2011 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hops!

[kelbygreen]

just picked another 110g of chinook and 160g of POR wet. But the thing has that many new shoots I think its going to choke its self and anything surrounding it. the POR is still producing burs and has cones half way matured so looks like 2 more harvests to come off that in the coming months

 

[Tony]

i have 360g of wet PoR drying in the dehydrator ATM...... 3/4 done and will vac seal before bed.

should pull half a kilo dry PoR easy!

 

[GrainStain]

I just got back from a 24 hour offshore yacht race. I am tired but took a cider out to the front yard to finally pluck the Chinook hops of plant that is on the ground from falling down two weeks ago.

This is a first year Rhizome sourced locally in SA, grown in a pot.

It was only an 12cm long stick / Rhizome when I got it with only one shoot / bud ready to grow.

It was grown in a pot, and only grew one vine.

I am happy wit the results.



I still have two cascades to harvest, sourced from WA which arrived in shoe boxes as half plants, however they are not doing as well as this one.

I should still get 5 times what I got in Chinook off these two.

For those that have small yards etc, growing in pots will work

 

[drsmurto]

I just got back from a 24 hour offshore yacht race. I am tired but took a cider out to the front yard to finally pluck the Chinook hops of plant that is on the ground from falling down two weeks ago.

This is a first year Rhizome sourced locally in SA, grown in a pot.

It was only an 12cm long stick / Rhizome when I got it with only one shoot / bud ready to grow.

It was grown in a pot, and only grew one vine.

I am happy wit the results.



I still have two cascades to harvest, sourced from WA which arrived in shoe boxes as half plants, however they are not doing as well as this one.

I should still get 5 times what I got in Chinook off these two.

For those that have small yards etc, growing in pots will work

Whoever sold you the chinook is an idiot who should charge far more for their rhizomes :icon_cheers:

 

[raven19]

Whoever sold you the chinook is an idiot who should charge far more for their rhizomes :icon_cheers:

Does that narrow it down to just you or me DrS? :lol:

 

[Housecat]

i have 360g of wet PoR drying in the dehydrator ATM...... 3/4 done and will vac seal before bed.

should pull half a kilo dry PoR easy!

How long do hops take in a dehydrator?
Do you have any tips in doing it?

Many thanks

HC

 

[Tony]

i put them in at about 4pm and they were done by 9pm. 360g went down to 104g.

Vac sealed them warm and damn they smelt great. Lots of bitter yellow lupin that made my tongue go numb when i licked it

I have a round style sunbeam dehydrator and i dry them on the middle setting, low temp/high fan.

after 2 or 3 hrs i take out the trays and rotate them, top one becomes the bottom and restack from top to bottom like that. Middle tray of 5 stays as middle and all others become oposite to what they were. I find this gives me great drying consistancy.

easy as that!

 

[Yob]

Cough.. back in the old days when I used to dry, flowers, I notices that after they 'felt' dry, you bagged then and 24 hours later they needed a further airing, does the dehydrator eliminate this ?

 

[Tony]

I dry them till they are no longer soft in the center core. i dont find comercial hops the be super crispy dry.

Its a feel thing.

Last year i tried air drying on a fly screen, and if its very humpd, they tend to go soft and start to rot a bit as aposed to drying out properly. they also lost a lot of aroma and the hops were a bit crap in the end.

The dehydrator, if used properly, will dry them fast and lock in the aroma. Strait in the vacuum sealer and they will be the freshest hops you can get...... 6 hrs from pick to vac pack, you cant beat that!.


By the way......
I just found a bag of PoR i vac sealed in january that had lost its seal overnight. I put them in a new bag and resealed then, but oh my lord they smelt great...... like when you open very fresh comercially purchased hops, not like my previous experiences with home grown hops that i would better liken to grass clippings.

 

[kelbygreen]

hmm might get one as my first lot I dried are as you say lost all aroma and its that humid that it takes a week to dry them and just smell like dry grass lol. Funny my POR smell alot fruitier and nicer then the chinook they just smell bland and little lupin dunno why lol

 

[Tony]

yep........

