Hoppo's Hops Garden

OK....here are some pics of my hops garden and it's progress. As you can see by the pics. and with my descriptions above from yesterday, some are doing great and others....not so much. The pictures do not really show the true height of tallest 4 in the bunch, but it's the best I could do. My cables are 20 ft. high and there are now within 5 feet from the top and a couple of others that are catching up quickly. The other 4 are climbing, but much slower. I will say that I was not holding out much hope in the beginning with the slow start of most of them and the sun exposure issues, but a few of the first years are really surprising me. It's looking like a few of them want to produce some first year cones a well with 3 of the vines producing some side shoots and burrs over the past week or so. As you can see, I still haven't found the time to weed and mulch the entire bed area.....not enough hours in the day.

Here a few more pics., with one close up of the burrs that are forming. One of the tallest two.....a cascade is absolutely loaded with burrs. I also have another cascade and a chinook that are just starting to show signs of burr formation. Quite frankly, I have not take the best care of these vines. As you can see, there were some issues with aphids early on with tiny holes in the leafs and a couple of vines showing signs of slight over watering. Besides my initial soil mixture and initial fertilizing, I haven't fertilized at all. The most I have done is assist them in their climbing efforts and shoot them occassionally with an organic spray to try to keep the insects away. I'm pleasantly surprised that I will likely have a small first year harvest. :

If I move my hops garden to full sun next spring in an elevated bed with ideal soil conditions, I'm afraid that I may be overwhelmed in another couple of years if all 8 vines start producing to their full potential.

Hoppopotomus said:

If I move my hops garden to full sun next spring in an elevated bed with ideal soil conditions, I'm afraid that I may be overwhelmed in another couple of years if all 8 vines start producing to their full potential.

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No such thing as too many hops

They are looking good - I agree with you that they need more sun and they will go nuts. Nice work!

Looking good man! Are those Cascades from my rhizomes? Mine went pretty insane the first year too - lots and lots of burrs. I had 6 plants my first year, 12 my second year and I'm back to 6 again this year. Your 2nd year harvest will (should be) be overwhelming. With your schedule, you'll probably have a harvesting party and invite a couple friends over to pick cones.

Thanks guys. Yeah Ted, the cascades are from the rhizomes you sent. I have to say that with the exception of the centennial, the 2 cascades and the 2 chinooks that you sent are doing really well. I'm not sure what is up with the centennial, except for the fact that it is closest to the tree and there was a mild aphid issue early on with that particular vine and a couple of others. The rhizomes that I purchased from my HBS pale in comparison to the ones that you were gracious enough to send my way. With the rhizomes from my HBS the hallertau was doing ok until first 2 climbing bines snapped in a wind storm when my lower anchor of the climbing line let lose due to rope rotting. The columbus is doing fair and the glacier (the beefiest of all of the rhizomes planted) is sucking hind tit. I'm just going to sit back and see what happens. Even the ones that are lagging behind in climbing height are filling out really nice, so hopefully a decent root structure will be established. I will then consider transplanting to an elevated bed in full sun in my back yard in the spring.

Both of my Centennial are the same - the Chinook and Cascades are 2-3x the size - EASY. Just a different species.
Be careful with the Chinooks - the bank next to my house have called the cops on her twice - trying to stuff vines up the drive-up tubes. I think she may take over my yard. I don't let my kids near her.

That's some funny sh*t! Post some pics of that beast when you get a chance, I'd love to see her.

CONES ARE FORMING!!!! (pics. this wk. end)

I think I'm going to devote everything that I'm able to harvest to one big wet hopped IPA! Just need to figure out a wet hopping schedule based on what I harvest. It's not going to be a truck load of hops by any means, but I want to use what I get and really don't want to go through the drying process with a limited first year harvest. Those with experience....give me some advice here, because this will be my first go around with home grown hops. I know that you can only estimate AAU% based on variety and the lupulin production may be less than maximal with first year hops, but I'm gonna use 'em anyway. Does anyone know an approximate correlation between wet and dry hops.....meaning 1 oz. of typical dried whole leaf hops = how many ounces of wet hops? Advice would be appreciated!

Hoppopotomus said:

CONES ARE FORMING!!!! (pics. this wk. end)

I think I'm going to devote everything that I'm able to harvest to one big wet hopped IPA! Just need to figure out a wet hopping schedule based on what I harvest. It's not going to be a truck load of hops by any means, but I want to use what I get and really don't want to go through the drying process with a limited first year harvest. Those with experience....give me some advice here, because this will be my first go around with home grown hops. I know that you can only estimate AAU% based on variety and the lupulin production may be less than maximal with first year hops, but I'm gonna use 'em anyway. Does anyone know an approximate correlation between wet and dry hops.....meaning 1 oz. of typical dried whole leaf hops = how many ounces of wet hops? Advice would be appreciated!

