2016 Hop Growing Thread

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WilliamSlayer;7709993 My Cascade cones lupulin are still a bit more "sunshine yellow" than the Chinook said:
Don't let the color of the lupulin be your only guide, different varieties vary in the color of the final product.
Click to expand...
 
Picked 5 oz wet hops off of a 1st year centennial. Brewed a pseudo farmhouse ale ( version 1 of my new yearly beer)
 
My lone 1st year Chinook. I oopsed and planted it in June so yea.

20160916_221927.jpg
 
Sigh.

Word of advice to all us folks that are new to hops growing. It's been said, but I got bitten by this one this week....

Air Circulation.

I tried to simplify my drying of my Chinook hops this week by not spreading them thinly enough. I didn't give them enough air on the bottom level.

I now have a pound of hops smelling MOLD... a total loss for my Chinook hops this year.

Please don't make the same mistake I just made folks!

:-(
 
3 years of beautiful vegetative growth but no cones from the wild bines that I transplanted 5 years ago. Weird, because I did get some cones the 1st 2 years, so didn't think they were all males. Anyways, I dug them all up (moved them out to the woods under a tree) and will plant some rhizomes of a variety that I actually will know what to expect. Next year.............
 
WilliamSlayer said:
Sigh.

Word of advice to all us folks that are new to hops growing. It's been said, but I got bitten by this one this week....

Air Circulation.

I tried to simplify my drying of my Chinook hops this week by not spreading them thinly enough. I didn't give them enough air on the bottom level.

I now have a pound of hops smelling MOLD... a total loss for my Chinook hops this year.

Please don't make the same mistake I just made folks!

:-(
Click to expand...

Nooooo! Whhhyyyyyyy!?!

Seriously. That sucks. How long did they sit to mold like that? I stacked mine 4 to 6 cones deep and blasted air up through the bottom of the oast. Everything seemed to dry out just fine.

Sorry for your loss. My sincerest condolences.
 
Yeah, I did my first pickings about 3 deep and they dried nicely with no air pushed across them. My mistake was heaping my second pickings on top of the first.

The bottom layers are dry...what could go wrong? Right?

It ended up being too much for just 'sitting around' type drying to handle. Several days later i stuck my hand into the pile to check them, and found the bottom layers now to be moist...? I was confused by this and went to roll/rotate them and discovered the bottom layers that had been dry were brown/black and moldy.
 
1st year Centennial is done 14.5oz wet turned into 4.5oz dry

I made a small video on the Centennial
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnr4bES90TI[/ame]


I will have videos up for my cascade and chinook soon
 
Just want to say how excited I am to tap my keg on Friday of "Fresh hop session ale" I kegged Tuesday. All hops from my garden
 
BlackIce said:
1st year Centennial is done 14.5oz wet turned into 4.5oz dry

I made a small video on the Centennial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnr4bES90TI


I will have videos up for my cascade and chinook soon
Click to expand...

Love the setup. How does the setup work for you? I find I get a lot of tangles. Is your spacing enough to prevent this?

If you use a bitter charge of commercial centennial, you have just about enough for a 5 gallon batch of the dead ringer clone.

Or save your dried and vac sealed hops and mix Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook for a house hop blend.
 
thaymond said:
Love the setup. How does the setup work for you? I find I get a lot of tangles. Is your spacing enough to prevent this?

If you use a bitter charge of commercial centennial, you have just about enough for a 5 gallon batch of the dead ringer clone.

Or save your dried and vac sealed hops and mix Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook for a house hop blend.
Click to expand...


I like the setup but I wish I would have put space for a mower. The spacing I used was my weed eater. I didnt think about getting in between them to pick them. I can do it but If I have a lot to pick its hard.

As long as I train them each day Im fine, but I did get some tangles. Most of the time it was the new growth that would get the tangles.

Yup I just made my 2nd dead ringer clone this year. My next one will be with my own hops. I will use commercial centennial for the 60 min.

I have some Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook still growing and Im just going to dry them all as one and do that. I was going to use Simcoe or Warrior up front
 
BlackIce said:
I like the setup but I wish I would have put space for a mower. The spacing I used was my weed eater. I didnt think about getting in between them to pick them. I can do it but If I have a lot to pick its hard.

As long as I train them each day Im fine, but I did get some tangles. Most of the time it was the new growth that would get the tangles.

Yup I just made my 2nd dead ringer clone this year. My next one will be with my own hops. I will use commercial centennial for the 60 min.

I have some Centennial, Cascade, and Chinook still growing and Im just going to dry them all as one and do that. I was going to use Simcoe or Warrior up front
Click to expand...

