2014 Hop garden photo thread

[kirbcheck]

Those look very green still. They don't even look to be at the papery stage.

When does everyone pick their stuff? I have been very selective about picking ones that only feel a bit crunchy less springy dense.

I usually wait until I see quite a few that are Brown and have the paper feeling. I seem to always get excited and pull down some that would benefit from a few more days too... but at my pace I've already harvested cones from the same plant 4 times... after today's harvest dries I'll have pulled about 4oz of dried CTZ.

 

[bristela]

I was under the impression that male flowers from a hermaphroditic hop plant were sterile. Therefore, it's unnecessary to pick the males to prevent cross pollination.

I could easily be wrong, just thought I read that somewhere.

Do you remember where you read this? I'm not expending a lot of energy doing this but would nice to know if I'm wasting my time I didn't do anything with them last year as I didn't know what they were. Didn't get any cross pollination that I noticed. Seems like a strange reaction to stress if they're not useful for anything but then plants can be super weird. You've given me some new googling and reading to do

 

[WoolyBooger]

My second Columbus harvest this summer. 6 oz dried weight. Hoping to get a third harvest in, we'll see...


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[1fast636]

Came home to these babies smelling amazing still soft and spongy






Then the wife surprised me with this awesome 12 pack

 

[mhurst111]

My 2nd year cascade - still feel wet and spring back a little when squished. Maybe another week or so.

 

[tripplehazzard]

picking tomorrow!!

 

[BPO]

Second year Cascade. 2 oz dried. Lost about half to spider mites

 

[yewtah-brewha]

Birds? What kind of birds?

We have a friggin' bird menagerie around here but they never show any interest in the hops...

Cheers!

Not sure on the bird type we have robins and black birds to name a few. last year I had the plant in a different location. when I came home from work early in the morning I would scare them away from the top of it where they were flowering the best. the hops were real small last year less than a dime size.

They don't seem to be bothering it much this year except on the top I noticed it had been clipped by a bird and has stopped climbing, but its 15' and new bines are coming up. I have 2 shoots climbing the trellis and will soon be one more. I will cut the rest back.

This is its second year, I'm hopeing it will be harvest time in a few weeks. not sure if the new bines will produce anything this year, but I'll let them grow.

 

[BigGoat]

I wonder if the birds were eating insects of of the bines. They might have been helping.

 

[kirbcheck]

Only two animals have ever disturbed my hops. 1. My dog, who dug up a few plants and ate them. 2. A squirrel that consistently pulls the cuttings I try to propagate out the jars they're in. (I think it's more out of curiosity than anything else.) The dog learned to leave the hops alone. The squirrel not so much... I might have to get out my old pellet gun...

 

[Sanchothe7th]

Columbus going into the newly made oast. it worked quite well and only cost around $30 following the guidelines from a 1959 hop drying study. they were dry in around a day. This is in southern New Mexico, so they dried pretty quickly with 30% humidity and 100 degree weather.

Picked columbus cascade centenial and chinook as they were all ready. The nugget glacier and magnum are looking like they are next. And im not sure if the hallertauer or the northern brewer are gonna cone out, and the sterling looka anemic, though doing better with the cooler temps as of recent.

 

[NathPowe]

That oast looks awesome. Nice job on that.

Cheers.

 

[Sanchothe7th]

That oast looks awesome. Nice job on that.

Cheers.

Thanks man! I found a few designs around the internet but some of them didnt make sense to me. like heating it from above and flowing it out the bottom (from the homebrewer's garden by fisher). Im sure the box fan and window screen solution would have worked, but i didnt want to expose them to light. So i found this video and built it around it, making changes to get to 20-30 ft of air per minute. There is room underneath to put a heat source, but i think 100 degrees is close enough for now on a small scale.

My design uses 1 4x8 sheet of plywood
(You could use MDF, OSB or anything really. I would use mdf if i were to do it again.) a 2x10 ft roll of wire mesh, some 1x2x8' for the drawers, some ripped 2x4s for corner supports and bottom "stilts", 2 hinges, 2 clasps, and a 6" duct fan.

it can fit around 5 cu ft of hops. or around 38 gallons.

