2013 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[carniebrew]

Absolute bumper crop for my first year Saaz, might have to give some away as there is too much for me to use alone.

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1394241323.764622.jpg

Rob, didn't you grow them in an ecokeg like the one you gave me? I just used pure potting mix and had them sitting in basically full sun in my backyard, with my sailing ship-style trellis arrangement for them to grow up. Did you do something starkly different to that?

 

[Pogierob]

I think my location isn't right, they miss out on a fair bit of sun during the early morning and then evening.

I have decided some backyard re-arranging is in order for next year.

 

[Pogierob]

Got a massive 65g of cascade too.

 

[carniebrew]

My 42gm sample of Hersbrucker became 38 grams overnight, and is 36 grams now. They're browning a bit, feel really dry and light...not sure how long to leave before vac sealing & freezing.

 

[Danwood]

I'd apply the same rules as with final gravity readings...once it's stable, you're good to go.

 

[unclebarrel]

Try breaking the stem in the middle, the 'strig' ? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I let mine dry until they were extremely dry and the middle stem just snapped when the cone was bent.

I have a feeling I picked too early, but I know i dried them out well enough.
I ended up with just over 100g of cascade dry.
20g of columbus and 17g of chinook.
There is still more to pick on the bines, I will just do the last harvest and make it a bag of mixed lollies for dry hopping !!!

 

[carniebrew]

UB, did you weigh any of your hops before and after using your dehydrator? Just wondering how much moisture you got out of them.

 

[unclebarrel]

Nah man, I should have.
I actually didn't even use the dehydrator. I sat them on screens in the garage.
I haven't exactly been all sciencey about it !

 

[hoppy2B]

I hate all u successful hops growers....

That's it, I'm reporting you for your hate message Mr 0 Warning Points 4 eva!

 

[shaunous]

That's it, I'm reporting you for your hate message Mr 0 Warning Points 4 eva!

U win

 

[catcher]

Any tips where I can buy Rhizomes to plant in Spring? Just wanting a small selection.

 

[Pogierob]

I believe people sell them in here.

Also eBay has a good selection when the season is coming up

 

[carniebrew]

The Hersbrucker sample was 35gm at 9pm last night, and 35gm at 10am this morning, so I've bagged 'em. Without the cup, the sample size went from 13 grams to 5, so that's about 60% of their weight gone in a day and a half on the drying screen. I've vac sealed about 45 grams worth. As an aside, for anyone who's done that before, how much does vac sealing squash the poor bastards? Take a look at this:



That's about half the batch. I probably should just shoved the whole lot in the one vac bag, but I felt bad squashing them. Now I've seen what the vac sealer does to them I won't worry so much next time!

I've picked the Cascade today, they were a bit greener and felt a bit more moist, not sure if that's just a variety thing though. They're about 125 grams picked, so very similar amount to the Hersbrucker.

 

[billygoat]

Nobody using them wet in a brew?

I brewed Argons Little Fellas Pale Ale on Thursday and used 250 grams of wet Cascade hops.
Used the wet hops at 60,20,10 and 5 minute additions.
Also used some dried Goldings from last years harvest at 60min.
Ran out of Chinook pellets so used some Columbus at 20,10 and 5 minute additions.
Its now fermenting using US05.

 

[carniebrew]

billygoat, can I just check, when you say "wet hops", do you mean hops that you've just picked? Do you dry them at all first, or is that only necessary if you're going to be storing them for down the track?

Also, can you tell me how many grams of hops you used at each addition?

 

[Pogierob]

Did a bit of research on this man, wet hops is actually just that. Straight off the bine.

 

[hoppy2B]

1850 grams of wet Cascade cones I picked on Saturday arvo. They are on about half a screen door covered with a sheet of calico. This is between about 10 and 20 percent of my Cascade for this year. The rest are not ready to pick yet.

 

[technobabble66]

Wow.
Impressive H2B!

 

[hoppy2B]

Wow.
Impressive H2B!

Thanks techno, Cascade seems an easy hop to grow. Picking them is amazing as it turns out to be a lot more cones than you would expect when looking at the plant.

 

[billygoat]

billygoat, can I just check, when you say "wet hops", do you mean hops that you've just picked? Do you dry them at all first, or is that only necessary if you're going to be storing them for down the track?

Also, can you tell me how many grams of hops you used at each addition?

Carniebrew, the hops are straight from the bine, I picked them while the fly sparge was in progress.
I used them in a rough version of Argons Little Fellas Pale Ale.
75g of wet Cascade and 25 g of last years harvest of dried Goldings at 60 min,
50g of wet Cascade and some Columbus pellets at 20 min, (would have used Chinook instead of Columbus but had run out),
50g of wet Cascade and some Columbus pellets at 10 min,
75g of wet Cascade at 5 min.
Will dry hop at about day 5 with some dried Cascade.
Worked on a ratio of 5:1 with the wet hops. That is, that the wet hops weigh about 5 times more than a dry hop.
The AA% is a guess but hopefully around the 5 to 6% mark.
It is fermenting now so will be a couple of weeks away before I know the outcome.