May 29th the Magnum hops reached the top of their rope (15 feet tall). The cascade and Nugget hop bines reached the top of their ropes May 21st (13 feet tall). I predicted by June 1st this would happen and apparently nailed that guess.
This is the second year for these hops. The first year is fun to watch how fast the hop bines grow, but that’s nothing compared to the second year. The first year a lot of the hop plants energy goes into establishing the root stock also known as the crown. By the second year, the crown is established and the sprouts come up earlier than if you planted hop rhizomes.
My hop sprouts survived a few frosts where tomatoes would have surely died. Hops are hardy once established. I lost a Mt. Hood hop plant I had planted in a container this spring. We had some 50 mph winds and it snapped them right off – the rhizome apparently couldn’t handle it – no more hop shoots / sprouts replaced them. They probably would have survived if I had them trained on a rope. They were about a foot long and I had not yet decided where to trellis them.
Before you can decide what variety of hops to plant, you need to know the characteristics of different varieties of hops. The variety you choose depends mainly on the styles of beers and ales you like to drink.
Two main characteristics of hop cones:
Bittering – measured in IBUs (International Bitterness Units – according to the IBU scale). The bittering attribute of hops is used to counteract the sweetness of the malt in the beer or ale. Alpha acids and beta acids of the hop contribute to the bittering effect.
Aroma – there is no scale to measure aroma, it is used to impart a pleasurable aroma or “nose” to beers and ales, also referred to as a finishing hop. Essential oils of the hop cone are the source of aroma.
There are other characteristics that hops contribute to brews:
Natural preservative
Flavoring – various attributes such as – spicy, piney, citrus, woody, floral…
Calming effect
All hops have both qualities of bitterness and aroma, it is the proportion of each that determines if it is called a bittering hop, an aroma hop or some hops are in the middle and considered both bittering and aroma hop. The main component of the hop cone is lupulin, a yellow powdery component of the female hop cone. It contains the resins of the hop cone.
Here is a comprehensive list of the varieties of hops
So depending upon the beer styles you like to drink and or brew, determines which hop varieties to grow (assuming they will grow in your climate and soil). The above list provides the name of the hop, country of origin and alpha acid percentage (bitterness). There are many hop description pages out there, this one is the most comprehensive list of hop varieties I have found. You will only be able to buy a few varieties of hop rhizomes depending upon your country and some on this list are proprietary (not commercially available).
Beers and Ales – the difference between beers and ales is the type of yeast used and temperature of the wort (mash/sugars) during the fermentation process.
This post would go on forever if I listed every beer style and hops used so I won’t attempt that. Checkout the above referenced link to get your hop rhizome list together (you can sometimes find hop plants for sale). Depending upon where you live, you may be able to plant right now (ground is still frozen here in Minnesota) but warmer regions can plant now.
One more resource I stumbled across http://www.hopunion.com/hopunion-variety-databook.pdf
One of my most popular posts will list a variety of online sources to:
Finally, Hop harvest time! My Cascade hops and Magnum hops were ready to harvest at the same time. My Nugget hops are still on the bine. Here is 1.8 pounds of wet harvested Cascade hops drying on a screen in my living room under a ceiling fan (air conditioned – low humidity). My wife was so happy to have the hops in our living room – ok, I made that part up, but I have priorities (won that battle!). They are out of the living room now, donated to friend who has far surpassed my homebrewing abilities (I get some excellent ales in return!)
Cascade Hops Drying
The Magnum hops I dried in a couple of paper bags (single layer under the ceiling fan also). The Magnum hops were exactly 1 pound wet. When I say wet, they have actually dried quite a bit on the bine.
Magnum Hops oozing Lupulin!
Not sure if you can see the yellow lupulin in this picture but it is plentiful. For a bittering hop, they are more aromatic than the Cascade – at least freshly picked off the bine. I am sure the aromatic quality of the Cascade will come out in a late boil and dry hopping. Here is a cross section of a Magnum hop cone (left) and a Cascade hop cone (right). The yellow lupulin does not show in this web compressed picture as well as I wished. I may set up a separate picture site to do it justice. The yellow lupulin follows the strig (stem) down the center of the hop cone.
Hop Cones Showing Off Lupulin!
