2010 Hop Plantations

[Housecat]

I was looking at my Cascade hop plants tonight and have found some exciting little buds I thought I'd share them with you all





Also quite impressed with the speed these things grow! These are less than two months old and my second bine popped up a few days before Christmas you can see it just up above to the right of the stake.



Looking forward to the beer I get to drink with these added in :icon_drunk: :chug:


HC

 

[jonocarroll]

I know its 2011 now but...

My chinook is going nicely
View attachment 43116

Whoa. Nice!

POR and Cluster are dragging ass though!

Hopefully that's the reason there's not a glimpse of hop flowers on either of mine yet then. My POR has reached the limits of where I want it to grow, so I'll be pinching the end of it soon and hoping it puts more energy into actually growing some laterals. My Cluster's got laterals all over the place and I've now trained the longer ones up the main bundle.

 

[Murcluf]

Interesting year so far majority are growing as per seasonal norm except for 2 My TDB is growing like a triffid but flowering normally and my Victoria is punching out Hop Cones like its on roids and am not sure when to pick them any advice would be welcomed. piccies of Victoria below

 

[jonocarroll]

The drool icon ( :icon_drool2: ) just doesn't cut it here... had to make my own more suitable one;

Good on ya. Now I'm truly jealous. C'mon hops! What are you waiting for?

 

[Malted]

Whoa. Nice!


Hopefully that's the reason there's not a glimpse of hop flowers on either of mine yet then. My POR has reached the limits of where I want it to grow, so I'll be pinching the end of it soon and hoping it puts more energy into actually growing some laterals. My Cluster's got laterals all over the place and I've now trained the longer ones up the main bundle.

Looking at the other Adelaide hop growers in particular, it seems as though there is quite a lot of variation in growing 'characteristics'. My Chinook had its growing tips snapped off (wind or birds perhaps) but in just the last week it has hit the straps - it is growing rather rapidly. Where my others had thin bines it is throwing bines about half the thickness of a pencil, very robust compared to the others (PoR, Saaz, Hersbrucker). Saaz and Hersbrucker both have a good amount of spikes. The Chinook laterals are storming upwards (replacing the snapped off growing tips) and do not have any spikes let alone developed flowers like Ravens. The fellas in QLD seem to have had developed flowers for some time. DrSmurto says, relax they grow like weeds, let them do their thing (not his exact words obviously). I am starting to worry less about my hops, sort of...
It is great to see lots of photos of others hop plants, it shows the variation and makes me worry less.

 

[Malted]

I don't know if it is because the weather has warmed, my Chinook has recovered from the tips being snapped off (laterals have replaced them) or if it is they like the fish and seaweed liquid fertiliser more than the slow release pellets but it is starting to take off now. The laterals growth above the SS cable is just from the last couple of days and is much more robust than others/previously. When the others hit the top of the wire I have trained them back and forth between the two wires. I have hacked the shiite outa the neighbours vine to give my hops enough breathing room!

Here is a closeup of the new Chinook growth.
On the left is a Saaz bine and has been the size of bines of all the hops until now; for comparison on the right is the robust new growth on the Chinook:

All four varieties seem to be quite busy throwing laterals. I think this is my PoR. I have been waiting until they're long enough and then training them up the neighbouring strings.

Saaz and Hersbrucker both have flower spikes. Here's a pic of some Hersbrucker spikes:

All photos taken this morning.

 

[drsmurto]

@The Meerkat - your Victoria hops don't look ready yet. They are a very pale green and they tend to get darker as they get larger and start to dry off.

When you squeeze them I am guessing they dont make a lot of noise and feel quite 'wet'. When they feel papery and make a noise like crunching a dry leaf they are ready to pick.

Does that make sense?

Not sure but i have learnt over the years to know when they are ready by sight and touch. Mine are a long way behind yours.

Cheers
DrSmurto

p.s. will have to catch up and pass on a bottle of my Victoria rye golden ale. Only been in primary for 5 days but is tasting VERY nice. Will help you in understanding what this hop tastes like. Very unique. Screams loqats.

 

[West Brew]

My first year cascade has now got some small hops on there!


From what I have read the hops are ready to pick when they go slightly brown and feel papery rather than springy? Is this correct?

Also is a couple of days plenty of time to dry a small ammount of hops in hot weather (30+ degrees)?

 

[HeavyNova]

Wow, all of these photos looke great. My hops took off reasonably well then nothing much happened for a good 2-3 weeks in December, even had a small section die off. I thought that even though they like the sun maybe the sudden jump in temperatures cooked them a bit.

Anyway, there are lots of small growths all over the plants again and they're coming along nicely again, however nothing like any of the photos getting posted.

Will they continue to grow throughout the summer? Just wondering if they'll get any bigger than 1.5 metres this year!?

