Home grown hop harvest

Has anyone harvested their hops yet? I just pulled about 2 oz. off my first year fuggles. Also, dose anyone know how your supposed to get the plant ready for the colder months so you can regrow next year?

I've thought about growing some hops. What temps does it have to be for them to live? Where did you get the seed to start from?

Harvest time is the end of Aug and into Sep.

Little early for harvesting here.

They die back to the root every year.

i had plenty of lupulin on mine and they were turning brown on the tips, so i went ahead and harvested... plus my deck is about to be ripped up and replaced by the home owners ass. mine have woven around the railing too much to even think about moving, so i had no choice. Also they are rizomes not seeds bigkevj.. just look for them next year online in early sping.

Mine are getting close. Perhaps next weekend. Now I gotta figure out how to dry them.

EdWort said:

Mine are getting close. Perhaps next weekend. Now I gotta figure out how to dry them.

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Put them in a small (2 or 3man) tent with a dehumidifier for about a day

lackofstyl said:

Has anyone harvested their hops yet? I just pulled about 2 oz. off my first year fuggles. Also, dose anyone know how your supposed to get the plant ready for the colder months so you can regrow next year?

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Let them die back and then cut the vines at ground level and mulch with compost.

I don't think I'll get anything from my 4 plants this year. they pretty much look like crap.

They just cut the bines off at ground level when they harvest.

I've been to lots of gasthauses where they'll decorate the room with the vines (bines) like garland. That's my plan.

EdWort said:

Mine are getting close. Perhaps next weekend. Now I gotta figure out how to dry them.

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Use the Alton Brown (Good Eats) method of drying things - buy a few 20" x 20" furnace air filters (the zig-zag kind, not the squishy mesh kind). Fill all the crevices with hops, a different variety per filter... stack them up with an empty one on top, lay a box fan onto it, and bungie cord the whole contraption together. Turn on the fan and let run for a day or two... BAM! dry hops, and an awesome smelling house!

kvh said:

Use the Alton Brown (Good Eats) method of drying things - buy a few 20" x 20" furnace air filters (the zig-zag kind, not the squishy mesh kind). Fill all the crevices with hops, a different variety per filter... stack them up with an empty one on top, lay a box fan onto it, and bungie cord the whole contraption together. Turn on the fan and let run for a day or two... BAM! dry hops, and an awesome smelling house!

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that is freaking ingenious! I love stuff like that

So how do you get a hops vine going?

bigkevj said:

So how do you get a hops vine going?

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Buy a few hops rhizomes (root stock) from a home brew supply store or a place like freshops.com
freshops.com also has a good guide to growing hops.

I got four rhizomes this spring from Freshops. 3 of the varieties have a good supply of flowers growing. I not real sure how to tell when they are ripe but it should not be long. I was impressed by how well they grew considering that I didn't really do much besides plant them with some compost and my parents watered them once a week or so.
Craig

kvh said:

Use the Alton Brown (Good Eats) method of drying things - buy a few 20" x 20" furnace air filters (the zig-zag kind, not the squishy mesh kind). Fill all the crevices with hops, a different variety per filter... stack them up with an empty one on top, lay a box fan onto it, and bungie cord the whole contraption together. Turn on the fan and let run for a day or two... BAM! dry hops, and an awesome smelling house!

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Frickin awesome! Thanks for a the great tip. It will take me about 15 minutes to do this and that includes the trip to Lowes.

All this talk about everyone growing their own hops makes me wish i didnt live in florida.

EdWort said:

Frickin awesome! Thanks for a the great tip. It will take me about 15 minutes to do this and that includes the trip to Lowes.

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He's also used the method for drying herbs, and making jerkey. I'm not so sure about jerkey on a furnace filter, but he swears by it.... I believe those are one-time-use-only filters though. The hops/herbs one you can use over and over.