Dirty Jobs - Hop Farm

Over the weekend I saw an episode of Dirty Jobs, and about half the show was dedicated to harvesting hops in Washington. It was a great show. I figured hop growing was somewhat specialized, but watching this show kind of surprised me.

I have yet to find the show online for "Free", but you can get it on iTunes:

Season 3, Episode 20.

The 2nd half of the show is some really nasty tanning work. I have seen a lot of nasty stuff on that show, but that might be the worst.

I caught the show this week. It was pretty cool. I think they were at Hop Union.

that big goat zit was really cool/gross.

B

It turns out I have this episode on my DVR. I didn't realize it. I'm watching it now. The place they are at is Loftis Farm. I don't know if it is part of Hop Union.

Cool its on now.

yup, watching it again now. Mike Rowe is awesome.

I thought it interesting that 40 families control about 80% of hop production in the US.

Those hop 'plantations' must be huge!

I was sooo wanting something hoppy while i was watching it. But i had just poured a glass of Xtra Stout before I sat down.

It had me day dreaming of what i would do if i had one of those 100 pound bails of cascade hops. I would probably have so much hops in my beer i would turn green.

dontman said:

It turns out I have this episode on my DVR. I didn't realize it. I'm watching it now. The place they are at is Loftis Farm. I don't know if it is part of Hop Union.

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Back about 1994 I was with my wife visiting some of her cousins in Yakima and Sunnyside, WA when the subject of brewing came up. The one husband of the cousin said he had a friend who grew hops and asked if we wanted to "ditch the girls" and go to a hop farm? You already know what I said...

Anywho, he was friends with people on the Loftis farm. We spent about an hour there discussions process and whatnot. They were really very friendly. They also gave me a couple of rhizoms to bring back to IL. They are still going strong over at my SIL house.

We also went to Toppenish. It's a nice small town. It's home of the American Hop Museum. I spent a hour or so in there. They have a bunch of murals throughout the town depicting the Native Americans harvesting hops and other historical subjects. I'd recommend the stop as well as the Reservation to anyone interested in brewing.

I thought it interesting that 40 families control about 80% of hop production in the US.

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Yeah, they run 500 acres and up. The cost of building a cleaning/drying shed ($1M+) really makes high volume necessary. My neighbor's Grandfather had 44 acres in hops, but when mechanical harvesting replaced hand-picking, it wasn't enough to be competitive. In Europe, the average hop farm is only 16 acres or so, and hand-harvesting is still the rule.

Every year during Hop Madness, there is a visit to a hop farm.

I still get a kick out of that photo.

I always thought that picture was Photoshopped. Never realized that such a perfect place could exist on our Earth.

That Dirty Jobs episode received "Save Until I Delete" status on the DVR.

I saw that show. Harvesting hops is clearly hard work, but I didn't think it was a very dirty job. Certainly not compared to tanning skins, birthing calves, or cleaning out sewage tanks.

Beerthoven said:

I saw that show. Harvesting hops is clearly hard work, but I didn't think it was a very dirty job. Certainly not compared to tanning skins, birthing calves, or cleaning out sewage tanks.

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I think they are running out of dirty jobs, so they are looking for any difficult jobs.

McKBrew said:

I think they are running out of dirty jobs, so they are looking for any difficult jobs.

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That's true. I guess there are only so many times Mike can stick his arm up an animal's ass/vajina and still make for compelling TV!

I would love to watch the hop harvest episode of dirty jobs but I can't seem to find it ANYWHERE on the internet. Can someone help me out and let me know where I can watch it. Thanks All!

Pirate it. That's how I saw it online.

Mininova.org.

david_42 said:

Yeah, they run 500 acres and up. The cost of building a cleaning/drying shed ($1M+) really makes high volume necessary. My neighbor's Grandfather had 44 acres in hops, but when mechanical harvesting replaced hand-picking, it wasn't enough to be competitive. In Europe, the average hop farm is only 16 acres or so, and hand-harvesting is still the rule.

Every year during Hop Madness, there is a visit to a hop farm.

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I hope those guys are wearing tight fitting underwear

I hope those guys are wearing tight fitting underwear

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Off flavors

Yeah, why are those guys jumping around in my hops!

Now I need to adjust all my recipes for the new "skin and sweat" addition.

ashbrookale said:

I have yet to find the show online for "Free", but you can get it on iTunes:

Season 3, Episode 20.

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FYI, according to wikipedia the hops episode is *Season 4, episode 8*. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dirty_Jobs_episodes. I'm going to get it from Netflix.

Season 3, episode 20 is about "Handmade brick maker; cranberry harvesting; cranberry jam, jelly, and syrup maker. "

(I found this thread because someone mentioned the Dirty Jobs hops episode on https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/new-york-times-feature-hop-harvesting-142780/)

Where is this episode on Netflix? They have "collections" rather than seasons. I don't see anything about goat skin or hops.

Embracing my geekness here...Netflix streams on the XBOX360, Wii, and PS/3. Might need an unlimited membership though. Will check this out soon.