Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[Hanglow]

I use my dehydrator a lot, its just a six tray Andrew James one. I have to rotate the trays to get an even drying. It fills up pretty quick, but if you can pick your plant over a few days then you can dry a fair amount over that time. It gets a lot of other uses, I've dried about 30kg of porcini mushrooms this year and it's great for dehydrating gluts from the allotment. And Jerky too

 

[Ahdinko]

Is it worth investing in a food dehydrator to dry my hops? If so any recommendations View attachment 53778

Judging by the size of the ladybird, they aren't worth dehydrating!

 

[Fatcontro11er]

I have a cheap dehydrator it’s great for drying hops overnight!
Before I made newspaper envelopes and dried them in the boiler room, that was effective but took 3/4 days!

 

[Libigage]

I have a cheap dehydrator it’s great for drying hops overnight!
Before I made newspaper envelopes and dried them in the boiler room, that was effective but took 3/4 days!

What model did you get and what temperature do you use?

 

[Sandimas]

Think mine are getting very close to being ready for picking, I picked this day (5 Sept) last year. The frame I build for them to grow up seems to be working well.

 

[Cwrw666]

Picking mine today - hands nice and sticky which is a good sign.
More Challenger than I was expecting as the bine isn't all that big (second year)
Not as much Cascade as I was expecting - the bine is a monster but not so many hops on it.

So far I've a couple of mushroom trays picked - I'm leaving them in the sun for today to wilt them. Is this a bad idea? They'd be in the sun if they were still on the plants.

 

[Libigage]

I was going to pick mine this weekend but saw the weather forecast and thought I'd do it next weekend instead. Just noticed this on only one cone, (it's not the same as the stuff you can pick off pic 2)the rest seem okay. Some are a lot smaller than others and are opening. So should I pick the lot or leave the smaller ones

 

[Dazzelknight]

Just harvest the chinooks and really pleased with my 1st year. Not weighed them but good for a few brews.

 

[Libigage]

Just harvest the chinooks and really pleased with my 1st year. Not weighed them but good for a few brews. View attachment 53923

Did you pick them or cut the whole plant down? What's the normal procedure? Also I want to do a smash with mine but as I won't know the AA I was going to use a bittering hop (I know not a true smash) so I can use my cascade as the sole hop but I only have Vienna malt. Is this OK if so what yeast would you recommend.

 

[Dazzelknight]

I trained them to grow horizontally so it was easier for me to pick them.Iv just snipped the vines above the soil line so be easier to get rid of the vines once they’ve dried out. I’m pretty new to AG myself but know Magnum and chinook are a pretty solid bittering hop. Iv also got some cascade on the go but I think they will be a another week or so till they’re ready. Il be doing a simple IPA with safale 05..Stick a post on the forum, you’ll get a wealth of advise,, happy growing!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Did you pick them or cut the whole plant down? What's the normal procedure?

Commercially they cut the whole plant down and run it through a machine, but picking them and leaving the plant allows all the goodness in the leaves to be returned to the rhizome, so the rhizome will be a bit stronger the next year - and that's a particularly good idea in its early years. Also, picking allows you to harvest in two lots, which works well for dry hopping a week or two after brewday, and allows you to better reflect the fact that they don't all mature at the same time. Picking is a bit of a pain, but without automation it's not much less painful picking them off a cut bine. If it's too tall, you can always cut the top part off.

The critical thing is to get them drying or in wort within hours of being picked - it's just a waste to pick them one day and brew with them the following day or later. They go "off" incredibly quickly. And remember the water content means you need about 7x more green hop than dried hop.

Also I want to do a smash with mine but as I won't know the AA I was going to use a bittering hop (I know not a true smash) so I can use my cascade as the sole hop but I only have Vienna malt. Is this OK if so what yeast would you recommend.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the SMASH thing, particularly for green hops - the whole point of green hops are the flavours that normally evaporate during the drying process, which are rather wasted if you boil them for 60 minutes! Whilst we're on the subject though, my posts on SMASHes are worth a look.

Vienna is OK as a base malt, although personally I think you can't beat just a good quality pale malt.

Yeast - whatever you want. Assuming you want to keep it simple with dry yeast, then the obvious ones for something clean are Mangrove Jack M54 Californian, Lallemand BRY-97 and Fermentis US-05 or 34/70, and if you want something with a bit more English character then Lallemand Verdant is the obvious choice these days.

