85 year old hop plant...

so for example, i get around 4oz of hop cones this year, how much weight do you think would be lost during the drying?

ThreeDogsNE said:

When they are harvested they need to dry, and will drop markedly in weight then. There are plenty of threads here with screens or furnace filters used to create a makeshift "oast", the old term for a hops drier that I suspect "Pappy" would have been familiar with. You might see the stickies above, or the search function on the bar overhead. I just put mine on window screens in the air condition basement for about a week with good results. However, my bines are only second year, with modest yields, not 86 year veterans!

Click to expand...

You'll lose about 75% of the weight so you'll end up with about an ounce of dried hops. To ID the plant, you might try the hop research center down in Corvallis Oregon. I would drop them a line and explain your situation. A fellow I spoke with was interested in obtaining native plant material and possibly 'older' varieties to add to the germplasm collection. They'd probably need at least 4 ounces or more dried to perform an oil analysis to positively ID your plant. It's worth a try if you're serious about trying to find the variety. Good luck!

If you're of German descent, I think you can pretty much rule out Goldings and Fuggle , cause they are English varieties. ( A good German wouldn't be caught dead drinkin' and Englishmans beer back in the old days, and vis-a-versa) Floral tones? German? I'd be leaning toward Hallertauer, or a Spalter type. You can compare the fragrance to some Hallertauer - if it doesn't match up, then Spalter is likely. Spalter has a unique floral tone, which may explain why it always took first at the fair. Good luck with it. If it is a old Spalter type, it should brew up some awesome Pilsners and Bocks.

thanks for the advice! do you have a phone number or website for this research center?

B-Hoppy said:

You'll lose about 75% of the weight so you'll end up with about an ounce of dried hops. To ID the plant, you might try the hop research center down in Corvallis Oregon. I would drop them a line and explain your situation. A fellow I spoke with was interested in obtaining native plant material and possibly 'older' varieties to add to the germplasm collection. They'd probably need at least 4 ounces or more dried to perform an oil analysis to positively ID your plant. It's worth a try if you're serious about trying to find the variety. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Send a message to www.hopsdirect.com with a link to these pics. They might be able to ID them. Also, send to http://www.hopunion.com.

I'd include a quick story in your email to get their interest (they're busy like everyone else, might ignore you if you don't hook them with a fancy story)

The folks at hops direct have some neat newsletters and videos that they occasionally put together. They're into hops!

bkelley0804 said:

thanks for the advice! do you have a phone number or website for this research center?

Click to expand...

I sent you the info in a message. Good luck.

Anyone know anything about Japanese hops??? We've found another plant elsewhere on the property (not an old one!!!) that appears to have the same properties as our old hop...but different leaves and not cone shaped "fruit." I found a picture on Wikipedia of a Japanese hop plant, and this really looks like that one. I have some pictures to show, but they are on my other computer which is in need of charging...

Looks a lot like Cluster. And considering how old the plant is, I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Nearly 90% of east coast hops pre WWII are cluster or varieties thereof.

I'm sort of dissapointed, I was thinking an 85 year old plant growing without hinderance would cover at least an acre?

COLObrewer said:

I'm sort of dissapointed, I was thinking an 85 year old plant growing without hinderance would cover at least an acre?

Click to expand...

If someone had been separating the rhizomes this whole time, you could probably have 5 acres of hope. There's only so much the plant can do on its own. Ill bet that spot it just a mat of hop rhizomes under the dirt though

Subscribed! This is an interesting story!

COLObrewer said:

I'm sort of dissapointed, I was thinking an 85 year old plant growing without hinderance would cover at least an acre?

Click to expand...

As I said, there was a tree growing up through it a few years ago which my father pulled out with the backhoe. We feared that we might have killed the hops in doing so, but it came back anyway. It hasn't quite gotten as big as it was, but it's getting there.

Fantastic story. I'd agree with cutting it back, tossing up some vertical poles and letting it rip next year. When the growth is off the ground, you can more easily determine what isn't the plant and hack it back as well.

Perhaps something like this, smaller scale of course, can help with your trellis questions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Yakima-Valley-Hop-Yard.jpg

Perhaps these folks can help you ID them also?

http://www.barthhaasgroup.com/

You should overnight me a sample =D. I'd love to propagate it.

Consider me intrigued! The USDA/NYS DEC list Japanese Hops as an invasive species, I believe they are thought to choke out other plants, hops or not. In the last NEHA newsletter, the NYS Ag Experiment Station is looking for samples.

I can provide you with the contact info for the good folks to your north. They are doing some great things with hops research and working with growers.researchers all over. They may be just as interested as we are, and would maybe have a bit more familiarity with varieties grown regionally in the past?

My guess that its most likely cluster. The location, time planted, cone shape and aromas are screaming cluster.

Interesting Read:
http://beervana.blogspot.com/2011/06/taste-of-past-cluster-hops.html

Subscribed.

