Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report

[Sandimas]

Mine are ready too.

In fact, I decided they were ready 2 days ago, then an hour later the rain arrived and it's been on/off ever since. Just waiting for a dry spell.

 

[AXW123]

Begnners luck - first harvest of centennial from rhizome planted in April this year. As instructed on packet I did not trim or actually do anything at all to the plant to encourage root growth. Indeed I didn’t even water - but the water table is very close to the surface here. Really happy to get anything at all let alone 400g. Happy days.

 

[Gobaloon]

Very nice.

How are you drying them?

 

[AXW123]

In the big white mesh tray in the photo. In my utility room which is very dry. Did a test sample which took about 3 days to reduce by 80%.

 

[Gobaloon]

In the big white mesh tray in the photo. In my utility room which is very dry. Did a test sample which took about 3 days to reduce by 80%.

Cool thx. Look good

 

[Edison]

Good work! Think I might buy some new varieties next year, maybe cascade, see how that does in the Staffordshire climate!

 

[Sandimas]

I was wondering how long they take to air dry?

I think I've left mine too long in previous years, but I harvested mine on Saturday and they've been out on garden trays in the sunlight and brought in during the night, and they seem to have dried out enough after 3 days. I didn't weigh them. I have quite a lot and that's just the Styrian Goldings.

 

[jMac]

I air dry mine in the eaves of my garage where it’s low 20s at the moment. They took about 3 days to lose 80% of weight.

Don’t wish to alarm you, but ideally you want to be drying them somewhere dark and warm, and not in direct sunlight. If drying them outside like you are, do you have something to cover them with (black garden landscaping fabric is ideal as it’s breathable)?

If you have more to pick and dry, you could separate 100g of wet hops and dry them separately. When they’re down to around 20g you know they’re about ready.

 

[Sandimas]

Don’t wish to alarm you, but ideally you want to be drying them somewhere dark and warm, and not in direct sunlight.

Why - what's the issue?

Genuinely haven't heard that advice before so keen to know why.

 

[jMac]

Why - what's the issue?

Genuinely haven't heard that advice before so keen to know why.

You know what, I have no idea!

All the advice I’ve read just says not to place your drying hops in direct sunlight, but I’ve not researched why that might be. Commercial hop growers don’t dry their hops in the sunlight, and maybe that’s just filtered down to the homegrown level without much question. I guess I’ve always assumed that it’s also for similar reasons that we may not want to ferment in sunlight, condition in sunlight or store our ingredients in a warm sunny place. But maybe all my assumptions are wrong

I’m off to look around the internet for answers.

 

[Sandimas]

We haven't had much sun here so hopefully they'll be OK.

Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and vacuum pack them with my new machine. Well impressed! I've only done the two smaller trays but they are nearly 100g each so looks like I'll have 500-600g off one plant, and there are still a load of smaller cones on the plant.

 

[KEG_KINGDOM]

I planted EKG last yr and they never grew but really want to give them another try. I think my soul was too hard..

 

[Northern_Brewer]

All the advice I’ve read just says not to place your drying hops in direct sunlight, but I’ve not researched why that might be.

I'd assume it's for the same reason that one tries to avoid clear bottles, that UV causes isohumulones to convert to the lightstruck "skunked" smell/flavour.

 

[Bigjas]

Another good year for my Fuggle. It’s in year 4 and gave me 3.3kgs of hops. Picked them yesterday afternoon and started to dry them in my garage. I lay them out on trays that I made out of wood and a fine mesh. This plant has always produced a good yield. I’m no gardener, it’s purely luck or coincidence. It’s planted in the ground, gets lots of sunshine and grows high up an old pole. I make sure it’s watered and feed it every now and then. I reckon I’ll end up with about 800g of dried hops, which I’ll vacuum pack and freeze. They will last me a year.

 

[terrym]

It's an interesting idea about drying hops out of UV light because they might go funny. However to balance that hop cones need a lot of sun to mature properly and if your hop plant is in a sunny position, it could well see 12 hours of sun a day even at this time of year, and even when its cloudy some UV gets through. So perhaps someone who actually knows about these things could put us straight, rather than folks speculate. Otherwise it might end up as a homebrew myth, of which there are many.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Otherwise it might end up as a homebrew myth, of which there are many.

Probably find they’ll be ok in the Sun so long as there isn’t a full moon that night and they aren’t under a ladder with a broken mirror!

 

[jMac]

Another good year for my Fuggle. It’s in year 4 and gave me 3.3kgs of hops. Picked them yesterday afternoon and started to dry them in my garage. I lay them out on trays that I made out of wood and a fine mesh. This plant has always produced a good yield. I’m no gardener, it’s purely luck or coincidence. It’s planted in the ground, gets lots of sunshine and grows high up an old pole. I make sure it’s watered and feed it every now and then. I reckon I’ll end up with about 800g of dried hops, which I’ll vacuum pack and freeze. They will last me a year.

Now, that is an impressive yield! From my, admittedly not very exhaustive, research high yielding varieties are meant to produce only 500g-1kg in a season (I’d assumed that was wet weight as well, but your experience would seem to suggest it’s dry weight). You’re obviously doing something very right!

How many bines do you let grow on your plant? Or do you just let it grow freely?

 

[An Ankoù]

Begnners luck - first harvest of centennial from rhizome planted in April this year. As instructed on packet I did not trim or actually do anything at all to the plant to encourage root growth. Indeed I didn’t even water - but the water table is very close to the surface here. Really happy to get anything at all let alone 400g. Happy days.

Centennial are great for green-hopping. Make an ale of around OG 1050 bittered with hops of known apha acid content, I use Magnum, and then do some 10 minute and flameout additions with a big charge for a hopsteep at <80C. The beer has a scented / floral smell and flavour which doesn't happen with my other hop- cascade.
400g in the first year is amazing, my first year crop was nearer 100g and the same last year. Haven't picked them yet this year as my first Challenger ripened first and it's the first crop I've had from this bine, now in its third year.

 

[Bigjas]

Now, that is an impressive yield! From my, admittedly not very exhaustive, research high yielding varieties are meant to produce only 500g-1kg in a season (I’d assumed that was wet weight as well, but your experience would seem to suggest it’s dry weight). You’re obviously doing something very right!

How many bines do you let grow on your plant? Or do you just let it grow freely?

Yes it has always done well, even in the first year it gave a good yield. I have always let it grow freely. I’ve never cut back any of the bines. Like I’ve said, I am no gardener and don’t really know what I am doing, so it’s just luck that they do so well.

 

[user 18729]

Harvested my Goldings and Challenger today. The Challenger filled my brew bucket to just over 15 litres! Not sure what that’ll weigh when dry but very pleased with that. In contrast, the Goldings produced a fraction of that