This is the video I found to get an idea of how to make it.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iukUiB3nnoU[/ame]

 

[CHQ28]

Columbus going into the newly made oast. it worked quite well and only cost around $30 following the guidelines from a 1959 hop drying study. they were dry in around a day. This is in southern New Mexico, so they dried pretty quickly with 30% humidity and 100 degree weather.

Picked columbus cascade centenial and chinook as they were all ready. The nugget glacier and magnum are looking like they are next. And im not sure if the hallertauer or the northern brewer are gonna cone out, and the sterling looka anemic, though doing better with the cooler temps as of recent.

That's looks great, i think you just gave me a new project for the weekend!

 

[CHQ28]

Well, it was my first year growing hops and it seems that it is all starting to come together. Only a couple minor setbacks, overall i'm happy and can't wait to get these into the pot soon! My Centennial, Columbus, and Cascade look to be ready soon. Sterling was a slow starter, that is the only one that isn't going to produce anything worth while.

 

[NathPowe]

Those are really nice photos man. Nice looking cones too. Good job.

Cheers.

 

[thaymond]

Columbus going into the newly made oast. it worked quite well and only cost around $30 following the guidelines from a 1959 hop drying study. they were dry in around a day. This is in southern New Mexico, so they dried pretty quickly with 30% humidity and 100 degree weather.

Picked columbus cascade centenial and chinook as they were all ready. The nugget glacier and magnum are looking like they are next. And im not sure if the hallertauer or the northern brewer are gonna cone out, and the sterling looka anemic, though doing better with the cooler temps as of recent.

Sweet build!

 

[barhoc11]

First year hop grower here and I have cones forming but when should I start to get that hop aroma? Do the cones need to fully develop or would I smell something while they are forming? Currently growing Cascade and Nugget, any help is appreciated!

 

[Bamsdealer]

First year hop grower here and I have cones forming but when should I start to get that hop aroma? Do the cones need to fully develop or would I smell something while they are forming? Currently growing Cascade and Nugget, any help is appreciated!

When they mature and start to dry. You'll know. They'll turn from a spongy bright green to a duller dry cone. I start picking them when several start turning brown. When they start drying out, you notice a faint aroma to a much more pungent in your face hop aroma. You get some aroma when the lupulin at the base of the hop petals shows up.

 

[atimmerman88]

First harvest from my 1st year plans.

Bine to kettle in 15min




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[sablesurfer]

Bine to kettle in 15min

Nice, I had to wait a day due to poor planning. So I put them in measured muslin bags and laid in front of fan all night till i could get to them.

 

[atimmerman88]

Doubt a day would matter much. Hardest part was racing picking speed vs my time to boil

FWP


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[sablesurfer]

Today was time to dry (wet) hop a beer that was completely hopped by home harvest stuff. This was a collection of all the new growth since harvests about three weeks back, plus itty bitty hops from my first year cuttings that are the most fragrant!!



This was my last harvest of season, the Columbus just didn't want to get ready when the others were, but it is also my biggest harvest of all the second year plants.

 

[day_trippr]

I've had at least a half dozen of these little dudes occupying the tops of my Chinook and Centennial bines since late June (that I know, anyway). They're a good 16 feet above the ground here. About the size of my thumbnail, most are a brilliant green. They come out with the sun and disappear before nightfall.

I imagine they must have eaten something in all that time (they certainly looked content this afternoon) so it's likely they're helpful little beasties. It's a good thing we haven't gotten the usual spider mite infestation this year because otherwise the froggies would have had a bad day by now...

Cheers!

 

[mytommygundont]

I have had some medical problems this summer, so I wasn't able to trim the plants to optimize flowers. I think I've had some great growth with mostly neglected plants.

 

[corkybstewart]

No pics from me. Between my constant traveling and not tending to the plants, and a really bad leafhopper infestation my bines look awful. I still got 5 ozs off them last weekend and now that the worst of the summer heat has past the bines are putting out lots of new burrs, laterals and fresh green leaves.