 

[Craftman]

Not sure what variety mine are (got them as a cutting from my FIL) but I think they are pretty much ready to pick.
Seem to be doing well (especially for North East Scotland)

 

[sifty]

I've just read this entire thread and was inspired. Seeing great crops in areas fairly far north in the UK made me think maybe I'm not too far south after all (Southland NZ, latitude 46 S thereabouts). Get fairly good frosts here but also long summer hours so we'll see how things go.
Have an unused north facing sunny spot in the back yard inhabited by bricks, old road signs and weeds, so concreted in a post, that I'll add a cross bar and twine to.

Have ordered a couple of Fuggle plants so hope to have this area cleaned up when they arrive...

 

[An Ankoù]

Did you pick them or cut the whole plant down? What's the normal procedure? Also I want to do a smash with mine but as I won't know the AA I was going to use a bittering hop (I know not a true smash) so I can use my cascade as the sole hop but I only have Vienna malt. Is this OK if so what yeast would you recommend.

If you use dried hops of the same variety and known AA then it's a true SMaSH. In fact I'd prefer to do this even if I did know the AA so that I can use the green hops very late and at flamout and a hopsteep at <80C. It's fine to use all Vienna. I'd be inclined to use a fairly neutral yeast to appreciate the maltiness of the Vienna and the fragrance of the hops.
If you use a different bittering hop, use something delicate like Magnum so as not to conflict with your green hops. But if it's a case of having to wait for an order, then use the least flavoursome hops and get your green hops in as quickly as possible rather than wait for a delivery. I like to pick my hops during the boil so that they can go straight in.

 

[An Ankoù]

As Northern Brewer said above, it's important to get the hops into the brew as quickly as possible to avoid spoilage, but it's more than that. With green hops, you have a one-off opportunity to make something special and more fragrant and flowery than you can ever get from dried hops.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I've just read this entire thread and was inspired. Seeing great crops in areas fairly far north in the UK made me think maybe I'm not too far south after all (Southland NZ, latitude 46 S thereabouts).

Too far south? They are proper temperate plants, you're closer to the tropics than most of the classic hopgrowing areas of Europe, which are all around 50°N. Daylength is the critical factor - traditionally it was believed that they needed 42 days at 3 °C or below to fruit properly, but it's now known it's just a question of daylength. But a bit of frost is absolutely not a problem - the problem with northern Britain is more about the damp encouraging fungal diseases, which you guys are relatively free from, and wind blowing down tall structures.

 

[An Ankoù]

They are proper temperate plants, you're closer to the tropics than most of the classic hopgrowing areas of Europe, which are all around 50°N. Daylength is the critical factor

I read some interesting stuff on this not long ago about the hop breeding programme in South Africa. SA is round about Latitide 30S if my geography (which I failed at O Level) serves me right, and their experimental varieties had to be brought on using sodium lamps in the hopyards. The hop in question, which, prompted this enquiry was African Queen (I got mine from Autobrasseur France) and I see it is now described as a "daylight neutral" hop. There may now be other daylight neutral hops knocking around.
This reminds me that I really must get on and brew something with it to see what it's really like.

 

[Libigage]

And remember the water content means you need about 7x more green hop than dried hop.
Thanks @Northern_Brewer

Is that right, it's my first year so I might not have enough for a green hop this year. How much would you put in a 20 litre brew?

 

[An Ankoù]

And remember the water content means you need about 7x more green hop than dried hop.
Thanks @Northern_Brewer

Is that right, it's my first year so I might not have enough for a green hop this year. How much would you put in a 20 litre brew?

Whatever you've got. Chuck it in right at the end. 50g will have an effect and remember that if you've got 150g to chuck in, that's the equivalent of only 20g of dried hops and many recipes call for lots more than that. Nevertheless, I'd be inclined to use between 70-150 g split between 5 minute, flameout and a big charge at <80C. Using much more seems a waste.

 

[Libigage]

Whatever you've got. Chuck it in right at the end. 50g will have an effect and remember that if you've got 150g to chuck in, that's the equivalent of only 20g of dried hops and many recipes call for lots more than that. Nevertheless, I'd be inclined to use between 70-150 g split between 5 minute, flameout and a big charge at <80C. Using much more seems a waste.

I have cascade, about 1.8kg of extra pale MO and 5kg of Vienna. Yeast I have safale 05 and 04, safelager S-23 and some wilko gervin