2016 Hop Plantations, Show Us Your Hop Garden!

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Just downed the dozen odd Cascade bines... Let the picking commence!

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mofox1 said:
Got a wee bit over 1.5kg wet out of the above.

Shed now smells awesome, hops are in a 3m long "hop sock" strung up from the roof.
Not to put a dampener on things.
I tried drying a small batch that way last season, rotated them with good airflow and still got mould.
 
Worked great last year (not a guarantee it will work every time, I know).

I pinned the sides up to get the thing as flat as possible. Gave it a whack each time I went past to re-distribute... hoping the run of warm days here will give me the same result as last year.
 
Took a couple of photos of my hops for comparison.
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This first one is my columbus. the cones haven't opened up much but are starting to dry out.

The chinook on the other hand has opened out nicely and i think its pretty much ready to go. I'm pretty stoked on how they have turned out this year, compared to my measly 11g dry last year.
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The light was starting to go, but here is a shot of the lupulin. look about right? it was darker than it was a week or so ago.
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Do all varieties open up like the chinook before they are fully "ripe"?
 
Snagged 280g wet of Mt hood (thanks again Mardoo!) and 150g wet of cascade - very happy with my results for first year plants.
 
mofox1 said:
If "wet", "sock", and "strung from roof" get you randy... well, I might just go postal for the next order.
:blink: :ph34r:... ;)
A wet what strung from the roof ?.......jeez where's a Mod when ya need one . :)
 
Just finished picking the Victoria. The flowers are not as big as last year but still a decent crop[emoji106][emoji481].
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Been harvesting for over 3 weeks...even spent 6 hours today out there in 39C picking the last of the Victoria and packing up stuff picked over the weekend. Now I'm drinking a beer. I'll wrap the harvest up this weekend.

If you are out at the pubs in Melbourne in the next week or so, look out for Call of the Hops Wet hopped Harvest Ale. It's the beer I brewed with Kooinda with my hops, and it's hitting Oscar's Alehouse and Kooinda this weekend, and Carwyn Cellars, Bad Shepherd Brewing Co, Forrester's Beer Hall, and other fine craft beer venues from next week.

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Well done BB. That sounds like bloody hard work mate. I'll keep an eye out for the harvest Ale. How long does it take to dry the flowers. I can't remember if it's one week or two? For us at home I mean,not using commercial equipment.
 
Curly79 said:
Well done BB. That sounds like bloody hard work mate. I'll keep an eye out for the harvest Ale. How long does it take to dry the flowers. I can't remember if it's one week or two? For us at home I mean,not using commercial equipment.
I'm using a drying room with temp control heating, fans coming in the room, extraction fans going out of the room, and internal fans that keep air flowing over the hops. No commercial equipment, just using what I have. It was a propagation room. Takes about 2 days give or take to dry depending on humidity.
 
I just posted this to another topic but thought I'd share it here. If you are vacuum sealing and want to easily store your hops...

Build a stage the same height as where the bag roll comes out of the machine so the bag sits on top of it when vacuum sealing. Use something flat with some weight on the top of the bag when vacuum sealing (I'm using a piece of cardboard with a box of screws on top of it) and you'll make a flat pancake of your dried hops. So much easier to pack in the freezer that way.

Those uneven clumps of vacuum sealed hops are difficult to store.
 
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