 

[theck]

Curious on when to pick these?

 

[BigGoat]

Not yet From what I've read and experienced you want the tips of the bracts (cone leaflets) to start browning. The lupulin will turn from bright yellow to just darker than schoolbus yellow. Cones will feel "crunchy and papery" instead of "soft and fleshy" Hope that helps.

 

[HoppyDaze]

The only one I put into the ground. Cascades

My potted hops are just more work than I prefer to do. I will be selling off some rhizomes and crowns next season if anyone is interested.

 

[sablesurfer]

Curious on when to pick these?

HUH, not till i tried to quote your post did I see it was supposed to have an image?

Anyway, in the midwest I found brown tips to be too old for picking. I have picked all my five producing plants already as of a weekend ago. Everything that was brown on tips or more was already turning oniony and garlicy...YUCK.

But, those partial brown ones were an indicator to pick all the others. Mine never became papery before turning brown, but they did all have a similar feel. I figured it out about halfway through first bine and it worked for all the others.

A wet hop feels dense, feels almost mushy like a ripe fruit. A ready to pick hop feels light, fluffier and more springy. A past due hop is dry, papery turning brown and smelled more like garlic than the citrus or pineapple I was getting out of the others.

Hopping (Hoping?) I got it right because I will keg and bottle my pale ale tomorrow that was brewed with all harvested hops and has been dry (wet) hopping for a week.

 

[McRoth]

First harvest ever! 14.5 Oz of Cascade. There's still another 6-8 Oz on another plant that isn't quite ready to pick.

 

[nextgenxx]

Are they ready yet?

 

[McRoth]

View attachment 219806
View attachment 219807
Are they ready yet?

Don't think so. The edges of the cone should be staying to turn brown from what I've seen.

 

[1fast636]

Well got a lot less then I was thinking but not complaining from first year plant that got planted late. Then found these suckers on my Columbus that's not producing anyways so not really bothering me since they are at the top right now



The jerks eating my leaves

 

[atimmerman88]

Maybe I was way off base...but I brewed about 10 days ago with strictly home grown hops.

Pretty simple pale ale

I didn't do anything but toss them in the boil....the beer has an odd fruity/grapefruity smell and taste. And not like in an IPA sort of way....

Not at all what I expected from centennial and cascade?


Any thoughts, does everyone else just toss them directly into the boil


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[basementbrewbrad]

Cascade and centennials have a grapefruit like taste...


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[atimmerman88]

Cascade and centennials have a grapefruit like taste...


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I just had a thought....went and smelled the jar I harvested from the started. Smelled sour. Might've been a bad starter!

Dam, what a waste of fresh hops


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[kirbcheck]

From my experience, an infected starter will smell like sulfer. I've never considered grapefruit a bad smell, I wouldn't consider it wasted yet. You should be getting grapefruit from cascade and centennial. I have an American Barley Wine that is overwhelmingly sweet and grapefruit like at bottling but even in a month out mellows. Just my $.02 but I suggest letting it run it's course.

 

[mhurst111]

Picked about 3/4 of my second year cascade plants. Couldn't get them all due to life getting in the way.


About 2.5 lbs.

 

[sablesurfer]

Maybe I was way off base...but I brewed about 10 days ago with strictly home grown hops.
Pretty simple pale ale
I didn't do anything but toss them in the boil....the beer has an odd fruity/grapefruity smell and taste. And not like in an IPA sort of way....

Not at all what I expected from centennial and cascade?
Any thoughts, does everyone else just toss them directly into the boil

What were you expecting? Did you smell the hops? I had been smell testing mine for about three months before I picked. Assuming you used wet hops, I just bottled my Pale Ale that was all home grown wet hops. Wet hops into the boil, wet hops in at 2min, and wet hop secondary. It is big and rich and floral and fruity and a bit grassy but not in a bad way.

Over all I am amazed with how complex it was and I am hoping that a little CO2 will help brighten the whole thing up.

Wet hops are way different than dry hops, your yard hops are way different than any farm hop...it's all an experience/experiment.