New hop varieties

[Obese Chess]

Curious to see how it goes. I'm really interested in doing a SMaSH with Arcadian Hops as a gift to some pals.

 

[Kaz15]

Just picked 3.0 oz wet Hartwick. Drying them now. There’s probably another 3-5 wet oz still on the plant that are not quite ripe yet. Planning to brew a 2.5 gal test batch once the rest of the hops are ready. Stoked to finally give these a try!

 

[NitrogenWidget]

arcadians dried out from 1.5 oz to .4oz. def hop smell and an orange/tangerine aroma.
going to grab a pounder of mic ultra or bud lite at the corner store and dry hop it in a mr beer 16oz to see what it tastes and smells like.
i'll try .1 oz.
because that is the smallest my scale will register.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Just picked 3.0 oz wet Hartwick. Drying them now. There’s probably another 3-5 wet oz still on the plant that are not quite ripe yet. Planning to brew a 2.5 gal test batch once the rest of the hops are ready. Stoked to finally give these a try!

How do you know they are ready?
what do they smell like to you?

my Hartwick have gotten bigger in the last week with the low one's browning do not smell like hops at all.
I'd lower the plants to get at the higher one's but i'm not sure I can pull them back up. i'm just using eye bolts and aircraft wire and the weight of the plants has me fearing something will snap and i'll have no choice but to pick them.

 

[Kaz15]

How do you know they are ready?
what do they smell like to you?

my Hartwick have gotten bigger in the last week with the low one's browning do not smell like hops at all.
I'd lower the plants to get at the higher one's but i'm not sure I can pull them back up. i'm just using eye bolts and aircraft wire and the weight of the plants has me fearing something will snap and i'll have no choice but to pick them.

I don’t know for sure. Just making my best guess based on the last 4 years of harvesting my cascade plant. Basing it on a combination of cone texture, aroma and browning at the tips.

My first couple of year growing Cascade, I would occasionally let them go too long. Trying to discover where that balance is with these new varieties. There’s a chance I was totally wrong about the Arcadian hops and I picked them too early, but I digress...

To me, in raw form, Hartwick smells strongly of citrus and grapefruit. Very appealing. The ones that I don’t think are ripe still have a slight grassy smell, are softer and aren’t browning at all yet. I’m guessing those will need another 5-7 days. We’ll see.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Well I picked a lb of the arcadian.
on two furnace filters now.
They have a slight onion smell until you crush them and tear them open then you just smell hops.
there is still at least another lb of arcadian on the bines.

the heritage, not sure if those are ready or not but there is at least 4lbs there.
They seem hollow when I squeeze some of them.
I will pick a few before it gets dark and just let them air dry on the top filter of the arcadian sandwhich.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

arcadians dried out from 1.5 oz to .4oz. def hop smell and an orange/tangerine aroma.
going to grab a pounder of mic ultra or bud lite at the corner store and dry hop it in a mr beer 16oz to see what it tastes and smells like.
i'll try .1 oz.
because that is the smallest my scale will register.

not sure I tasted orange or tangerine in the mic ultra but I tasted something and it was good.
better than a mic ultra at least.
I went with .2 oz of hops in 16oz of beer this time.

 

[ajbosley2015]

Thats pretty heavy handed for beer...but glad its working out for ya man

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Thats pretty heavy handed for beer...but glad its working out for ya man

The hops don’t seem very strong.
Could be I picked them too soon last week.

 

[Kaz15]

The hops don’t seem very strong.
Could be I picked them too soon last week.

I also think I may have picked mine too soon. I have a handful of hops still on my Arcadian plant. I plan to let them go as long as possible.

Glad to hear your test had good flavor.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I also think I may have picked mine too soon. I have a handful of hops still on my Arcadian plant. I plan to let them go as long as possible.

Glad to hear your test had good flavor.

Well the 2nd two day dryhop ultra had a faint orange flavor and aroma to it which is promising.
However some of my arcadians drying have an onion smell to them.
I think another day on the fan and they will be done then I’ll pick the rest and dry them.
Wondering if I missed the window?

The heritage I picked opened up as they are drying and smell like nothing.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

allright allright allright.
my left hand is sticky from vacuum sealing 4 oz of Arcadian.
once I dried them out to the point they fell apart when I rubbed them between my hands leaving those precious oils the onion smell was gone and nothing but wonderful hop smell!