 

[felten]

arrrrrr! I've broken 2 tips off in 2 days, luckily only on laterals, this melbourne weather isn't good for trying to manipulate your bines. I've been trying to train all my laterals onto the main line, but there's so many it's a real PITA.

This one is a 1st year willamette, the main bine is 2m up and 2.5m long and is the only one with flowers on it atm.


ps. if you break any tips off, they taste great.

 

[jonocarroll]

arrrrrr! I've broken 2 tips off in 2 days, luckily only on laterals, this melbourne weather isn't good for trying to manipulate your bines. I've been trying to train all my laterals onto the main line, but there's so many it's a real PITA.

I broke the tip off one bine that I wanted to stop growing higher ... didn't stop the darn thing. Some of the laterals I've been training up the main bine on another plant are racing towards the leader that I'm training horizontally. Still no signs of flowers yet.

ps. if you break any tips off, they taste great.

Wish I'd thought of that.

 

[Adam Howard]

Chinook. Some of those wires have laterals from the middle bine heading up them and CATCHING the main bines. Unreal. I am also finding little burrs starting too.

Cluster. Looking very healthy. I can only imagine the rhizome is under serious development on this one!

 

[proudscum]

arrrrrr! I've broken 2 tips off in 2 days, luckily only on laterals, this melbourne weather isn't good for trying to manipulate your bines. I've been trying to train all my laterals onto the main line, but there's so many it's a real PITA.

This one is a 1st year willamette, the main bine is 2m up and 2.5m long and is the only one with flowers on it atm.
View attachment 43280
View attachment 43281
ps. if you break any tips off, they taste great.

The growing tips that you really want to eat are the ones at the beginning of the growing season when they are still underground and white.A bit like asparagus and a bit of a Belgian specialty there is a recipe in Michael Jacksons Beer Companion .Be interesting to see if there is a taste difference between the different hops.

 

[stew.w]

heres my 2nd year chinook, its gone nuts this year
somethings been eating the leaves but its still growing at a ridiculous rate

 

[Murcluf]

@The Meerkat - your Victoria hops don't look ready yet. They are a very pale green and they tend to get darker as they get larger and start to dry off.

When you squeeze them I am guessing they dont make a lot of noise and feel quite 'wet'. When they feel papery and make a noise like crunching a dry leaf they are ready to pick.

Does that make sense?

Not sure but i have learnt over the years to know when they are ready by sight and touch. Mine are a long way behind yours.

Cheers
DrSmurto

p.s. will have to catch up and pass on a bottle of my Victoria rye golden ale. Only been in primary for 5 days but is tasting VERY nice. Will help you in understanding what this hop tastes like. Very unique. Screams loqats.

Thanks Mate understand completely, probably exactly what I needed to hear and will play it by ear and feel. Currently very wet and resieny which stains the fingers yellow after being squeezed. Chinook is starting kick into gear with a few cones taking form.

Also mulling over the idea of doing a couple Mikkeller & Rogues inspired single wet hop IPA's with at least my Victoria and Chinook hops. As I've never done an IPA before I'm not sure on a malt base to build for a good balance, was thinking of 85% Pale 10% Munich and 5% Crystal. With a hop schedule of 60, 10, 5, 0 aim for 50 to 70 IBU SG 1.064 using Rogues Pacman yeast. (I'm open to suggestions)

Definitely have catch up for a taste as I just love loquats

 

[insane_rosenberg]

G'Day Melbourne Brewers!

I am looking to grow some hops next season and was wondering if any of you would be willing to sell/trade some rhizomes?

If not who is a good retailer?

I am hoping to get one high-alpha and two low-alpha varieties.

I don't want to hijack your (very impressive) plantation thread so please PM me any info.

Cheers,
-Shaneo.

 

[Superoo]

Howdy All,
I harvested my fisrt ever hops on 27th december, and laid them out on some flywire to dry, no fan etc, just inside a pretty hot shed.
They were quite papery on the bine, and it had been quite windy for a fair while, so maybe they were papery and ready due to the windy weather, more than actually being ready. But they had heaps of bright yellow lupulin in all of the leaves, so all good there I think. They smell bloody awesome.
The next brew will tell me if they were any good.

Harvested approx 800 grams fresh Cascade, dried to 234 grams.
Harvested approx 160 grams Chinook, dried to 46 grams.
Hallertau performed like Leyton Hewitt and did stuff all except soak up attention, so they have one more chance or out they come.

Cheers to All...

Pics below were taken early December.

 

[Housecat]

When it is time to harvest my pretties, how long can they be left on the bines until they need to be picked? I have a feeling that I'll be away for when harvest time comes around.

HC

 

[barls]

from experience its generally about a couple of days to a week depending on conditions and variety of hops.

 

[cdbrown]

Here's mine. They seem to be growing ok, no signs of any hops yet, but they keep creeping up the twine. They did take a while to take off and I didn't help the matter by leaving them grow without having any twine to climb up at the start.

Taken about 3 weeks ago

Taken a few days ago