pyrherum to the mix just to widen the kill.

If it earwigs then patience and trapping does the job or else go nuclear on their arses and use carbaryl.

i like the sound of nuclear, i don't imagine i'll be getting any flowers this year anyway so i'll grab the strongest shit i can find. there's a couple of holes, not a lot tho. and i found the tops of some of the bines sitting severed in the pot but can think of anything that'd be physically shearing them...
 
quick question. Do the little spiky looking flowers turn into cones, or are they like a blossom that comes before the fruit.
 
quick question. Do the little spiky looking flowers turn into cones, or are they like a blossom that comes before the fruit.


The spiky looking flowers/blossom turn into cones.
 
oh sweet. I should have about 50 cones then.
 
and i found the tops of some of the bines sitting severed in the pot but can think of anything that'd be physically shearing them...

My bines have all been getting topped as well - I've assumed it's possums as it always occurs when they reach fence height. The bloody things are destroying my capsicum and chilli plants too - the habanero lost some baby fruits last week. I've moved the small capsicum and chilli to a poly greenhouse, but I can't do that with my hops.

How do I know when cones are ready to harvest? My first crop has gotta be close.
 
How do I know when cones are ready to harvest? My first crop has gotta be close.

I think the test is if you pull apart the cone length wise, the stem is mean to split in half.......cannot recall where I read this!
 
Thats a great virtual girl you have running there!! Much like the real thing.

My hops in the past few years have flowered twice. The first ones that you get about now make your beer grassy and
are not that high in AAU - although thats from experience not scientific testing.

Although everyones plants appear to have "stalled" , the hop plants should get a good spurt on over Xmas and send out many more lateral shoots. These are the really productive buggers.

You will get early cones on the main bines but wait for the lateral shoots to cone up - around mid Feb where I live. These will give you heaps of flowers for your next season of brewing.

This is my Chinook harvest from last season. Had POR in similar quantities.

View attachment 23052

Thats a great stash for want of a better word. I currently have a 1st year Mt Hood growing very well in my back yard. I have had some massive laterals take off in recent times. Was wondering wether they should be trained as well. The plant will get very "hairy" if I don't.

BYB
 

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They've felt "dry" for a few weeks. Can you be more specific?
 
They've felt "dry" for a few weeks. Can you be more specific?

I'll try.....peel a couple of leaves off a cone and they should be papery dry between your fingers and not resiny soft. Or queeze a hole cone and it should sound slightly crunchy. It should also bounce back to its original shape quickly. If its still "green" it wont bounce back as quickly,

Cheers
Steve
 
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