My Hop Harvest 2023

[Brewsmith]

This will be in several post over a few weeks since my hops all flowered at different times. One of my Chinook flowered early and some of the flowers are starting to brown so I can’t wait for the other plant. I wanted to do it last weekend but scheduling didn’t work.

I picked about half of the Chinook. Several of the cones are huge. The green weight came in just under six ounces. I then got the hop drying rig out of the garage, otherwise known as furnace filters and bungee chords. I layered the hops between three filters then bungeed them together. That was attached to a fan to create the Blowhard 3000. From past experience, two days in the garage drys them nicely. I’ll bag and freeze them in a couple days and probably pick the rest next weekend.
After picking I needed a beer so I cracked open a German classic. A friend of mine recently went to Germany and hand delivered a bottle of the famous Rauchbier after visiting Bamberg. It’s malty but dry, and the smoke adds a slight sweetness that compliments the maltiness. It’s not oxidized or cardboardy. So good.
I’ll post more as I get the rest of my hops picked and dried.

 

[Brewsmith]

It’s been a busy couple weeks with band camp and the start of school so I’m finally getting the update in. I dried the first chinook picking and got 64 g, then picked the rest and got 82 g dried for 146 g or 5.15 oz. It filled a gallon ziploc freezer bag.

The cascade will get picked this weekend.

 

[redrocker652002]

Dang, nice harvest. Mine kinda stalled out this year. It is my second year and we had a huge amount of rain that is not common to the San Francisco area. Rock On!!!!!!!

 

[T Murph]

I've had an absolute crazy season this year. It's been too wet or too dry and my hops are showing it. Here at my house I have Saaz, Nugget and Cascade. Second year in a row that the Nuggets grow and produce like crazy while the Saaz and Cascade struggle to stay alive.

I have already harvested 18 oz off the Nugget and it it is covered up again.

 

[Jesse b]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/vvrwCi1Awhs8RoLD7

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Successful Cascade hop harvest in Tualatin Oregon. 53 ounces

 

[day_trippr]

Welcome to the forums at Homebrew Talk, @Jesse b

Those bags of cones look kinda poofy, like your vac bagger kinda gave up early and left a lot of air in the bags.
fwiw, I made it a practice to put a max of 4 ounces in a bag before applying the sealer, and my bags flattened pretty tight.
The larger packages here are all 4 ounces, the smaller ones on the left are re-seals and are mostly 1 or 2 ounces...

If you plan on using those hops in the short term they'll likely be ok but if you're going to sit on them you might want to break them down a bit and reseal them...

Cheers!

 

[Bilsch]

This will be in several post over a few weeks since my hops all flowered at different times. One of my Chinook flowered early and some of the flowers are starting to brown so I can’t wait for the other plant. I wanted to do it last weekend but scheduling didn’t work.

Judging by the look of your hops you picked a few weeks too late. Really don't want any brown, partly brown or faded looking ones.

 

[Jesse b]

Actually the vacuum pack bags are super hard. They're perfect. The one on top is a Ziploc bag. I ran out of vacuum pack bags so that one of course is way looser and I should say it's 67 oz is not 67 g total harvest

 

[capt82]

My Willamette, Cascade, and Northern Brewer hops are in there third year now. I allowed three bines per plant to grow. I've spent 3 back aching days picking hops off bines. My Northern Brewer had about 8lbs of wet hops. I will pluck 6 Cascade bines next couple days and that looks about another 8lbs. My Willamette put out almost 4lbs. Looks like A LOT of IPA's this next year.

I built this oast last year mostly out of cardboard. Only cost about $20 for air filters, I already had the fan, and the carboard was free. It will hold as many hops as I can put in it. Then It folds up after picking season.

I think next year I will only do two bines per plant and less IPA's.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I have more to harvest if I can fit in a brew day for a wet hopped brew whilst they’re still good. No room in my freezer for them.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Windy rainy weather was on its way last night, so I harvested a tad over 20 oz of mixed up “C” hops. Used 4 oz for wet hopped hop water and I’m drying the rest. I have some mt hood that still isn’t ready…

 

[day_trippr]

I missed your previous post - was that uber long cone Chinook? Back when I was growing Cascade, Centennial and Chinook the Chinook produced some crazy long cones...

Cheers!

 

[Brushwood Brewing]

@Hoppy2bmerry Do you mind sharing your hop water recipe/procedure? I'm hoping to make my first batch soon from some home-grown Vista hops.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I missed your previous post - was that uber long cone Chinook? Back when I was growing Cascade, Centennial and Chinook the Chinook produced some crazy long cones...

View attachment 829959

Cheers!

I did plant Chinook and this is exactly what many I harvested from my jungle look like. Thanks for helping me to identify them. The crazy unwanted dark leaves as well!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

@Hoppy2bmerry Do you mind sharing your hop water recipe/procedure? I'm hoping to make my first batch soon from some home-grown Vista hops.