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Now I'm no expert, but I believe it's about a 5:1 ratio of wet:dry weight.

Alright Hopphippo, or whatever your name is.

I used my entire 1st year harvest in one batch ~13oz in a 5 gallon batch. I was not familiar with the aroma of hops and I figured if I were going to wreck a batch of beer, I would only wreck one - and that I would wreck the **** out of it by using them all. I dried mine for a week or something though. Then froze them in a non-air-tight ziplock for like 2 months.

Here's the thread and recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/curious-about-using-home-grown-hops-215200/

This ended up being one of the best beers I've ever made and I have not been able to re-create it. I've tried twice and I'm going to keep going until I hit it. This is one instance where I wish I would have taken careful notes because this beer would have probably won awards - like best beer in all the kingdom universe. The goal was to have a very light-colored and hop forward beer that made it VERY clear as to the bitterness and flavor. I wanted to know exactly what they tasted like and did to the beer. What I didn't account for was the volume of liquid that was left in the hop cones themselves. I only had about 4.5 gallons of beer to ferment so I sanitized a pail and a 5 gallon strainer bag, poured the kettle-sludge, hops and all into the bag, in the pail and rung the liquid out as much as I could - and then dumped the liquid into the carboy. Oh yeah, I sanitized my hands too. Ask Paul's mistress, this beer was amazing. I'm serious.

Kent!
What's up?
-Ted

Gridlocked said:

Kent!
What's up?
-Ted

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Sorry man. Took a rock to the eye mowing on Sunday and tore the cornea of my right eye. I spent several hours at the opthamologists office yesterday and have been out of commission for the past few days. I'll update some pics when I get a chance, but have been staying away from the computer.

Here's some pics of the cones on my 1st yr. vines. The chinooks and cascades are producing better than expected. There is a handful on the columbus and just a few burrs on each of the centennial and hallertau, so not much production out of them. Nothing on the glacier, but there's always next year.

From another Ortonville-ite - well done! I am thinking about only going Centennial next year (first hop planting) but hearing you say not much from the Centennials - may have to re-think that one. Nice pics - and sorry to hear about the accident - get better soon!

Jhoss

Thanks man. If you could get your hands on some crowns, you would have a much better shot at having them produce cones first year as opposed to rhizomes. Great Lakes sells crowns for a decent price.....not sure if they have cents tho. In a couple of years, I'll dig some rhizomes up for you if you would like....not sure if these 1st years will have any rhizomes off shooting in the spring, but if they do they are yours.

I picked up some crowns from Great Lakes last fall and highly recommend it: Centennial, Newport, Teamaker. All are doing great and producing cones this year. The teamaker has the best spot - up the chimney - and has dozens of cones. The other just have a handful (as you might expect for such young hops).

hey Kent, will you send me one (ok two) bottles of the beer that you make with these?

Of course.....I owe you way more than that! I'll let you know when brew day will be and we'll go from there. My fermentation chambers are almost complete, so I'm going to have a piggy back brewing session with a home grown IPA hop bomb and my very first lager. I figure, I've got two chambers, why not use them. I typically brew more like your buddy Paul, but I'm going TED style on this b*tch.....handfuls of home growns throughout the entire boil! I'm using every last 1st year cone, including Chinooks, Cascades, and Columbus. The Columbus is going in early and the rest continuously throughout the boil. I'm not measuring sh*t!

Check out my chamber builds when you get a chance.....just finshed the poly on the wood work and will be installing the cement board and tumbled travertine when I get back from the holiday weekend. Thanks again for the rhizomes my man!

Oh....here's the link if'n you want to check out the chambers. I built them to match the keezer.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ho...bers-ale-lager-301274/index7.html#post4375279

Oh.....by the way. Do you have any of the fish poo brew left from the BTV episode? I'd love to try it.....since your famous now and all.

HA! You don't think I already checked out the ferm. chamber build thread??! I need to get off of my ass and get a freezer to convert - picking up ingredients for three 10 gallon batches today if I can sneak out of work for a while...
Congratulations on letting go of the reins of control!!! Just write down about what you add and when (and try not to get too drunk). I'm currently on my 4th re-brew to try to re-create the beer that I made with my 1st home grown hops where they also all went into the boil. It turned out awesome and I NEED to make it again.

