2011 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hops!

[kelbygreen]

+1

I didnt expect them to be the same, But I did expect them to be close to the same. The POR was more floral then the chinook but adding it late in the boil gave a god awful taste! The chinnook smelt like grass clippings but late it was nicer then the POR but little to no aroma and flavour you would expect from chinook.

I dont think I will bother next year I am not sure yet but decided the POR is going! cant have a bittering hop I dont think only ones they will be used at 10mins or less.

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.

 

[Wolfy]

I didnt expect them to be the same, But I did expect them to be close to the same. The POR was more floral then the chinook but adding it late in the boil gave a god awful taste! The chinnook smelt like grass clippings but late it was nicer then the POR but little to no aroma and flavour you would expect from chinook.

I dont think I will bother next year I am not sure yet but decided the POR is going! cant have a bittering hop I dont think only ones they will be used at 10mins or less.

I also suspect that it depends on where the plants have been sourced from.
Since it is very difficult to visually identify or differentiate between different hop varieties, I suspect that different varieties might - at times - become mixed up, and then that mistake gets transferred as the plants are distributed.

My Chinook smell almost overwhelmingly of pine-forest when they are drying, Cascade was strongly American-type-C-hop, Goldings were hoppy but earthy - so I'm hopeful that they are true-to-form.
Hallertau, Hersbruker and even my Saaz were very subdued and hard to differentiate, but being noble-type hops that might not be a bad thing.
However, the Columbus were almost overwhelmingly-horrible-pepper-spice so I'm very unsure about even using them, and my POR really don't remind me of the commercial POR flowers I have in the fridge, but will brew with them before deciding.

 

[hoppy2B]

My hops seem very true to form. :huh:
I feel sorry for the rest of you. ..... :lol:

 

[Yob]

the hop whisperer

Let there be foreheads on the floor and arms in the air

 

[mmmyummybeer]

I noticed a big difference in my hops this year. Last year my Mt Hood was sensational. so I was very much looking forward to picking the abundance of hop cones on the bine this year. However when I did pick which was later side they had very little luplin this year. When I picked some and dried them out, all I got was grass also and decided it wasn't even worth picking the rest.
The cascade however that was ok last year, was absolutely sensational this year, and a good yield too. So I guess you win some and lose some.

I have had problems with grassy flavours in my cascade in the past. I originally thought it must have been from wet hopping and brought a dehydrator and vacuum sealer, which I originally thought had done the trick but thinking now it was more to do with seasonal variations. As for adding lights to increase yield I would be more interested in ways to intensify the flavours rather than yield. If would be great to know what other things influence to hops such as fertilizer? water? climate?

 

[kelbygreen]

Yeah I guess there is a few things that would effect them. Maybe all the rain we had impacted on them or maybe as wolfy said they may not be the plants that I intended to buy.

The chinnook have very little lupin in them so that could be why they lacked in aroma and flavour. I left them on there till they died as I wasnt bothered to pick them so I left them till they turned brown and they did not develop any more lupin or aroma.

The POR on the other hand had heaps of lupin and smelt great but for late in the boil it tasted straight up like arse lol and I couldnt be bothered working out how to use them as bittering additions.

 

[jayahhdee]

For those of us that don't have hop plantations as of yet, when should we expect rhizomes to start coming on the market? Is is around June?

 

[goatus]

I noticed a big difference in my hops this year. Last year my Mt Hood was sensational. so I was very much looking forward to picking the abundance of hop cones on the bine this year. However when I did pick which was later side they had very little luplin this year. When I picked some and dried them out, all I got was grass also and decided it wasn't even worth picking the rest.
The cascade however that was ok last year, was absolutely sensational this year, and a good yield too. So I guess you win some and lose some.

I have had problems with grassy flavours in my cascade in the past. I originally thought it must have been from wet hopping and brought a dehydrator and vacuum sealer, which I originally thought had done the trick but thinking now it was more to do with seasonal variations. As for adding lights to increase yield I would be more interested in ways to intensify the flavours rather than yield. If would be great to know what other things influence to hops such as fertilizer? water? climate?

I noticed the same. My cascade last year was very grassy and only had a slight aroma, this year it is dripping with luplin and smells amazing. Must have been the weather? If anything i think i gave them less water this year.

 

[hoppy2B]

For those of us that don't have hop plantations as of yet, when should we expect rhizomes to start coming on the market? Is is around June?

June would be a good bet, but I would think July would be a better month to dig them up or even into August. They don't start growing before about September and that is the early varieties. If they come out of the ground too early and get planted they will be sitting around dormant and more likely to rot off.
My advice to anyone growing hops is to put lots of manure on and to use liquid manure during the growing season to boost growth and flavour/quality. Don't let the plants get moisture stressed if you want pleasant flavour and good production.
I found they love water and believe its hard to over water them as long as you have good drainage. I get the impression that a lot of people's hops on here lack nutrient.

 

[goatus]

I get the impression that a lot of people's hops on here lack nutrient.

Perhaps. I did drop a couple of bags of poo on each mound this year. Neglected the watering though.. perhaps i overwatered last year?

 

[hoppy2B]

Perhaps. I did drop a couple of bags of poo on each mound this year. Neglected the watering though.. perhaps i overwatered last year?

