New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association
Brewing => Hops => Topic started by: JohnQ on May 05, 2013, 01:19:53 PM
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Planning on posting regular update photos on the Hops Yard this year with images of each of the 8 cultivars as they progress.
First, the changes for this year...
We've added the extra 2 poles for the second cable, we've re-run the first year cable and added a winch and pulleys to allow us to lower the cable for both tying on and harvest.
The second cabling will be done on Tuesday.
Here are some images...
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Week 1 images,
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Very nice Senior! Would love to do the same in my back yard. I do have a telephone pole on the edge of my property...could always plant around it and run ropes up it I suppose :)
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Week 2 and quite a bit of growth this week, as you'll see.
Going to get brutal with them this week and cut out all the losers, leaving the winners to thrive and get ready for the lines.
JQ
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Very nice Senior. I trimmed mine last week and one of them is already almost 4 feet long...they sure grow fast!
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Week 3,
We did some serious pruning this week, picking all the winners, 4 per hill.
The growth is quite astounding, and though we wanted to wait for the actual hops clips and the hops gun to fasten the lines, looks like we'll have to string them up before next week, so we'll do a temporary fastening of the lines some time this week and get most of them trained.
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Week 4,
All the trimming done, all the training done where it can be. Lost a few while training.
JQ
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Coming along nicely! Should be a good harvest.
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Very nice. I think I'll be putting some ropes up soon too - trellis probably isn't good enough.
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There's a guy up by the Pic's brewery that makes very nice looking trellises, (trelli? :? ). I'll probably get one of those for a hops holder
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Week 5, Willamette has really taken off on one of the bines and is well over 8 feet already.
Not the one shown, I'm sticking with the same mound for all the photos for better comparison.
Some of the bines that I thought were toast from the stringing (folded the bine over on itself and seemed collapsed) have actually recovered and are now growing aggressively.
New shoots coming up a foot away from many of the mounds that need trimming off.
Definitely some lively rhizomes down there. We'll absolutely need to trim back the Rhizomes next year!
JQ
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Yea those buggers grow fast! A little water and sunlight is all it takes. Some of mine are a couple of feet over the roof already!
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It got impractical to take the single bine photos, so I gave up and here's a shot of what the whole yard looks like 3 months on...
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(http://cronkitehhh.personal.asu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/obama-not-bad.jpeg)
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it's a beautiful thing Senior!!
you make me want to be a better....hop grower!
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So have you harvested yet? I've been wondering about mine they look good but I'm just not sure...
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Not yet,
They are still a little damp, Might need to break up the order of harvestl
Last year they were all harvested together, but they were only ounces each.
This year they are all producing really well, so I might need to do a few different harvests.
JQ
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Senior, can you give us a rundown of how to know when to harvest?
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They should feel papery dry on the outside, but still bounce back when you squeeze them. Another good test is a clockwise twist of a cone should have them fall apart pretty easily. Shouldn't be brown yet, so if you see the tips starting to turn it's not too late, but it might be a day later.
Another tip I heard on a podcast this year is to leave the bottom 4 feet of the bines attached to the ground, give them a couple of weeks and bury them again in a circle around the mound and in the spring, they will have turned into rhizomes, with a node at each leaf node. In 4 feet you should get about a dozen new rhizomes.
My Fuggle came in today and is in a drying box we're trying out this year.
It was 1.4 Kg Wet, so should end up being about 12-14 ounces dried.
My 2nd Galena came in yesterday, I'll be weighing them dry when I get home tonight, I'm guessing it'll be about 6 ounces or so dry.
I think we're going to pull down the Willamette tomorrow, I'm guessing given the Fuggle success it'll be at least half again over the Fuggle.
JQ
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Thanks for the tips. Very useful.
Some of the cones are starting to feel dry so I'll have to monitor them closely.
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Sounds like a good harvest so far JQ!
I just picked 13 oz wet hops from my second year cascade, there will be another small harvest in a week or two im guessing. I really didnt tend to it much this year so im pretty happy with this. I plan to toss it all in the end of a boil next friday.
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Here's our second year Centennial.
2.75 Kg Wet, so about 700g, dried.
I've built a couple of drier boxes that are on top of fans.
So far the 1.4 Kg of Fuggle is down to about 800 grams.
Going to take half of each variety and freeze at 50% wet weight, and then try and dry the other half to freeze at 25% wet wait, then compare the handling of them after freezing.
The way these feel, I think the difference will be minimal, I'll just use twice as much of the wetter ones.
Was planning on just freezing them all wet, but after seeing how much we're getting, it's tough to use them in partial amounts after they're wet frozen, no problem if you're putting them all in one batch.
The Box is 18x18x9
JQ
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlsT-x19III
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Very good video...definitely set me straight on when to pick mine...thanks for sharing Chris!
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Good video, though...he had many overdone hops on those bines, so most growers look for an average, just turning brown tips, don't wait... they spoil very quickly.
If you can pick the tops without picking the bottom you might get more "better" hops, but on average you'll do best if you don't let any of them get to where he lets some of them get to.
JQ
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And 4 bines of Willamette came in at 2.9 Kg wet.
Just cut down the Chinook, will weigh in the am.
JQ
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Here are the final results...
Variety / # of Bines / Wet Weight
Cascade / 2 / 2.5 kg
Centennial / 3 / 2.75 kg
Chinook / 2 / 1.8 kg
Fuggle / 4 / 1.45 kg
Galena / 2 / 1.9 kg
Magnum / 2 / .85 kg
Nugget / 4 / 1.85 kg
Willamette / 4 / 2.9 kg
Total 17 kg Wet weight, dried down to about half weight for most of them and frozen.
JQ
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Very impressive Senior!