Thanks Ted. I'm going to to my mini-harvest this weekend. After reading yours and other's threads, I have determined that the cones are ready. They feel tissue paperish to squeeze and the tips of some of the cones are just starting to turn brown. I cannibalized an old entertainment center to build portions of my fermentation chambers and my ventilation hood. The tall vertical door from the entertainment center will now be my drying rack for the hops. I'm not sure when I am going to find time to brew, but I need to harvest the hops, so it looks like I need to dry 'em. I'll post a pic. of the door converted into a drying rack this weekend. It had a recessed panel that I removed and replaced with window screen. I then used another frame with another window screen attached to sandwich the hops between. I will use two box fans on low settings blowing upward through the drying screen for a day or two....flip and repeat. How long do you think it should take to sufficiently dry them?

Here's the make shift drying rack. The bottome panel will lay horizontially across saw horses, the hops will be spread out across the screen. Then the second panel will go on top leaving a 3/8" gap between the screens and will be fastened with screws to the lower frame. I will use milk crates underneath the rack with two box fans blowing up through the drying rack. Here's the pics.

Oh BTW.....how long will it take to dry the hops with a screen drying rack and box fan system????? Harvest is going to be Saturday morning. Also, once dried, should I vacuum seal them or can they just be stored in ziplock bags in the freezer for a couple of weeks until my brew day? Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated!

Ok.....its 1:00 am my time and I am harvesting these suckers tomorrow. I need feedback asap.....how long does it take to dry these things with a fan/screen drying system? If anyone has any input, let me know.

Mine took about a day and a half, I'm no pro but it seems like it worked. They were about 2 pounds wet and ended up at around 6 oz dried so I figured I got more than enough moisture out for tossing them in a freezer. A couple weeks in zip loc bags should be fine in the freezer, I wouldn't worry about vacuum sealing them.

Also, big fan of all your builds keep em' coming!

-Phil

Thanks Phil. I appreciate your feedback and advice. I'm heading out to the hops garden in a little while, so I'm glad you took the time to respond. I'm new to the hops growing game, so I can use all of the advice that I can get. Also, thanks for the feedback on my builds. I have a couple more builds coming down the pipe for components in my brewery. I'm moving onto a motorized grain mill and a humidity controlled grain storage bin that will be built of the same materials as my keezer and chambers. Thanks again.

Well it wasn't exactly a bountiful crop, but what the hell, it's better than nothing. The largest section on the drying screen is from the first year chinooks, the next largest section is from the first year cascades, and the tiny little section is the handful of first year columbus. No production out of the hallertau, glacier, or centennial. It seemed like a lot more when they were on the vines. I think I let them go a little too long, because they are already pretty dry and tissue paperish. I'm going to dry them on the screen for a couple of days and then take a dry weight of each. Hopefully there is enough to make a 5 gallon batch of IPA.

Damn man - you're always building stuff. Don't you work? just kidding, calm yo azz down. want to build me a kreezer through, I'll pay.
You'll know when they're dry. I used ziplocks in the freezer (for a few months) for my first harvest -and then my folks gave me a Vaccuum sealer that they weren't using. It's slick and makes more hops fit into a smaller area. Remember, if you need info asap, call or text me.

I've been harvesting a half to full 6 gallon pail every few days but it's go time now. Having a pickin "party" this Wednesday night if you want to stop by. 4:30ish to whenever. I'm going to chop down the big Cascade and hope to get a guy on a ladder to pull the Chinook cones out of the trees that they overtook.

I know....it's a sickness. My wife dreads the day that I retire, because she says that I will tear off the entire back of our house and rebuild it, just for something to keep me busy. Although I work a sh*t load of hours during the week, I get Tuesday and Thursday afternoons off, and rarely work the weekends. Now that the kids are back in school and don't get off of the bus 'til 4:45ish, I'll have more time to actually finish some of the projects that I have started.

Thanks for the invite to the Hops Pickin' Party at your house tomorrow. I mapquested it and it's only slightly over 700 miles, with an estimated drive time of 11 hrs. 35 min. I treat patients until 7:00 p.m. tomorrow evening, so let me know if your going to still be picking at 6:30 a.m. the next morning, because that's about when I will be pulling in.

Any estimates on how many pounds of wet hops your are yeilding this year? A 6 gallon bucket, every few days is frickin' crazy. Send me a bucket or two!

The final weigh in was not real impressive after drying for my 1st year vines. Here's what I ended up with in dry weight.

Columbus - .3 oz

Cascade - 1.2 oz

Chinook - 2.6 oz

So, 4.1 oz. was my grand total, which is hardly enough for a proper IPA for my liking. I may either go with a lower IBU Pale Ale and go heavier on the back end of the boil or buy a couple of ounces of store bought hops, so that I can hit somewhere in the 60's with my IBU's and still have enough for flavor, aroma, and dry hopping.