I'm tempted to drive 4 hours to tend to your plant and also try to convince you to give me part of the crown.

wow, its a nice plant.

Notice the color diffusion of the hop itself. The bilateral folding of the leaf signifies the family type easily. The edges of the leaves are divided in a strange way. The edges of the leaves show signs that the type of plant is a hop plant.



:fro:

Sorry had to make a funny.


I hope you find out what it is. You might make a new type of hop. think of the coolness there.

Hop Union does testing. For an 85 year old plant it might be worth it!

I'm wondering if there is any update to this?

keep me posted... very cool story!

Subscribed.

Cant wait to hear how they're doing this year. I'd be willing to road trip up to york and buy some hops from you in the fall. I would love to,try these out!

Sub'd. I only live 30 minutes or so away from the OP.

I'd like to hear about the harvest this year. What a great thread!

This truly an outstanding find, I wish you the best with your hops. Subscribed...

dam i drive threw york to my buddys house alot if you do any cutting on the roots let me know i would love to have alil history in my garden

If you're willing to ship a rhizome, I'd be interested (and willing to pay for the shipping and a few bucks for your time)

strumke said:

If you're willing to ship a rhizome, I'd be interested (and willing to pay for the shipping and a few bucks for your time)

Click to expand...

Same here!

It would be nice to get an update but neither the OP or J_treegirl have logged on since september/october 2011... so.... might not happen.

My cousin and I 'liberated' a few rhizomes last spring from a plant that is at least 70 years old. We did a 'midnight raid' in mid March after a few beers and came away with a few extremely vigorous bines. It was fortuitous of us to 'liberate' them when we did. The electric company had everything trimmed way back just after we did it. I don't really think it hurt the plant that much, but it definitely has to reach out to find something to climb now. No clue what variety they are, but we've both got female flowers, so a pale ale is in store if things go well.

H-ost said:

It would be nice to get an update but neither the OP or J_treegirl have logged on since september/october 2011... so.... might not happen.

Click to expand...

You are correct, neither of us have been on here in a long time. Bkelley was supposed to be helping me work with this plant in exchange for the hops at harvest time to brew some beer, but life occurred for both of us...Last year, we did not harvest the plant at all, so I still have no idea what type it is or how it tastes. My father and I decided this year to make a makeshift trellis and see what happened, neither of us really know much about hops and although I have made wine, I have never tried my hand at beer. We set two 20' pipes with a pipe spanning the top and ran ropes up one side, over the top and down the other every foot or so. Well, we started by taking one bine to each rope and just loosely wrapping them once around, they seemed to be fragile at that stage. Within two days, the plant decided that it would send two or three up each rope just for the hell of it. By the end of the week, it was obvious that next year's trellis will need to be much, much bigger...By the end of week two, most of the bines had reached the twenty or so foot top, found no where else to go, and decided to start down the other side and then back out into the yard again. It is now a much larger, more tangled beast than ever, but seems to be quite happy about it! We still have the problem of the blackberries/raspberries and tearthumb occupying the base of The Beast, but the upper reaches of it are happy for now. We planned to cut the ropes and bines down at harvest time, thus making harvest easier and cutting back The Beast at the same time, but now that it has gone crazy that might not work at all. Not ready to even think about that things roots yet, so no freebie rhizomes yet...I don't even know the first thing about cutting them yet, and can't get to the base of the thing to get at them. Trying to get a cousin on dad's side to help harvest and make some beer, but he's busy too. My time is sucked up by my business and taking care of a husband who was hit by a drunk driver in May, and Dad is busy on the farm with other things, so I'll try to keep everyone updated more as The Beast progresses. Sorry for the delay, life just can't seem to slow down to smell the hops...

Thanks for the update, and sorry to hear about your husband - that's terrible. Best wishes for his swift recovery.

People (well, OK - me) really like pictures, and I know you're slammed - but if I can be selfish and request a current picture of The Beast if you can squeeze in a moment some day...

Thanks for the update Treegirl. Pretty cool hop plant you have growing there!!

Im sorry to hear about your husband. You got a very cool monster hop plant growing, much nicer than the two 1y.o. I have going. I happen to live in York. If you ever decide to offer fresh hops, or rhizomes for sale I would love to know.

20' in 2 weeks. Wow.

A tragedy for you and your husband. I pray for a quick recovery.

Thundercougarfalconbird said:

You should overnight me a sample =D. I'd love to propagate it.

Click to expand...

This.

What's more, I'm semi-local (northern VA), and my in-laws are in Chester County PA.

FANTASTIC story here, guys. Absolutely fantastic.

Edit:

The above was written before reading through the rest of the thread - sorry to hear about your husband. That really sucks I'm sure that there are locals and semi-locals that would be willing to help out with the care and feeding of The Beast, and honestly, any other help that you may need.

Im an Ag consultant and I would drive to York from BMore for a day to work on cleaning up the Beast and taking home some cones to test out! PM Me.