That's my same sentiment. Just enough room for the mower. It would have saved me a lot of headache. I don't suppose moving it now would help, nothing would grow since these thing blot out the sun. I can live with a few tangles though. They weren't too bad overall. Once those plants get established, they'll grow like gangbusters. I have to devise a string plan that allows for more growth, but is easier to manage, especially in the back of the cage. I might just leave the back open this year, and that will be my experiment. I don't get many hops there anyway because it is so shaded from the sun.

It is a lot of fun and worth the work when you brew a beer with your own hops, give it to people, and they like it. It makes all the work and effort worth it. I hope your brews turn out.
 
I thought the rule of thumb is three ft apart? I forget if I measured from rhizome to rhizome or box to box.
 
My 1st year chinook totals.

4.5 oz wet 1.25 dry.

The new dog wanted to play with them and got a vine so it almost had to start over.

Here is the video if anyone wants to check it out.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB-ysfv2oPI[/ame]
 
BlackIce said:
1st year Centennial is done 14.5oz wet turned into 4.5oz dry
Click to expand...

BlackIce said:
My 1st year chinook totals: 4.5 oz wet 1.25 dry.
Click to expand...

31% and 28% is pretty high. My last 3 lots came in at 21%, 20%, and 21%. 20% is generally regarded as 'normal'. Should be OK if you use them soon, but not good for long-term storage. There is potential for mold growth if not dried enough. Also, you probably need to increase recipe hop amounts by 50% to account for the extra moisture.


BlackIce said:
The new dog wanted to play with them and got a vine so it almost had to start over.
Click to expand...

You might want to keep the dog away from the hops. I have no experience, but they are supposedly poisonous to dogs. I don't know if it is the leaves or the cones that are the problem.
 
Calder said:
31% and 28% is pretty high. My last 3 lots came in at 21%, 20%, and 21%. 20% is generally regarded as 'normal'. Should be OK if you use them soon, but not good for long-term storage. There is potential for mold growth if not dried enough. Also, you probably need to increase recipe hop amounts by 50% to account for the extra moisture.




You might want to keep the dog away from the hops. I have no experience, but they are supposedly poisonous to dogs. I don't know if it is the leaves or the cones that are the problem.
Click to expand...


Yea I have been told its in the cones.
 
Cascade(1st year) was the last one that I picked for this year. Total wet was 59.5 oz, but I used 23 oz in a beer. So 36.5 wet to 8oz dray.

Here is the video that I made if anyone wants to check it out

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xu3rVOuyYM[/ame]
 
@ Robx, Wow, I just checked out your pics in the other thread too, beautiful! Love how you grew them in a decorative way. Enjoy.:mug:
 
I harvested Centennial, Chinook, and Willamette after two nights of frost and one mild freeze. I am at 60 degrees north - a bit far north for reliable production. I brewed one ale with Chinook and Willamette but haven't sampled it yet. I had good growth with my first year plants but don't have enough experience to judge how mature the hops were at harvest.
 
I just cut the vines near the ground. They have been slowly dying anyway. They did their job and I harvested long already. No one wanted them to make a wreath.
 
How much crown should you leave up? I cut my vines down, and left them about 5" above the soil. Is that too much/too little?
 
Rypcord said:
How much crown should you leave up? I cut my vines down, and left them about 5" above the soil. Is that too much/too little?
Click to expand...

After the frost and everything dies, I cut everything down to 0. Right now, I have a foot or 2 of bine left After I cut it down for harvest. They are filling out with leaves again, but will soon die back. Then I cover with leaf and lawn mulch for winter. Rinse. Repeat.
 
I wanted to start a small hop garden in the Spring, but all of the online shops are either sold out or on back order. Any suggestions where to get rhizomes in the PA/DE area?
 
red_beard said:
I wanted to start a small hop garden in the Spring, but all of the online shops are either sold out or on back order. Any suggestions where to get rhizomes in the PA/DE area?
Click to expand...

If you have time, start it now. Prepare the soil; buy plants from Great Lakes Hops. Plant them this Fall and they'll take off at the beginning of Spring.
 
I have seen other use containers for growing hops. Is that something that I can do in my area (South East PA)? With the cold winters I wasn't sure if the containers would offer the protection from the frozen soil. If so, would I just move the containers to the garage in the winter and water periodically?
 
Hops are native to areas that undergo freezing temps over the winter so they're used to it, in fact, they actually need a period of cold temps to help reset their growth cycle for the next season. This article has some good general info about hops along with some other breeding information that should help answer some of your questions: http://faculty.agron.iastate.edu/fehr/HOCP/27HOCP.pdf
 
I started my rhysomes in pots last year since it was still a little too cold/frost last year. I got them started and brought them inside at night when it was cold, then just transplanted them a bit later.
 

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