2011 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hops!

[Tony]

Edit: itchy.

Long sleved work shirt and gloves help. Hop plants are directly related to fiberglass roof insulation

 

[bradsbrew]

They've ruined my complete plantation this year!
Started out as tiny green grass hoppers and over time mutated to huge brown monsters who have literally eaten every single leaf of my five plants.

Same here mate. And the plants have fired back up but the grasshoppers have returned. I have six hops I am watching each day :angry:

 

[Lecterfan]

Mesa99 came around for a bit of vac-sealing action.

He got around 540gms dried first year harvest, I got close to 700gms dried second year harvest (Mesa: forgot to include the Goldings I threw in the fermenting Old ale)...I should have got double that but with all my mid season panic about fungus and pests I conclude I just didn't keep them moist enough to be happy when flowering.

Anyway, I'll probably chuck all of mine in at flameout for one monstrous 2012 vintage harvest ale.

Mine on the right, Mesa99's on the left.

:icon_cheers:

 

[billygoat]

Mesa99 came around for a bit of vac-sealing action.

He got around 540gms dried first year harvest, I got close to 700gms dried second year harvest (Mesa: forgot to include the Goldings I threw in the fermenting Old ale)...I should have got double that but with all my mid season panic about fungus and pests I conclude I just didn't keep them moist enough to be happy when flowering.

Anyway, I'll probably chuck all of mine in at flameout for one monstrous 2012 vintage harvest ale.

Mine on the right, Mesa99's on the left.
View attachment 53185
:icon_cheers:

^^^^^^^^^^ Showoffs ^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Shed101]

They've ruined my complete plantation this year!
Started out as tiny green grass hoppers and over time mutated to huge brown monsters who have literally eaten every single leaf of my five plants.

I lost my entire lot to caterpillars. They were doing just nice and looking like flowers were just on their way, then the Goldings got attacked, next the Chinook and I thought the Cascade was going to be fine as they didn't seem interested. But no.

First year bad luck - next year i'll be ready for them B)

 

[Midnight Brew]

Lost half my harvest from a storm snapping a few bines with heaps of flowers on them but this is the result

Chinook was the only one to flower, the rest got poisened by the local council :angry:
Ended up with 330g dried.

 

[Wolfy]

Chinook was the only one to flower, the rest got poisened by the local council :angry:

What did you do to piss off the local council? Around here they don't even bother spraying the blackberrys most of the time!

 

[Tony]

tried my Aussie Pale Ale made with my 2012 POR........ It's SHIT!

I set AA to 7% and it has next to no bitterness. It tastes like baby food custard.

very disappointed with the home grown hops.

I've had my fun, will rip them out when it cools down and give them to a friend...... or friends

cheers

 

[Steve@PMF82]

tried my Aussie Pale Ale made with my 2012 POR........ It's SHIT!

I set AA to 7% and it has next to no bitterness. It tastes like baby food custard.

very disappointed with the home grown hops.

I've had my fun, will rip them out when it cools down and give them to a friend...... or friends

cheers

I did a few test boils of 1L bittered to 30ibu...in the end i think i got closest to what i perceived to be around 20 at the most and that was at 5%.

Interesting funky kind of flavour, very different to commercial POR and not really my cup of tea so i turfed them.

In hindsight i prob could have left them on the bine a bit longer as well, which is what i did with my Chinook
and pretty happy with it for some flavour and aroma.

I still think i will be giving away my POR as well.
Bit of fun anyway aye

 

[Lecterfan]

I still think i will be giving away my POR as well.
Bit of fun anyway aye

If you end up coming up here, feel free to bring it...(flowers that is, I don't need another rhizome).

 

[kelbygreen]

Yeah I done 2 brews one bittered with POR and had chinook at flame out it was alright but under bitter. The other was POR bittered and POR at flame out and it was by far the worst beer I brewed. The POR smelt so floral but nothing of that came threw in the taste. I to couldnt be stuffed with growing the plants its to unpredictable and inconsistent. Would rather spend $5 or so a brew to know I am using the right hops and right AA%

 

[hoppy2B]

I tried my first ever brew made with my own Goldings hops and wheat last week and it was as bitter as hell and then some. :lol:

 

[waggastew]

Have used my homegrown hops in three brews so far:

1. All HG Chinook PA/IPA - Still conditioning but snuck a taste a few weeks back. Seems to but under bittered even though I added extra to compensate for lower than commercial levels of AA. Will re-check in a week or so.

