EKG did much better with 1200g wet and still drying.
Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report
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How long do you dry them for?
Looks similar to how I dried mine last year. In brew bags hung from the light fitting in front of the AC on fan setting. Took about 24 hours to dry fully.
A week with tossing them about most days so they dry evenly
Not sure SWMBO would approve but loving the system.
I harvest my hops when the outer cone leaves start to brown but not sure if that is the right point?
Also what is the usual weight loss as my Fuggles reduced to a third over a week which didn’t seem like enough with what I’ve read on some threads?
Fortunately the weather was still fine and hot I when I picked my Prima Donna hops (and the local hedgerow foraged ones).
Spread in a combination of open lattice-bottomed fruit and veg. trays and garden sieves lined with food-covering netting.
These were put up across the joists in my light excluded garage and shed, which were pretty warm at the time.
I added air movement with a fairly large-sized oscillating room fan underneath, but NOT pointing directly upwards!
I thought it was a fair approximation of an Oast house.
When crisp and rustley, I heat seal bagged them with an air extraction nozzle Pifco bag heat sealer.
Then frozen as well to make sure.
About 2kg in all (dry).
Spread in a combination of open lattice-bottomed fruit and veg. trays and garden sieves lined with food-covering netting.
These were put up across the joists in my light excluded garage and shed, which were pretty warm at the time.
I added air movement with a fairly large-sized oscillating room fan underneath, but NOT pointing directly upwards!
I thought it was a fair approximation of an Oast house.
When crisp and rustley, I heat seal bagged them with an air extraction nozzle Pifco bag heat sealer.
Then frozen as well to make sure.
About 2kg in all (dry).
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It's a delicate balancing act, made more difficult by the weather this year which saw everything ripen super-quickly in that sunny weather last week, after a slow start.
Your nose is the best guide, but in general you want to harvest no later than when there's one or two brown scales on <10% of the cones. Any hint of garlic means that you've missed the peak time, you need to harvest earlier next year....
Well, my hops are now cut down. Just the task of picking and drying them now 
To photo Fuggles, bottom one Centennial
To photo Fuggles, bottom one Centennial
prog99
Landlord.
As of Friday mine weren't ready. Usually I pick mine after our autumn climbing holiday so it'll be 2nd week of October.
My cascade has a bit of an underwhelming crop again. It is nearly there but still needs a wee bit longer. Though I'm normally at least a week later than this anyway.
Happily the cutting I took this spring has also got a few cones, though its well intertwined with the raspberries!
Happily the cutting I took this spring has also got a few cones, though its well intertwined with the raspberries!
I looked at photo #1 and thought, "those leaves don't look like hops, what has he grown there?".
Before reading your, "well intertwined with the raspberries!" comment.
From cutting to hops (even if only a few) in a single season,
hops truly are a vigorous weed!
Interested in the garlic Aroma mention,
I thought I would rub and sniff the remaining local hedgerow hops still on the bine yesterday evening.
Hop condition: lots of brown scales on >90% of them. In other words, only a few in the shade with no browning seen.
Aroma: Definitely onion to garlic on first rub. Probably closer to Ransomes (wild garlic) from some, the greener ones, still moist on the rub.
Some time later the garlic seemed to have dissipated and the stickiness left in the hand seemed more typically attractively hoppy.
I wouldn't pick or brew with them - well not beer I think I would drink anyway.
So, local hop harvest is now over, well for me and these close-Goldings relatives around me in Kent anyway.
So now it's back to brewing with what I've got, and looking forward to next year's hop growing season.
Finally got everything bagged up with the vacuum sealer, a total of 925g dry.
- Styrian Golding 125g
- Challenger 200g
- Cascade 600g
sifty
Landlord.
Looked at my plants this morning, reduced yield due to less sun this summer, but seems they're ready to process. I had one cascade between 2 Fuggle plants, but cascade seems to have taken over. Tempted to pull them all and replace with EKG, but wondering how hard it is to get rid of established roots...
RoomWithABrew
Landlord.
Do you want some EKG rhizome ?
I can dig a bit out of my pot for you? PM me if interested or phone me, I'm keen for some Fuggle
I can dig a bit out of my pot for you? PM me if interested or phone me, I'm keen for some Fuggle
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This is another reminder that East Kent Goldings is not a variety, it's a legal designation for specific clones of Goldings grown in a particular geographic area, in the same way as Champagne or Parma ham or Jersey Royal potatoes are tied to a specific area :
https://assets.publishing.service.g...a8f54d5abcdfd7/pfn-east-kent-goldings-pdo.pdf
UK rhizome suppliers won't supply "EKG", they supply one of the specific clones of Goldings :
https://www.aplus-hops.co.uk/collec...te=&filter.p.m.custom.group=Golding+Varieties
https://assets.publishing.service.g...a8f54d5abcdfd7/pfn-east-kent-goldings-pdo.pdf
UK rhizome suppliers won't supply "EKG", they supply one of the specific clones of Goldings :
https://www.aplus-hops.co.uk/collec...te=&filter.p.m.custom.group=Golding+Varieties
RoomWithABrew
Landlord.
Sifty and myself both in NZ, no chance of getting any plant material from UK due to biosecurity. I think EKG being used as easier to type than goldings.
sifty
Landlord.
Yeah I just use EKG as a shortcut... 
Did a half-arsed harvest after work. I've still got the previous years ones vacuum packed in the freezer so wasn't too fussed about yield. Actually been a poor growing year, my chillies were rubbish too. Anyway, got a few, and around half in the dehydrator now. That's a 20 litre bucket and size 12 boot for scale...
Did a half-arsed harvest after work. I've still got the previous years ones vacuum packed in the freezer so wasn't too fussed about yield. Actually been a poor growing year, my chillies were rubbish too. Anyway, got a few, and around half in the dehydrator now. That's a 20 litre bucket and size 12 boot for scale...
sifty
Landlord.
Yeah I'm pretty sure the Cascade has taken over and the Fuggles have gone? Not even sure that's possible, but the first year I could readily identify the 2 different varieties (Cascade a pointy, loose flower shape, vs Fuggle a tighter, rounded cone).
All look like Cascade now, and a nice almost lemony aroma if you stick your head in the bucket.
I haven't had much luck using them in brews, don't think I've allowed enough hops in my recipes. Think I'll try a SMASH with ale malt and really bump up the hops to see how it goes.
If that works I'll leave the plants in place. I just sort of lost interest once I got confused about where my Fuggles had gone...
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Commercial brewers here using green hops (ie undried) work on adding 7x what they would use of dried hops, in the US they seem to work on 5-6x, either way - there's a lot of water in them.
Also to my eyes they look a touch under-ripe in your photo.
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