Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[Sadfield]

Hops are drying. Fresh/Wet/Green hopped Bitter is fermenting away and I'm excited to discover what my first usable batch of hops taste like.

It's got me thinking not so much about storage, but more about usage. And about Terroir. Whether there's merit in including the homegrown hops in every brew regardless of style and other hops used, perhaps even as set amount at a set time.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

I’m in Kent and didn’t water too often only just when they looked a bit wilted, probs could have got a better crop from my two 2nd year vines.
Ended up with 100g dried Fuggles and 200g EKG.
I’ve got three new EKG plants from cuttings that have been in pots since spring so will be planting then in the ground shortly.
Anyone tried this successfully?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

On my way to the chippy tonight found a couple hop bushes. Picked a couple of cones but they didnot have much aroma. Is this usual if they’re not dried?

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

On my way to the chippy tonight found a couple hop bushes. Picked a couple of cones but they didnot have much aroma. Is this usual if they’re not dried?

Should have plenty of aroma if they are ready, should be just turning at touch brown on the tips. Maybe wild hops aren’t as potent as the commercial varieties?

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I’m in Kent and didn’t water too often only just when they looked a bit wilted, probs could have got a better crop from my two 2nd year vines.
Ended up with 100g dried Fuggles and 200g EKG.
I’ve got three new EKG plants from cuttings that have been in pots since spring so will be planting then in the ground shortly.
Anyone tried this successfully?

I've got several cuttings that I potted on and have replanted all growing well. Insane how quickly a shoot roots, I just put a cutting that had come out of the ground and was a cast off in a pint glass of water and it had roots within a week. It was a strong plant in a pot by the end of the season ( march 2022). It's now sprouting like crazy.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

On my way to the chippy tonight found a couple hop bushes. Picked a couple of cones but they didnot have much aroma. Is this usual if they’re not dried?

Worth taking a cutting from the bine and trying to get it to root and then overwinter it. Some hops are ornamental and also if it's a male hop plant it wont have much aroma either. But ideal for your cross breeding program!

 

[Sandimas]

Just bagged up the Cascade, last ones to pick and dry, final tally for 2022 is:

• 430g Cascade
• 600g Challenger
• 200g Styrian Goldings

The Styrians are usually my best crop but I took an eye off them this year and only managed to train them onto half of the growing frame.

And vividly saw why you don't dry hops in the sun: the ones drying in the garage have stayed green, the ones outside have gone brown,

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Nice day for hop picking



I think I might be about a week too late in harvesting these but this is the first chance I’ve had. The hops were all quite open with a lot of the lovely yellow stuff in full view although none were too brown. They smell lovely so hopefully they will be ok.

All now in mesh bags on the landing on front of the AC fan drying.

 

[oldchap]

Waiting another week for my cascade. Its definitely almost there - the pic below is one of the most ripe cones and it smells great - but most still green and not quite papery. Frustrating! Was all geared up to do it today.

 

[Polcho]

I’m in the same position, it’s quite frustrating.

 

[Sandimas]

I'm amazed some of you are still waiting to pick, is that because you are further north?

 

[oldchap]

I'm amazed some of you are still waiting to pick, is that because you are further north?

I assume so. I'm in Stirling. Oddly the rest now the growing seems to be earlier this year - from first shoots to burrs - but the final stage is easily about two weeks longer than last year. (Only second years growth though so don't have a good feel for 'normal' yet)

 

[Sandimas]

Only second years growth though so don't have a good feel for 'normal' yet

Even down here near Malvern mine were later this year. Suppose I could have left them a little longer but I had a short window in which to harvest them e.g. this week I'm in North Devon.

Generally, they seem to be ready around the same date most years, usually the 2nd or 3rd week of Sept for me.

 

[Polcho]

I took mine in yesterday. They appear to be ready, but who knows. First year.

 

[Sadfield]

It's certainly a learning curve.

Bottled my green hop bitter on Saturday, which tasted promising.
The remaining hops I got down to 30% of original weight and vacuum packed.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I'm amazed some of you are still waiting to pick, is that because you are further north?

Variety also makes a difference, there's a range of about 5-6 weeks for different varieties in the same place. But it is getting on the late side now...

 

[oldchap]

That's my cascade picked now. Smells great! Alas, only 2/3 the crop I got the first year - exactly 100g wet, 30g dry. Enough for a small batch!

 

[sifty]

Been busy so have neglected my plants. They were a tangled mess of bull bines so I cut the biggest ones out and trained some leafy shoots up the string guides. Prob should have done this weeks ago...

Quite a lot of foliage removed. Hope things take off now with productive bines...

 

[531Man]

Been busy so have neglected my plants. They were a tangled mess of bull bines so I cut the biggest ones out and trained some leafy shoots up the string guides. Prob should have done this weeks ago...
View attachment 77029
Quite a lot of foliage removed. Hope things take off now with productive bines...

Vigorous pruning there.
Next Spring in England I'll need to do this for my first plantings done a couple of weeks ago (start of Autumn here).
They have all sent up bines already.
I think one of the 3 plants has a Bull as its only bine.
Do you know how to be sure a bine is Bull, or the normal wanted ones, before you cut it?
I have seen they can start off red coloured and are hollow, but how to tell for sure before cutting?

 

[sifty]

I just go by the frequency of leaves. The first shoots are long and vigorous climbers but only have leaves every 200mm or so. Later ones are much more 'leafy' so will produce more flowers.
I have 2 Fuggle plants on the outside and a Cascade in between them so cannot really go by colour. The Fuggles are purple while Cascade are green. Luckily the hops are very different in appearance so no problem separating them at harvest...