I started a thread about it https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/who’s-making-hop-water.728995/#post-10298247
The first post has instructions from the folks at Morebeer and a link to a pretty informative video. One thing I’m going differently is making a strong concentrated hop water which I then dilute with tap water. I’m mixing it in a soda syphon simply because it fits nicely on the door of my fridge as I am sans kegerator. The cost for a 6 or 12 pack of decent hop water is nearly as much as craft beer so this seemed like a good way to make room in the freezer for fresh hops while getting the benefit and enjoyment of the hops I have and save money.

 

[JAReeves]

My Willamette, Cascade, and Northern Brewer hops are in there third year now. I allowed three bines per plant to grow. I've spent 3 back aching days picking hops off bines. My Northern Brewer had about 8lbs of wet hops. I will pluck 6 Cascade bines next couple days and that looks about another 8lbs. My Willamette put out almost 4lbs. Looks like A LOT of IPA's this next year.

I built this oast last year mostly out of cardboard. Only cost about $20 for air filters, I already had the fan, and the carboard was free. It will hold as many hops as I can put in it. Then It folds up after picking season.

I think next year I will only do two bines per plant and less IPA's.
View attachment 829193

Do you have plans/diagram for this? I like the idea more than my 2x4's w/ window screen material.

 

[capt82]

Do you have plans/diagram for this? I like the idea more than my 2x4's w/ window screen material.

No plans. This is my prototype that can be modified.
1) Get carboard to create a 20" X 20" by about 3' tall box without a top or bottom to it. I used a box that my new recliner came in. It is pretty stout cardboard.
2) Build two wood frames with 2X2's measuring just shy of 20" X 20" outer diameter to frame the inside top and inside bottom of box openings. Use screws and larger size washers to secure box
to wood frames
3) On bottom frame, put 4 casters on each corner to lift oast off ground and roll around.
4) Buy some 20" X 20" air filters (cheap pre-filters cost $5 for 4 at HD). Place 1 filter inside oast against bottom frame.
5) Cut some 2" x 2" spacers about 3" long (4 for each filter you stack). Place 1 in each corner in a vertical position to stack another filter. After stacking all the filters with about 1/2lb to 1lb wet hops on each one then lay a 20" box fan on top so it blows air upward. I dried 8lbs wet hops in 2 days in my 60-65* garage.

I'll be gone for a few weeks, but if you want, I will give something better (more pics) than this when I get home.

 

[JAReeves]

No plans. This is my prototype that can be modified.
1) Get carboard to create a 20" X 20" by about 3' tall box without a top or bottom to it. I used a box that my new recliner came in. It is pretty stout cardboard.
2) Build two wood frames with 2X2's measuring just shy of 20" X 20" outer diameter to frame the inside top and inside bottom of box openings. Use screws and larger size washers to secure box
to wood frames
3) On bottom frame, put 4 casters on each corner to lift oast off ground and roll around.
4) Buy some 20" X 20" air filters (cheap pre-filters cost $5 for 4 at HD). Place 1 filter inside oast against bottom frame.
5) Cut some 2" x 2" spacers about 3" long (4 for each filter you stack). Place 1 in each corner in a vertical position to stack another filter. After stacking all the filters with about 1/2lb to 1lb wet hops on each one then lay a 20" box fan on top so it blows air upward. I dried 8lbs wet hops in 2 days in my 60-65* garage.

I'll be gone for a few weeks, but if you want, I will give something better (more pics) than this when I get home.

Thank you!

 

[capt82]

Do you have plans/diagram for this? I like the idea more than my 2x4's w/ window screen materi

I'll be gone for a few weeks, but if you want, I will give something better (more pics) than this when I get home.

Here are those pics of my oast:
pic1... whole thing ready to store.
pic2... I used cardboard packing material (corners) but 2 x 2's can be used instead to make the base
pic3... The box slides on to the base. I put a screw on each corner of the box, (with a fender washer) into the base to hold it up.
pic4... I used the cardboard corners again to create a top frame that slides over the box after the hops are loaded. I used hot glue on the corners. This top holds the 20" box fan. A frame can be made with 2 x 2's to slide into the box and screwed with 4 screws.
pic5... I stacked the filters on the outside so you can see how it would stack in the box. Again I used cardboard corners to make spacers about 2-4" tall. 2 x 2's can also be used. Once the first filter is placed in the box, you can place about 1/2 to 1lb of wet hops on it. Place another set of spacers (on end) in each corner and stack another filter...and so on.
pic6... I placed the 20" box fan on the top frame, blowing upward. This draws air from the bottom. The filters slide in tight in the box, drawing the air through them and the hops for two days in my 60*F garage and its all dry.

One important thing to note is the inside measurement of all four sides of the box needs to be 20". Buy the filters first so you can make sure it is built to the right size.

This oast can be made as tall as you want to hold as much as you want. My oast is 36" and is just about the tallest I can reach into to fill/empty the bottom filter. It's very light weight, cheap to build, holds a lot, and takes little space to store until next year. I'm sure you can modify this idea to make a better one. Have fun!

 

[OleBrewing]

Judging by the look of your hops you picked a few weeks too late. Really don't want any brown, partly brown or faded looking ones.

browning of hop cone leaves can occur in drying process. but when harvesting from vine the cones should be easily plucked off similar to apples when fully ripe. it is a short window and when the cones are opening up on the vine may be too late and the lupulin glands may be falling out of the cone.