In this humid wet weather we have here atm.... i have left a few sitting on the bench in the garage. They stay soft and a bit damp and just go kind of yellow and brown.

The dehydrated ones are still bright green but dry and crisp, with the yellow oily goodness sticking to your fingers....mmmmm YUM

 

[Housecat]

Excellent, thanks for the replies Tony

I have a dehydrator on the way!

HC

 

[kelbygreen]

Tony can you drive down to my place now pick up my hops and take them home to dry them damn will have 2 batches that taste like grass! oh well maybe I can save my last batch.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

This dehydrator business sounds the goods! May have to look at buying one in the future, suppose i could dry out all sorts of things apples, pears and what not.

A solution for those having trouble with the humidity levels, i locked mine in a smallish room with a fan going on low and a Damprid container sitting under drying hops, seems to work well.

 

[RdeVjun]

Whoever sold you the chinook is an idiot who should charge far more for their rhizomes :icon_cheers:

Yeah, too right- the poor chap in SA who sold me mine should be kicking himself, this first year rhizome I have here must have either tapped the sewer or is on steroids- has its 1/2 in thick bines all the way to the top of the TV aerial (about 9m), already yielded 250g, is again loaded with cones and is setting more burrs like they're going out of fashion!
Nice one Dr S, I couldn't be happier. B)

 

[hoppy2B]

Yeah, too right- the poor chap in SA who sold me mine should be kicking himself, this first year rhizome I have here must have either tapped the sewer or is on steroids- has its 1/2 in thick bines all the way to the top of the TV aerial (about 9m), already yielded 250g, is again loaded with cones and is setting more burrs like they're going out of fashion!
Nice one Dr S, I couldn't be happier. B)

The only people who should be kicking themselves right now are those who haven't grown any hops to put in a wet hop brew.

 

[MaltyHops]

Well compared to last season's crop, I've increased my yield by 633% h34r: ......








... gosh it was hard work getting all 19 cones in - need a beer I reckon. :lol:

Here they are (Goldings), with last season's 3 Chinook cones:



Just as well I'm not a hophead.

 

[Lecterfan]

By the way......
I just found a bag of PoR i vac sealed in january that had lost its seal overnight. I put them in a new bag and resealed then, but oh my lord they smelt great...... like when you open very fresh comercially purchased hops, not like my previous experiences with home grown hops that i would better liken to grass clippings.

I don't mind commercial POR pellets in the right brew, but I am a big fan of fresh (well, fresh dried) POR flowers...I've only used them in three brews last year but I adored them and am looking forward to the potential 100-200gm dry flowers I'll get from mine this year.

I am about to harvest my columbus and cascade. The columbus flowers are enormous, twice the size of the other varieties I have here. Pics coming shortly (p.s. all my earlier problems about the hops dying etc etc were fixed with a hearty dose of NPK and watering...it has been a dry summer here and even just watering them has had each plant putting out new shoots and flowering a second time when 5-6 weeks ago they were mostly yellow and brown and I was convinced I'd lose the lot).

Cheers.

 

[drew9242]

Well compared to last season's crop, I've increased my yield by 633% h34r: ......








... gosh it was hard work getting all 19 cones in - need a beer I reckon. :lol:

Here they are (Goldings), with last season's 3 Chinook cones:



Just as well I'm not a hophead.

Thanks mate you make my first harvest look great. Got 30g dry of cascade. But I have more on the plant yet to come.

 

[Tony]

Tony can you drive down to my place now pick up my hops and take them home to dry them damn will have 2 batches that taste like grass! oh well maybe I can save my last batch.

Harvey Norman mate

This dehydrator business sounds the goods! May have to look at buying one in the future, suppose i could dry out all sorts of things apples, pears and what not.

and beef jerky !

Well compared to last season's crop, I've increased my yield by 633% h34r: ......
... gosh it was hard work getting all 19 cones in - need a beer I reckon. :lol:

Here they are (Goldings), with last season's 3 Chinook cones:



Just as well I'm not a hophead.

dude.....