2011 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hops!

[Tony]

Its a round sunbeam one and i use it on the middle of the 3 settings which is low temp high airflow. It gets to about 60 deg i think...... i sat a thermometer in there for a bit to test.

That takes about 4 to 6 hrs depending on air temp and humidity levels. I find it works best in cooler room with good airflow

cheers

 

[hoppy2B]

I picked up just over 3 kilos from my Goldings wet and just over 2 kilos from my Cluster wet. Pictured is the Cluster pre-harvest. This is my first year growing hops. :lol:

 

[Tony]

Hardcore barbed wire trellice...... love it!

 

[colonel]

Harvested my first crop yesterday, yippee!
wet weights were:
Chinook 610g
Cluster 446g
Cascade 642g

The Chinook was pound for pound the best producer, as it was the smallest vine, but had masses of flowers.
The plants looked after themselves, I just planted them, ran some hay band up the north side of the shearing shed, and watered them once a week.
I'll try to find some more varieties this winter, it's great to stand back with a brew and watch them do their thing.
What a fine hobby!

 

[husky]

2011 Harvest almost complete
980g dry POR
330g dry cascade

Approx 200g dry remaining in the bines. Second year hops.

Next year will aim for the reverse. I would use more cascade than POR. Going to get a vac sealer for next year.

 

[Tony]

get yourself a $60 vacuum sealer on evilbay mate...... those hops wont last long exposed to air in those bags.

 

[Wolfy]

Not as good growing season for my hops this year:

Looks small but the top-wires are 5.5m high.

Golding and Halleratu were the most prolific this year:

So far the harvest consists of (wet weights) 2100g Halleratu (2 bags at back), 600g Hersbrucker (front left) and 200g Pride of Ringwood (front right):

The rest of the hops are still on the bines but are drying under the carport (untill the in-laws leave and I have some time to pick them and room to dry them):

 

[the_new_darren]

I'm thinking of taking snips of the rhizomes on my hallertau up to qld with me for the dry season that will start soon.

Just wondering if there is anything bad about snipping rhizomes at this time of ge year as everyone keeps referring to digging them up in winter (for obvious reasons I guess but I wonder if there might b more to it).

I cut a rhizome this year and replanted it. It actually grew better than original (probably because the original was in a pot and the cutting went into the ground)

tnd

 

[billygoat]

Its a round sunbeam one and i use it on the middle of the 3 settings which is low temp high airflow. It gets to about 60 deg i think...... i sat a thermometer in there for a bit to test.

That takes about 4 to 6 hrs depending on air temp and humidity levels. I find it works best in cooler room with good airflow

cheers

Tony,
When using the dehydrator, when do you know that the hops are dry enough? I picked 575 gms off one of my Goldings plant today and intend using the dehydrator tomorrow.
Cheers

 

[husky]

get yourself a $60 vacuum sealer on evilbay mate...... those hops wont last long exposed to air in those bags.

So my missus has these vacuum bags for storing baby clothes that aren't used for a while. Found some medium bags at bunnings for $10 and managed to fit all my hops in one. The cascade is in a freezer bag inside the vacuum bag with the top open to still allow the air to be squeezed out. I was amazed at how well this worked.


980g POR and 330g Cascade. Sealed awaiting a 10 min IPA. Could easily open up and grab whatever I need and re vac.

Brilliant! Fits in the freezer easily too.

 

[hoppy2B]

So my missus has these vacuum bags for storing baby clothes that aren't used for a while. Found some medium bags at bunnings for $10 and managed to fit all my hops in one. The cascade is in a freezer bag inside the vacuum bag with the top open to still allow the air to be squeezed out. I was amazed at how well this worked.


980g POR and 330g Cascade. Sealed awaiting a 10 min IPA. Could easily open up and grab whatever I need and re vac.

Brilliant! Fits in the freezer easily too.

