Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[531Man]

Fuggles!
Dry day so got some picked. Some large cones on. Hopefully ok. Going to do a British lager, own fuggles for bittering ( calls for 38g @ 60 mins, so was doubling) and 6.5g EKG T90 @30min, calls for 6.5 EKG & Fuggles @ 10 min. Malt bill 4.89kg Lager Malt, 820g cara malt, 270g dextrin. Shall see
View attachment 103968

I gleaned (with owner's permission, High Halden, Kent) some local hedgerow hops that look very like yours, and I suspect are a close scion of Fuggles.
From a gateway and hedge of what was obviously a hop garden when I was a youngster.
After the cold wet snap they showed petal browning like yours. They didn't smell like 'past their best' but I wasn't going to risk them spoiling by leaving more than 2 days of the better weather to dry off a bit. I got 144g when dried.
Do yours show more of the cold wet weather-related sudden petal browning than in previous years?
And have you noticed any changes in the aroma characteristics?

Good luck with the English lager using them,
personally I would only use my own hops for the later aroma additions. Using them for bittering they lose most of their fresh hop personality.

 

[Sandimas]

. Dried to 1/4 of their weight and vacuum packed for the freezer.

You don't have to put the vacuum packed ones in the freezer as they're sealed, just keep them away from sunlight in a coolish place - I put them in a carboard box in the garage. Our freezer is always rammed (kids & dogs). I do have a bit of the freezer for opened packets.

 

[OliH]

I cropped my Goldings a couple of weeks ago, I hope it wasn’t too early. I got nearly 1kg, which dried to just over 200g. It was the second year, but I got no cones off it last year.
I’ve already brewed a hoppy ale. I used 140g, mostly late additions.

My cascade plant looked better I thought, but when harvested most of it was mouldy, rotten or infested with bugs, just been too wet for this year I guess.

 

[OliH]

You don't have to put the vacuum packed ones in the freezer as they're sealed, just keep them away from sunlight in a coolish place - I put them in a carboard box in the garage. Our freezer is always rammed (kids & dogs). I do have a bit of the freezer for opened packets.

I had always thought it was better to freeze them, this is good to know as our freezer is also rammed all the time!

 

[Steveski]

You don't have to put the vacuum packed ones in the freezer as they're sealed, just keep them away from sunlight in a coolish place - I put them in a carboard box in the garage. Our freezer is always rammed (kids & dogs). I do have a bit of the freezer for opened packets.

Yeah, it was sort of belt and braces as I’m not too sure how good the cheap vacuum pack bags are though in terms of oxygen permeability. Luckily I have been allowed the bottom drawer of the freezer by SHMBO

 

[Libigage]

Same here, bit the bullet and harvested some of my Cascade before more under developed cones turn brown. I Picked the large and medium cones and left the small ones to see if they develop any further (suspect they won’t). Dried to 1/4 of their weight and vacuum packed for the freezer.
View attachment 103973View attachment 103974

Can I ask how you use your cascade? Do you have a tried and tested recipe. I got about 380g dried and vacuum packed in my freezer. Too scared to dry hop as I got an infection last year, but then I didn't freeze them. I was just going to use in the boil and whirlpool. Didn't know whether to use all of them or about half.

 

[Steveski]

Can I ask how you use your cascade? Do you have a tried and tested recipe. I got about 380g dried and vacuum packed in my freezer. Too scared to dry hop as I got an infection last year, but then I didn't freeze them. I was just going to use in the boil and whirlpool. Didn't know whether to use all of them or about half.

I use them in a recipe based on Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The recipe uses cascade with 60, 30 and whirlpool additions only. I am also wary of dry hopping with my own hops but SN Pale Ale is not dry hopped anyway so its all good. Last year I used pellets for the 60 & 30 min additions to try to control the IBU's as I have no idea on the AA content of my cones. It turned out great. However, this year I am going to be brave and use the cones throughout as I have so many.

I can post the recipe if you like or make it public on BF but untested at the moment as it stands with all cones. The hopping is for a 26L batch and works out at 10g @ 60 mins, 50g @ 30 mins and 100g Whirlpool for 30 mins @ 85C. I am taking a stab at the AA of them being about 6.

Hope that helps.

 

[Libigage]

I use them in a recipe based on Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The recipe uses cascade with 60, 30 and whirlpool additions only. I am also wary of dry hopping with my own hops but SN Pale Ale is not dry hopped anyway so its all good. Last year I used pellets for the 60 & 30 min additions to try to control the IBU's as I have no idea on the AA content of my cones. It turned out great. However, this year I am going to be brave and use the cones throughout as I have so many.

I can post the recipe if you like or make it public on BF but untested at the moment as it stands with all cones. The hopping is for a 26L batch and works out at 10g @ 60 mins, 50g @ 30 mins and 100g Whirlpool for 30 mins @ 85C. I am taking a stab at the AA of them being about 6.

