Hop Plantation 2005

[Kramer]

Well I got my POR rhizome yesterday might plant it this afternoon in a large pot. Hopefully it will grow well as I am in central Queensland and it can get quite hot here. I will post pics when it gets going!

 

[Justin]

Yeah that's another good idea with the straw Steve. Are you going to prune back to 3 or 4 main bines to run up your strings? That's the standard procedure. My POR is into it 3rd year now and after that first year it shoots, as you said, 10 or more shoots from the rhizome. I trim it back to 3/4 strong ones but I'd be really curious to see how it grows with all 10-it could turn into a monsterous bush of hop plant if they grow anything like the main bines do. I'd be curious to see that's for sure. I need to get some fresh cutting of hallertau and tettnanger as I lost (well left actually) my last ones. I left them when I moved out of my last rental place. Bugger. I also left a POR there too, which has probably taken over the back yard now :lol:

Cheers, Justin

 

[Steve]

I am in two minds Justin whether to just let it go or trim back? I was thinking the same thing this morning as I was scratching around noticing the shoots poking out all over the place. Last year I trimmed it back to two main bines which just went straight up and had a few flowers at the very top (needed a step ladder). Its all good fun.
Cheers
Steve

 

[n00ch]

Did any of you get a good amount of usable flowers off them in the past?
I have seen quite a few pics but i think i have only heard one story of someone actually using them and when they did they only got around 15gms on the bine.

 

[Steve]

I got a grand total of 12gms of flowers of my first year plant last year. The yield apparently gets bigger over the years. I chucked them in a brew after drying them. Couldnt tell - its was just the novelty of actually using them. If you know what I mean.

 

[Justin]

I get heaps off my POR. But then I'm also in Tassie which has to have a large bearing on that. I also had, as I said before, hallertau and tettnanger but I only had them through their first year of growth from cuttings so didn't see anything out of them. They did seem to grow a lot slower than the POR. So my guess it that the species of hop has a fair bearing on what sort of flowering you'd see, at a guess though I would say POR might grow well in most areas.

Flowering in hops is also dictated by daylength too if I remember rightly. My guess is the further north you go the less flowers your going to see.

But hey, who cares if you even use the hops. They're cool to have and actually a very attractive plant.

Cheers, Justin

 

[lochrockingbeers]

Did any of you get a good amount of usable flowers off them in the past?
I have seen quite a few pics but i think i have only heard one story of someone actually using them and when they did they only got around 15gms on the bine.

[post="75521"][/post]​

About 22g dry weight last season from 1st season POR, cluster, hall, perle, tett and hersbruck. Could have had more as some plants in pots produced lots of cones but the mid summer heat was just too much and many cones aborted. I used all the hops as first wort hopped in a dortmund style harvest lager. It tasted lovely when bottled recently. The german varieties were very aromatic. This season I'm aiming for at least a couple of hundred grams of hops dry weight.

 

[n00ch]

Thats good to hear then.

But i'm with you Justin. I'm don't really care about the amount i get out of them. Its a novelty and as you said a rather attractive plant.

It also seems to be the only plant i haven't killed so in a way i kinda feel no so useless when it comes to gardening!

 

[Steve]

totally agree, I couldnt care less if I got 10gms or 100gms I just like growing them and you cant kill em with a stick!

 

[johnno]

Did any of you get a good amount of usable flowers off them in the past?
I have seen quite a few pics but i think i have only heard one story of someone actually using them and when they did they only got around 15gms on the bine.

[post="75521"][/post]​

n00ch ,
i got a dry yield of 14 grams was aboyt 60-70 before drying them.
I made this beer here to test them.
johnno

 

[therook]

How do you work out the AA rating for your own Hops.

Rook

 

[n00ch]

That beer sounds like it turned out alright Johnno.

You seem to loose a hell of a lot weight when drying.

 

[Asher]

Here in the west my ornamental Hallertau (yet to see a flower!!!) are about to begin their third season. Heaps if bines beginning to poke through the mulch from some very juicy rhyzomes... expecting big things this year

Asher for now

 

[voota]

How do you work out the AA rating for your own Hops.

Rook

[post="75535"][/post]​

I think its pretty much impossible for the homebrewer to find the AA value, you need a lab. Anyway, I think most people use them for flavour and aroma (and use an estimate of the AA, this way it has little bearing on the overall bitterness)
Correct me if I'm wrong..
,Voota

 

[Guest Lurker]

Oh. I was hoping it was too early and that was why my two hop plants are doing nothing. But if people in Perth are seeing growth it may be that I have now killed a total of three hop plants. Goat- have yours started this year?

 

[Steve]

Lurker - you did take them out of the glad wrap before planting didnt you?

 

[markws]

An update on my POR plant - after only approx a week a single bud has found its way through the top soil and is grown approx half an inch...its pretty cool to see it grow...

MWS

 

[Justin]

Yeah hard to calculate AA's of your home growns. You can guess an average but judging the bitterness of your beer is a long shot, you could be way over or under easily IMO and probably not worth risking a batch of beer on it. I'd only use for flavour and more likely aroma.

I'd like to try a first harvest style ale with green hops this year. I was going to do it last year but was slack. Must try again.

Cheers, JD

 

[Tim]

My Plants havn't started yet, but then none of the fruit trees or other plants have started budding or blooming yet either, and the grass hasn't come back yet from the winter frosts.
My POR and Golding are planted at my oldies farm in Braidwood. Have growers in Canberra had any shoots yet??

 

[deebee]

Perth: One of the cuttings I took last year has started to sprout. My main plant is still dozing.