What's the concensus.....go with a 100% homegrown Pale Ale or supplement with store bought hops for an IPA?

100% all home grown, hands down. You'll be that much more proud of it.
13 lbs 2 row
2lbs Golden Promise
1lb C-20
6 kernels of C-120

.45 oz Cascade at 60 min
.05 oz Chinook at 60 min
.45 oz Cascade at 10 min
.30 oz Columbus at 10 min
.25 oz Cascade at 5 min
.10 oz Chinook at 3 minutes
the rest of the Chinook and everything else left over at flame out

Whirlflock
US-05
send me two bottles!!!

You talked me into it. 100% homegrown it is! I'll let you know when I'm gonna brew and when it will be ready. I asked a while back, but do you have any of the fish poo brew left from the BTV episode? Have fun with the massive harvest tonight!

Morning man! Good call - trust me.
No, unfortunately that fish poo is all gone. Sorry!
That recipe is for a 5 gallon batch, incase it wasn't totally clear...
Good luck man! Take pics and let us know how it goes.

this is for inspiration:

Doesn't look like I'm going to find time for brewing before I leave on vacation, so I put the dried homegrown hops in the freezer. Is it possible to leave hops too long on the vine? The reason I ask is that after I picked them and dried them for 2 days in the dark in my basement, I bagged them and popped them in the fridge. When I went to put them in the freezer yesterday, I opened up each ziplock to take a smell. The chinooks and columbus had very nice aroma....the cascades did not have nearly the aroma, more grassy, with a hint of skunkiness. Sort of reminded me of a Heineken, Moosehead, etc....

Is it possible that I left them on the vine too long and sun exposure caused the lupulin to turn skunky? The hops were pretty damn dry when I picked them.

I don't know about the skunk because the lupulin/resins are protected from exposure to sunlight while inside the cones. If you leave them too long on the vine they will begin to develop somewhat of an 'off' aroma, BO, garlic, onions etc. These may not be exact descriptors but they definitely begin to go down hill after they reach their peak. Best way to see for yourself is to leave a few on the vines until you cut them back and smell them at that time. I've had some that I couldn't get to until mid-Winter. When I smelled them they still retained the same 'stank' as the ones that were cut back in the late Fall. Live and learn.

Nope - you're good. That's just the way the Cascades smell.
This the last addition during my brew night last Friday.

Thanks man....I'll brew the batch of beer in a couple of weeks. I'm leaving for the Caribbean on Saturday, so no brewing til I get back. I've spent all of my spare time lately getting ready for my trip and working on my motorized grain mill. Check it out when you get a chance.

No sweat. Their aroma is why I decided to use all of my 1st year harvest in one beer. They smelled nothing like store purchased hops - and I didn't have anyone to ask these kinds of questions. Now, that smell brings me instantly to harvest time in the fall and I love it. I hope to maybe harvest the rest of the Chinooks tonight, but my to-do list is crazy.

Have fun on vacation man! You deserve it.
And if your kreezer is gone by the time you get home, it's in Minnesota - in my basement - filled with my beer.
:cheers:

It has been a long cold winter and a crappy spring thus far here in Michigan, but we have had a few warmer days over the past week and a lot of rain. Went out to check my 8 hop vines that I started from rhizomes last spring and I'm happy to say that all 8 survived the winter! I have anywhere between 4 and 6 shoots popping up through the ground for each already, so hopefully year 2 will be promising! Is it typical to get any harvestable rhizomes off of 2nd year crowns? Are they even considered crowns at this point? Also, what is the maximum amount of bines per climbing rope before they start competing too much for sun light? Any insight would be great.

P.S. Yes, I realize that I made an error in the topic line of this post, but cannot go back to change it now! Damn, I'm supposed to be edumocated.

Congrats on the signs of life! It's crappy here in MN as well and there is a 100% chance of snow on Thursday. Here's what I do - or did my 2nd year with good results.

Rhizomes- I got plenty out of the Cascades by my second year but didn't see any for the Chinook or the Cascade until year three. With the long growing season last year, things might be different for you. If you want to look: Carefully dig around the main part of the crown to find the rhizomes. gently follow them back to the crown and cut them off with a sharp cutting tool. I usually use a tin-snips. This will force the plant to use it's energy to to up rather than out. The rhizomes will be 1-3" below the surface like a shallow-buried spoked bike rim.

I usually run 4 ropes per plant and limit growth to two (sometimes three) vines per rope. If I have an aggressive vine that looks uber healthy, I let it go. I've never had any problem with my plants producing plenty of flowers with the 8-10 vines per crown method. But, they also get a LOT of sun and are on a health watering regiment.
Hope it helps!