The harvesting went well. I had to use a ladder to cut the lateral shoots that wrapped around the rope used to let down the bines (pulley setup) but my ladder time was minimal. I let the bines down on to a tarp and picked the hop cones off the bines while standing up – much easier on my back. When I was done harvesting, I raised the bines up again and will let them go till they freeze, allowing them to store energy for the root stock for next years growth (these are first year hops).
Easy Magnum Hop Cone Picking
The tarp worked great, I did not lose a single hop cone. I will definitely use a similar hop trellis system next year with a few improvements. Next years hop harvest will be much greater with established hop plants. I anticipate double the beer hop cone harvest with an earlier start and more robust hop root stocks rather than just planted hop rhizomes. The re-hoisted bines are loading up the hop crowns with energy for next years beer hops.
Pretty simple huh? Why aren’t you growing your own hops? Try it you’ll like it.
Start planning now for next years hops. Select your spot, sunny southern exposure is best but an eastern or western unobstructed (no trees blocking sunshine) will work. Make sure you have vertical space, more the better. Start thinking about how you will rig the bines – trellis, ropes secured to a pole or tall structure… You have until spring to figure it out. If nothing else Google it – a great source of ideas.
Prepare the soil now. Dig down at least a foot and at least 2 foot diameter. Make the soil well drained and mix organic materials with the soil – leaves, grass, compost, composted manure, green sand… HOP ON!
Hop cones are forming from the hop burrs nicely. It looks like it will be a staggered hop harvest which is ok by me. The Cascade hops are the most mature and abundant followed by the Magnum and the Nugget hops are still burrs.
Nugget Hop Cone Burrs
From spiney hop burrs to hop cones, this is what it is all about. These hops are loving the sunshine and thriving. I can’t wait to see what they will do next year!
Baby Magnum Hop Cones
I am definately going to use a different hop trellis system next year. The hop bines are not producing lateral shoots and cones where they are wrapped around the hose hangers. It was worth a try but not producing any additional hops cones.
Baby Cascade Hop Cones
I will be doing more research this fall and winter for hop rigging / hop trellis ideas. Trying to figure out an easy way to spiral the ropes and provide additional hops bine length for my limited vertical area I have along side of my garage.
Hops - Humulus Lupulus – in July (7/20/2009) status report. It has been a couple of weeks since my last growing hops post. All three hop plants have topped their ropes. The Magnum hops finally made it to the top – about 15 feet tall. The Cascade hops and Nugget hop bines have reached the top of their hop trellis rigging twice and I have looped them around hose hangers and pulled back slack to give them more vertical space for the hop vines to grow.
I have decided to let them top out and and leave it at that because the looped portion of the hops bines do not seem to be putting out lateral shoots (for hop flowers / hop cones) like the un-looped portion of the hop bines are. They still may produce side shoots, but that is one thing learned from this hop experiment so far. Next year I am leaning towards a spiral approach, the point being giving them as much vertical growth possible with a limited vertical space (Although many folks grow them even shorter). I am trying to maximize hop cone production with limited vertical resources (without freaking out my neighbors with hop skyscraper towers).
Who knows, I may come up with a commercial approach to maximized hops production that will be financially and labor-wise feasible. Presently I am simply looking to maximize hops production for myself and other homebrewers. To grow hops, I have held true to keeping it organic. They seem to be growing very nicely for first year hops started from hop rhizomes only 3 months ago.
The Magnum hops plant is currently 15 feet tall. The structure of this hop bine is smaller leaves, more compact – but denser foliage. The Cascade hops bine is at about 23 feet tall with the topped out bine now making it’s way back toward the ground. The Nugget hops bine is about 21 – 22 feet tall (with the length of the looped bine on the hose hanger – see previous posts). The Cascade hops lateral shoots are impressive at 3 to 4 feet in length. A couple of the side shoots have wrapped around the the lowering rope and are now spirally up that rope! The Nugget hop bines are starting to send out some impressive lateral hop shoots as well. Just hoping these lateral hops shoots will fill in with lots of hop cones. Time will tell.
Nugget Hops Thrive
Magnum Hops Have Peaked
The hops I am growing will be used for a relaxing hop tea, combined with other calming and relaxing herbs like chamomile, lavender, kava kava and others to make sleep aids and de-stress formulas. And of course the main function of the hops will be for making awesome beers and ales. Of the beer hops, I have 2 bittering hops (Nugget and Magnum) and the Cascade hops are for aroma hops in the beer/ale making process.