Next season drop on a couple of bags of manure and keep the watering and liquid fertilizing up. :lol:

 

[kymba]

Blended about 140g of cascade and 70g of chinook as sub 10min additions in a pale ale yesterday. I had to throw away a pack of each as they were picked too early and smelt like dry grass, even after blending

ended up huffing the jug for about 5 minutes before rinsing it out with wort :icon_drool2:

 

[kelbygreen]

why did you blend them?? To get the lupin out?

 

[kymba]

why did you blend them?? To get the lupin out?

I have found that whole hops just sit on the surface, bobbing around, teasing me to dunk them under...but not after blending. Just making sure all the lupulins can escape into my beer

And i thought thats what all the cool kids were doing these days?

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I have found that whole hops just sit on the surface, bobbing around, teasing me to dunk them under...but not after blending. Just making sure all the lupulins can escape into my beer

And i thought thats what all the cool kids were doing these days?

I dont know about being a cool kid... B) But if you want just the lupulin from your hops or instead of chucking hops that dont seem to have much lupulin, you could try doing an ice water extraction. You only have to google ice water extraction. I dont give a shit what people reference it to, i grew my hops for FUN and now im having fun with them. I dare say il only grow my chinook again next year and i will do this process again.

This is about 130g of lupulin, with a few bits of other crap in there cause i used a coarse filter. From 1.5kg wet chinook straight off the bine.
So far so good in terms of the aroma it imparts for the first beer i used it on just did a little 2L tester, will be interesting to see how quick it fades.
Current beer in cold condition i think i will make up my bulk priming solution and add some more at bottling in a few days.
Hopefully turns out ok cause its supposed to be going in the BAR swap on the weekend.

 

[kelbygreen]

nice this would cut down on the amount of hops you put in to. I just done a brew with 185g of saaz plugs and there was prob close to 3lts of just hop cones in the bottom. I should of put some voile over the end of the tube as they kept getting stuck in the end or in the ball valve and had to open it fully yo get them past. So ended up with like 10 or so cones in the cubes

 

[hoppy2B]

I dont know about being a cool kid... B) But if you want just the lupulin from your hops or instead of chucking hops that dont seem to have much lupulin, you could try doing an ice water extraction. You only have to google ice water extraction. I dont give a shit what people reference it to, i grew my hops for FUN and now im having fun with them. I dare say il only grow my chinook again next year and i will do this process again.

This is about 130g of lupulin, with a few bits of other crap in there cause i used a coarse filter. From 1.5kg wet chinook straight off the bine.
So far so good in terms of the aroma it imparts for the first beer i used it on just did a little 2L tester, will be interesting to see how quick it fades.
Current beer in cold condition i think i will make up my bulk priming solution and add some more at bottling in a few days.
Hopefully turns out ok cause its supposed to be going in the BAR swap on the weekend.

View attachment 54004

G'day, sorry I'm having trouble working out the process from the info on the net. Does the lupulin fall to the bottom of the container in which you have ice and hops? Did you have your hops in a filter bag?

 

[waggastew]

First proper tasting of my 2012 Chinook Harvest Ale. Recipe as follows:

1.5kg LDME
1 x Coopers Light Liquid Malt
400g Carahell, steeped
100g Dark Crystal, steeped
20g Dry homegrown Chinook 60
15g Dry homegrown Chinook 15
40g Wet homegrown Chinook 10
50g Wet homegrown Chinook 5
1/2 tsp Gypsum etc
Made upto 21L
WY1272 (American Ale II) at 17degC

SG 1.050, FG 1.013, estimated ABV 5.6%

Appearance - Golden with red tinges. Creamy fine white head with excellent lacing

Aroma - Subtle tropical aromas mixed with a malty caramel sweetness. Hint of spice.

Flavour and Mouthfeel - Very subtle hop presence, bitter sweet toffee malt wins. Bitterness comes through at the end to balance it somewhat. Definitely not an American hop bomb but the hop bitterness builds down the glass.

Overall - A nice enough ale on the subtle English end of the scale. Will be interesting to see how this one travels. Would probably try to load it up with more hops next year, tis the lottery of homegrown. Would be interested to taste a commercial all Chinook ale to compare flavours.

 

[Tony]

I put my fermenter of Aussie Ale i made with my PoR in the fridge hoping it would taste better cold.

Wrong!

Down the drain it goes tomorrow and all my POR is going in the bin.

Plants are getting ripped out too........... they were good last year and if a slight change in temp, soil and water makes them taste like babyfood custard, i will just buy hops.

 

[jimi]

I put my fermenter of Aussie Ale i made with my PoR in the fridge hoping it would taste better cold.

Wrong!

Down the drain it goes tomorrow and all my POR is going in the bin.

Plants are getting ripped out too........... they were good last year and if a slight change in temp, soil and water makes them taste like babyfood custard, i will just buy hops.

Is there any chance that your different drying method might have influenced this? My home grown hops have been disappointing so far and have tasted like tea leaves. I realized a bit to late that I probably stuffed them up by drying them in direct light. I've only run my home grown hops through my Randall so my experimenting hasn't cost me a batch though, so I'll keep experimenting