2015 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

[Scottsrx]

Got some great looking crops going on here.

I picked a fair amount on the weekend.

First up was 278gms of Victoria

361gms of Chinook

And then the Cascade. Got 440gms on the first pick

Then I picked 180gms on Monday to be used in the days brewing. We did an IPA and an APA and put 90gms of wet, green hops into both fermenters.

 

[technobabble66]

Hey, what do you think is the best way to use these flowers?

I'm in the process of doing an APA using my Chinook flowers. I've done the main boil and had to switch it off to restart the boil tonight.
The plan was to throw 10g (dried) into the kettle for a 20min boil, then a 20-30min steep/whirlpool. Then i'm going to try cube-hopping with 35g (dried).
The idea with this was to try to ensure the maximum extraction of the flowers and maximum aroma/flavour impact (rather than just boil the crap out of them for 60mins). Should be ~30IBUs for OG=1.051.
All flowers will be getting a little Mark Read treatment ... a bit of chop chop
And the cube hopping will be done in hop socks.

How's that sound?
Is it better to just throw the lot into the boil, at say 20min & 5 min? (It'll have to be NC cubed anyway - no fridge/FV space atm).
My concern (& hence the cube hopping strategy) was based partly on another AHBr posting a pic of his flowers still having a lot of intact lupulin post-boil. After many months of nursing my little babies, i wanna get maximum lupulin!

FWIW, the batch size is meant to be ~23L, but due to overshooting efficiency, it'll probably end up ~26L. So basically it's going to be fairly concentrated to fit into a 20L cube. So, in theory, i could crank out an IPA instead, if that was deemed better - though i believe that doesn't really allow any extra hops to go in as they're concentrated already also.

Part of my concern with the chosen cube-hopping strategy is that 35g of flowers is actually quite a lot of flowers by volume. So i'm a little unsure as to stuffing them into the cube, then getting them back out later.

Advice eagerly sought & appreciated!

 

[dcan6303]

I did a Marris Otter SMaSH with my Chinook flowers on the weekend. For 23L I went for:

15g @ 60min
15g @ 10min
20g in the cube

Planning on dry hopping with another 30g.

I used hop socks for the boil to avoid blocking the tap but just chucked the cube hops in loose. When it went into the fermenter I tipped it though a sieve, which caught the flowers and probably helped aerate a bit, but the flowers had all dropped to the bottom of the cube anyway so you could easily pour off the top without loosing too much volume. You're planning a little more than my 20g so i'd use a sanitised sieve to avoid wasting too much wort.

 

[technobabble66]

Awesome. That's exactly what i needed to hear.
Thanks!

So i'll do it around the other way i'd said earlier - hop sock the 10g in the boil and free-ball the 35g in the cube.

And if it all goes tits up, i'll blame Yob anyways. :lol:

 

[Pogierob]

Can't blame Yob of your the one "free balling " the cube.. Who knows what that might introduce.

 

[BottloBill]

Picked just under half my Hersbrucker this morningB) Smiggin over 1kg wet

 

[BottloBill]

Hersbrucker all laid out

 

[Trevandjo]

First year Cascade. After drying only 35g but I'm sure I can find a use for them.

 

[Curly79]

1/3 of the way through picking my Victoria's. Should be a good haul.

Does anyone know what to do with the plant once fully harvested? Should I leave it or cut it back to the ground ?

 

[Curly79]

Also a bit of a brown tinge isn't a bad thing is it? Little buggers took forever to dry enough to pick, noticed once picking they have a few brown leaves on each flower?

 

[Curly79]

Also a bit of a brown tinge isn't a bad thing is it? Little buggers took forever to dry enough to pick, noticed once picking they have a few brown leaves on each flower?

 

[Pogierob]

They are meant to have a few brown leaves on them. Perfect time for harvest..

 

[BottloBill]

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1426145156.891956.jpg

Not at all curly....good sign to start picking mate

 

[glenos]

Does anyone know what to do with the plant once fully harvested? Should I leave it or cut it back to the ground ?

Leave it to die back a bit, then chop it off at the ground or just above ground. Leaving it to die back wll let it draw sugars back into the rhizome for next years start.

 

[Curly79]

Thanks again gents.

 

[Curly79]

Thanks again gents.

 

[Curly79]

About half harvested now. Sorry to bang on about it but it's so exciting

 

[Camo6]

Is that a good couch Curly? Be careful, as they dry they'll drop a heap of sticky, stinky golden goodness that'll please the missus no end!

 

[MatC]

Hi guys here's mine

 

[roastinrich]

Last weeks First year Chinook Southern Hemisphere Northwest Hills harvest.