Got maybe another wet .lb on the bines which i'll pick tomorrow morning and get drying.
the heritage I picked and dried ended up with a very faint fruity type smell so they are not ready.

but here is something interesting.
My arcadian's are putting out new buds since the first harvest and my herritage has started throwing out a bunch of sidearms?

wut is going on here?
it's mid 70's and fall is coming.

 

[Dave Sarber]

Climate change.

 

[Kaz15]

allright allright allright.
my left hand is sticky from vacuum sealing 4 oz of Arcadian.
once I dried them out to the point they fell apart when I rubbed them between my hands leaving those precious oils the onion smell was gone and nothing but wonderful hop smell!

Got maybe another wet .lb on the bines which i'll pick tomorrow morning and get drying.
the heritage I picked and dried ended up with a very faint fruity type smell so they are not ready.

but here is something interesting.
My arcadian's are putting out new buds since the first harvest and my herritage has started throwing out a bunch of sidearms?

wut is going on here?
it's mid 70's and fall is coming.

I think that’s fairly normal hop behavior. My Arcadian also started putting out side arms low on the bine after I had harvest. I’ve seen the same thing on my 5 year cascade plant. It almost always gets bushy at the base of the plant in late fall, some times produces an additional oz or two if we have a warm fall.

My best guess is that the plant is producing extra foliage in order to produce energy to send back to the roots. And if it has energy to make more hop cones, even better.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I think that’s fairly normal hop behavior. My Arcadian also started putting out side arms low on the bine after I had harvest. I’ve seen the same thing on my 5 year cascade plant. It almost always gets bushy at the base of the plant in late fall, some times produces an additional oz or two if we have a warm fall.

My best guess is that the plant is producing extra foliage in order to produce energy to send back to the roots. And if it has energy to make more hop cones, even better.

cool.
I intend to leave the plants up after harvest but for my ease i've been lopping off the side-arms loaded with hops when I lower them.
And my hops are infested with aphids!
They were clear a few days ago when I picked the first batch.

I found a few hops turning black I assume from the aphids deposits.
I'll pick and burn those in my firepit.
I guess I'll have to lower the heritage and check those for readyness or spritze them with insecticidal soap if not ready.

the amount of aphids is astounding.
the bines are encrusted with them and whole leaf undersides covered.
Now I understand why bee's where swarming on my hops.

those will be dried outside.

 

[Dave Sarber]

cool.
I intend to leave the plants up after harvest but for my ease i've been lopping off the side-arms loaded with hops when I lower them.
And my hops are infested with aphids!
They were clear a few days ago when I picked the first batch.

I found a few hops turning black I assume from the aphids deposits.
I'll pick and burn those in my firepit.
I guess I'll have to lower the heritage and check those for readyness or spritze them with insecticidal soap if not ready.

the amount of aphids is astounding.
the bines are encrusted with them and whole leaf undersides covered.
Now I understand why bee's where swarming on my hops.

those will be dried outside.

Get some ladybugs.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Get some ladybugs.

Think it's too late for that.
some of the hops have black mildew on and in them.
I'm gonna have to go through them now to see which ones can be used.

it's amazing how fast these things took over.

 

[Kaz15]

cool.
I intend to leave the plants up after harvest but for my ease i've been lopping off the side-arms loaded with hops when I lower them.
And my hops are infested with aphids!
They were clear a few days ago when I picked the first batch.

I found a few hops turning black I assume from the aphids deposits.
I'll pick and burn those in my firepit.
I guess I'll have to lower the heritage and check those for readyness or spritze them with insecticidal soap if not ready.

the amount of aphids is astounding.
the bines are encrusted with them and whole leaf undersides covered.
Now I understand why bee's where swarming on my hops.

those will be dried outside.

At my old house, my cascade plant also had some massive aphid infestations. I had TONS of ladybugs, but they couldn’t keep up.

Nature was kind this year, and I haven’t seen a single aphid.

However, I read about this organic insecticide on Great Lakes Hops website.

PyGanic Gardening 8oz, Botanical Insecticide Pyrethrin Concentrate for Organic Gardening https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MSWWEX1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-P9GDb9KSH49Y

Full disclosure, I have not used this product. My plan was to buy it at first sign of bugs. But that didn’t happen this year. If you spring for it, let me know how it works!