2. New Belgium Fat Tire Amber Ale Clone - Used my HG Goldings for late addition only so difficult to tell their contribution.

3. HG POR Aussie Megaswill - Still fermenting but is coming across very well. Bitterness is firm to high, again I added in a bit extra than if I used commercial hops. Character is similar/identical to my taste to commercial POR flowers.

Overall I am thinking that I will try and focus more on growing hops that I can use later in the boil (Goldings, Chinook, Cascade, Mt Hood) and use commercial hops (with their predictable bittering) for early additions.

Stew

 

[kelbygreen]

yes I agree hops for bittering are no good unless you know the AA%. But for the little you use for late hops unless you do like 10mins addition of like 300g then I wouldnt bother with growing them. I may grow some for late hops but its hard to make a beer with all HG hops

 

[hoppy2B]

I put down a brew on Tuesday. Took 120gram of wet frozen cluster out of the freezer, opened it and was totally blown away by the intense passion fruit aroma! It was incredible, as strong an aroma as the flavour is when you take a swig of a drink like passiona.
I wish I had frozen more wet than what I did. Still have a bit more frozen wet. I don't expect the dry stuff to be the same but we'll see. The quick sip I took from the hydrometre yesterday morning when filling the fermentors was awesome. Didn't have time to savour it because I was in hurry to get out the doorbut I'll enjoy drinking it though I'm sure. So fruity.
If you don't get the IBU you are after the first time just adjust your next brew. Some of you may have picked early.

 

[Wolfy]

...
I got close to 700gms dried second year harvest
...
Anyway, I'll probably chuck all of mine in at flameout for one monstrous 2012 vintage harvest ale.

I'm not sure I would have picked them as traditional-US-'D'-type hops, but a wonderfully interesting and well brewed beer.
Hopefully if you treat the plants a bit better next year and they'll give you a bigger crop to make even more great beer with.

 

[Lecterfan]

It's been ups and downs with my lot this year, but today - out of sheer spite - I knocked out a 'wet-hop-harvest ale'...

While the boil was on I just went out and picked a heap that I had on the bine longer than last year in order to develop more lupulin and the papery feel etc...some of the hops are a bit small due to all my bullshit a few months ago (which came down to simply not giving them enough water), but they are full of yellow goodness, and some of the more sun exposed ones are a bit brown on the edges.

200 gms of cascade flowers, 250 gms colombus (wet/fresh from the bine):
View attachment 52817


Ran off the kettle into two of the old stovetop-boil pots (I still left %80 of hot break and the NS bittering hop debris behind but wasn't too stressed as the flowers act as brilliant organic filters when straining into the fermenter and I won't reuse the yeast):
View attachment 52818

Now in the icebath.

I rescued 2 bugs from the hot wort of doom, not sure how many others perished haha...bit of extra protein, all good.

I'm not sure I would have picked them as traditional-US-'D'-type hops, but a wonderfully interesting and well brewed beer.
Hopefully if you treat the plants a bit better next year and they'll give you a bigger crop to make even more great beer with.

Hey Wolfy -again thanks for the feedback - but post/pics above is the brew you've been onto...I actually have not yet brewed the threatened 'the entire harvest into one brew' brew yet haha...I am wondering whether to brew it for winter or spring consumption at this point....(if the pics don't load, go and check the post, it has the pics!!!).

Onya cobber!

edit: post 1092, page 55

 

[Yob]

tried my Aussie Pale Ale made with my 2012 POR........ It's SHIT!

THB Im growing a POR not for use but because I feel obliged to as I live in Ringwood..

The plan is to have it more as a shade cover and decoration for the Brew Shed... whenever I can get a builder out here to do the effing thing..

 

[hoppy2B]

It should be easy for homebrewer/growers to produce better hops than commercial plantations because of only a few plants to tend. For example commercial growers would be less likely to rely on manure for fully feeding their crop.
Long story short, mine taste great! :lol:

 

[Wolfy]

It should be easy for homebrewer/growers to produce better hops than commercial plantations because of only a few plants to tend. For example commercial growers would be less likely to rely on manure for fully feeding their crop.
Long story short, mine taste great! :lol:

But it also depends on what expectations home-hop-growers have.

Without lab-analysis, you cannot know the exact AA% which make sit difficult to accurately use home-grown hops as bittering additions.
The location, soil, climate and how the hops are treated also have a large impact on their qualities (in terms of flavour, aroma and bitterness) - which may not always be exactly the same (or even similar) to their commercial counterparts.

So if home-growers expect their hops to be the same as commercially grown hops, they may well be disappointed.