View attachment 53007View attachment 53008View attachment 53009View attachment 53010

Are those bags you have your hops in Husky for use with a normal vacuum? That's interesting. I should look into that and take a trip to Bunnings tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up.
I've been cramming mine into sandwich bags. I figured they were tight enough to exclude most of the air and it would be handy because they were in 100gram packets, but its hard work and time consuming. Might be easier putting less into each packet and using a vac bag to put them all into.
Cheers.

 

[husky]

Yes mate, a standard household vacuum is used to suck the air out via the one way valve. If you leave all your 100g sandwich bags open and place them in one of these it should suck most of the air out as long as the 100g bag does not close on suction. Mine didnt and the cascades are tight as the POR even in their individual bag.
Could be a pain for you if constantly un sealing and sealing, but another option for bulk storage. These medium bags were the smallest I could buy. At $10 and reusable theres nothing stopping you putting a couple hundred grams in one and leaving the rest empty. These mainly come in bigger sizes for clothes and bedding storage, so if buying the small ones make sure they have the vacuum valve. Some smaller ones are called "travel" bags which you rollup to squeeze the air out.

 

[Malted]

Tony,
When using the dehydrator, when do you know that the hops are dry enough? I picked 575 gms off one of my Goldings plant today and intend using the dehydrator tomorrow.
Cheers

I do not use a dehydrator but I guess the dryness of them is relevent to how ever you dry them? I use a flyscreen frame out of direct light in my shed. My Golding crop took less than 24hrs to dry on the weekend.

I don't know exactly how dry but I can say that I have in the past over dried my hops and it does not seem to be a good thing because they come apart too easily. I mean not so much that the cones are crumbly as such but the petals come off easily. To my mind, it would be better if the hop cone stayed intact when I am brewing with it. I kind of go by feel and gut instinct, I want them dry but not too dry. Enough moisture so that the petals will bend rather than snap but not so much moisture that they will go moudly or bad. Commercial whole flowers or hop plugs seem to be about this level I am trying to describe. I might be barking up the wrong bine, we'll see when I use some I have vac-packed recently.

 

[davo4772]

Harvested 1kg wet of a first year Cascade with another kilo or so left.
First kilo went from vine into an APA.

Quite pleased as my MIL did some "weeding" in October and ripped it out. Had to pull it out of the bin. Came good obviously.

Was growing vertically until the wind snapped the pole.

 

[pat_00]

I feel like a bit of a failure reading this thread.

I got about 15g of dried chinook and 5g of dried cascade out of the 4 rhizomes I planted early spring

Then again, it was the first year and they had to compete with hungry possums, and are planted in a less than ideal spot.

Is growing them vertically a big deal? at the moment they are growing on a trellis along a wood fence. I've trained them to climb up in a zig-zag pattern.

 

[matho]

don't worry I got nothing thanks to a hail storm that completly shredded them, there is always next year.
I don't think how you grow them is very important, what is important is lots of sunshine and nurtients and water

cheers

edit: with some of your fresh hops, throw a cone in a pint and let it sit for a couple of minutes and then drink it, I have done this a number of times and the results are quite nice

 

[bradsbrew]

Anyone got a good control method for killing the little grasshoppers?

 

[cdbrown]

I feel like a bit of a failure reading this thread.

I got about 15g of dried chinook and 5g of dried cascade out of the 4 rhizomes I planted early spring

Then again, it was the first year and they had to compete with hungry possums, and are planted in a less than ideal spot.

Is growing them vertically a big deal? at the moment they are growing on a trellis along a wood fence. I've trained them to climb up in a zig-zag pattern.

I got about the same weight in hops. I got a chest infection last week and missed out on the prime time for picking the hops. Thankfully there's still some on there that are about ready but this very hot and dry summer is really hard on them and my water bill.

 

[Wolfy]

Inspired by Malted's "5 minute 'bodggit and leggit' hop press" but not having any steel-pipe, I made a Hopsquash from 90mm PVC pipe fittings:

... now I need to spend a day or two squishing and packing them all.

 

[Tony]

Anyone got a good control method for killing the little grasshoppers?

Stop upsetting god!