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I was using insecticidal soap to spray on the plants all yr and barely saw much of anything.
I think I will just spray down the heritage with the insecticidal soap tonight, get the non black spotted hops in my furnace filter sandwhich and fabricate some kind of box out of chicken wire to place on a dual turbine window fan i'm not using so I can grab all the herritage hops and dry in one shot sat.

going to need one or two of those dresser oasts for next yr when my hops increase on these plants and my other first yr plants start producing.

 

[Kaz15]

Out of curiosity, when you mention your “Heritage” hops, which variety do you mean? I don’t see a variety that fits that description on GLH’s website.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Out of curiosity, when you mention your “Heritage” hops, which variety do you mean? I don’t see a variety that fits that description on GLH’s website.

I meant hartwick. LOL

 

[Kaz15]

I meant hartwick. LOL

Got it. Lol.

I’m actually harvesting the rest of my Hartwick tomorrow morning. Those hops smell so good raw. I have high hopes for them. Brewing my 2.5 gal test batch with them this next Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[Still Brewn]

My arcadian's are putting out new buds since the first harvest and my herritage has started throwing out a bunch of sidearms?

wut is going on here?
it's mid 70's and fall is coming.

I was able to harvest my first year hops over a Month ago which I harvested in 2 stages to allow for more ripeness. I now have around a half pound of new cones I will be able to pick next week and more cones that are just starting to form.

 

[Still Brewn]

Mine are centennial

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Not sure what I should do with these.
Dry, nuke, seal and freeze and only use in the boil?

My hartwhicks are getting harvested tomorrow.

 

[Dave Sarber]

I'd suggest a flamethrower!

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I'd suggest a flamethrower!

I was trying to shake them off the hops before I picked them and it was like blowing dust into the air.

IDK once I started drying the aphids came out of the hops like crazy. there are so many of them.
most of the hops have a sticky coating on them that makes them feel damp when I knew they had the paper feel.

I think i'll just be thankful for the 4oz of aphid free hops I got off the plants, throw these in my firepit and just not deal with them anymore.
hell, gotta throw out my furnace filters also because they are infested with aphids.

gonna concentrate on the other two plants this weekend before aphid get those.

 

[Kaz15]

Oh boy... that is rough. I have been there and I feel your pain. I hate to say it, but if the hops have a damp slimy “aphid” coating (and scent) to them, are probably not useable. My opinion: a small number of aphids won’t ruin an individual hop. However, once they become infested and slimy, like you’re describing, I don’t think it’s worth the risk to brew with. Best of luck in picking through to find the good ones.

The aphids will naturally fall off after harvest. I’ve read that this happens because the flow of plant liquids stops. They leave, searching for a better meal. In your case, this means dying in your filters. A few years ago, I had a yellow coating of aphids on my concrete basement floor. Nasty.

BTW, is that Hartwick a 1st year plant?? If so, that’s incredible.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

yeah

Oh boy... that is rough. I have been there and I feel your pain. I hate to say it, but if the hops have a damp slimy “aphid” coating (and scent) to them, are probably not useable. My opinion: a small number of aphids won’t ruin an individual hop. However, once they become infested and slimy, like you’re describing, I don’t think it’s worth the risk to brew with. Best of luck in picking through to find the good ones.

The aphids will naturally fall off after harvest. I’ve read that this happens because the flow of plant liquids stops. They leave, searching for a better meal. In your case, this means dying in your filters. A few years ago, I had a yellow coating of aphids on my concrete basement floor. Nasty.

BTW, is that Hartwick a 1st year plant?? If so, that’s incredible.

hartwick -well GLH sent me a 2nd yr plants. but 1st yr for me and that is two plants on a wire I lowered to the ground. they are about 3ft apart but grew so large they sort of became one.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Picked the hartwick. Lowered them and hoses them off real good. Knocked most of the aphids off. Only a few leaves on the inside had a problem and maybe 50 hops with the sooty mildew. I got a lot of hops. I’d say based on the wonderful citrus smell, papery feel and the spring back most were ready with a few not quite on the lower arms so I think with upper gone they will see more sun.

Also this is ridiculous. Took me and my two boys two hrs to pick all these.
Glad I had chicken wire and zip ties

I’ll just move them around every few hrs and cover with a sheet at night.