Hope that helps.

That's great thanks, do you thaw your hops before you use them? I was waiting for the New pomona yeast to come out but I'm a bit impatient. What yeast do you use for the sn?

 

[Steveski]

That's great thanks, do you thaw your hops before you use them? I was waiting for the New pomona yeast to come out but I'm a bit impatient. What yeast do you use for the sn?

No, I just use them frozen. I tend to use Mangrove Jacks M44 for most of my American Ales but have also used US05. I find the M44 does drop out easier but can have quite a long lag time, up to 36 or even 48h some times.

Edit: when I say use them frozen it’s not as if they are in a solid block, they don’t look frozen at all really.

 

[Libigage]

No, I just use them frozen. I tend to use Mangrove Jacks M44 for most of my American Ales but have also used US05. I find the M44 does drop out easier but can have quite a long lag time, up to 36 or even 48h some times.

Edit: when I say use them frozen it’s not as if they are in a solid block, they don’t look frozen at all really.

I would be interested in your recipe, I would have to use my hops as I don't have any shop bought cascade. I have verdant ipa yeast or bry-97

 

[Steveski]

I would be interested in your recipe, I would have to use my hops as I don't have any shop bought cascade. I have verdant ipa yeast or bry-97

I made the recipe that I will be brewing public and it can be accessed as below. This is however quite specific to my brewing equipment and Effingham, Surrey water profile.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1306565/sierra-nevada-pale-ale

I would think either of your yeasts would be fine but have not used them before. Any clean fermenting yeast is fine.

The water treatment will likely be very different for you. I test my water for Alkalinity and calcium before every brew and tweak it accordingly and try to get a chloride to sulphate ratio around 1 to 3: So basically ignore the Citric Acid, Gypsum and Epsom salts and use your own method to counter the alkalinity and achieve the sulphate balance.

If you do brew it, please let me know how it turns out. I should be brewing this next week if there are no interruptions at home.
Cheers!

 

[Arrakus]

I cropped my Goldings a couple of weeks ago, I hope it wasn’t too early. I got nearly 1kg, which dried to just over 200g. It was the second year, but I got no cones off it last year.
I’ve already brewed a hoppy ale. I used 140g, mostly late additions.

My cascade plant looked better I thought, but when harvested most of it was mouldy, rotten or infested with bugs, just been too wet for this year I guess.

My Cascade went the same way this year, really low yield and lot of the leaves have gone mouldy.

Great yield off the Goldings though

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I had always thought it was better to freeze them, this is good to know as our freezer is also rammed all the time!

In general the enemies of hops are oxygen, temperature and light. So the colder you get them the better - going from room temperature to fridge temperature cut the rate of decline of some compounds by 80% in one study I've seen, combining that with vacuum packing pushes it to 90%. But it's not black and white, and some compounds are more vulnerable than others. So I fridge my unopened commercial hops, freeze open packets, and on the assumption that home-packed hops are not as well vacuumed as commercial ones, I freeze them as and when I get room even when they're unopened.

Annoyingly I missed my Goldings this year, I had to be away from home just as they were ready. But through...sources, I've got myself some Bullion and Brewer's Gold so that's my job for today

 

[531Man]

But through...sources

 

[prog99]

Can I ask how you use your cascade? Do you have a tried and tested recipe. I got about 380g dried and vacuum packed in my freezer. Too scared to dry hop as I got an infection last year, but then I didn't freeze them. I was just going to use in the boil and whirlpool. Didn't know whether to use all of them or about half.

I had a thread about this earlier on this year. I’ll try and dig it out.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

My Fuggles were down a bit on last year’s harvest (grown up the chimney) but my EKG produced very little at the end of the garden. May have to move it.

 

[prog99]

My cascade so far, really late.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

My cascade so far, really late.

That's pretty normal - Cascade is one of the last varieties to ripen, they've been harvesting it commercially in Herefordshire this week. But in England at least, I wouldn't leave it later than this weekend.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

My Fuggles were down a bit on last year’s harvest (grown up the chimney) but my EKG produced very little at the end of the garden. May have to move it.

It's not been the easiest of years, particularly in Kent, between the warm winter which led to spring dormancy (something the Goldings family are particularly prone to), and the summer drought. Digging it up will only disrupt the root system which protects it against drought, so I wouldn't move it unless there's something obviously wrong with the location. You might want to think about how to give it more water though, so your winter job could be installing some kind of irrigation system, or a better trellis system to support it.

 

[prog99]

That's pretty normal - Cascade is one of the last varieties to ripen, they've been harvesting it commercially in Herefordshire this week. But in England at least, I wouldn't leave it later than this weekend.

It’s behind where it was last year. I’m in the north of Scotland for reference.