Archive for hop harvest
Hops Harvest 2011
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Nugget, Magnum Cascade Hops
Hops harvest 2011 was delayed a little due to our strange growing season this year. A cold wet spring, a wet hot summer and dry September made for some challenges. I believe all the rain led to leaching the soil which caused a boron deficiency for my Magnum hops. Luckily I diagnosed the boron deficiency just in time – sprayed the sickly hop bines just in time to save them. They did not reach the top of the rope as the bines were stunted to 10 feet. Some laterals managed to climb an additional 4 feet almost reaching the top (the center hop bines).
We harvested a total of 4.25 lbs between all 3 varieties. This year I trained 5 bines per rope. I think I will fall back to 3 bines per rope next year. I think they do better with 3 bines – not too crowded. I gave all my hops to my friend that has far surpassed my brewing abilities. This spring he took 2nd place for an American IPA using my magnum hops (see Award Winning Hops ). In return for the hops, I get to try many styles of beers and ales (he has over 100 batches under his belt).
Due to the issues I had this year, I am going to fortify the soil next spring with more compost(top dress), composted manure and
Conjoined Hop Cone
kelp. This should address any deficiencies. Notice the gigantic leaves mixed in the bines – especially the Nugget (closest)? Those huge leaves are a result of the Bonide Liquid Iron + micro-nutrients – containing: magnesium, boron, copper, iron, manganese, zinc. It seems they may have been deficient all along? Some of these leaves were 10 inches across! I will also give them another spraying of the Bonide product as I have some left. I try and stay as organic as possible – these are just minerals so I consider them still organic.
I get one or two of these conjoined hop cones each year. They are pretty cool looking and I look forward to finding them each year. It was pretty dark by the time we finnished harvesting as you can tell by this picture (with flash). Of course the friggen mosquitoes were eating us alive once it got dark. Luckily it didn’t take us much longer after dark to finish harvesting this years hops.
That’s it for this year. If I come up with any news or advice, I will post it. Otherwise we will see you next year. I hope everyone had a good year for hops. Feel free to update us with your comments on this post.
Cascade Hop Cones On The Bines
Nugget Hops Harvest 2010
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Nugget Hop Bines
Nugget hops harvest – September 18th I harvested the Nugget hops. Two Weeks after the Cascade, Magnum and Fuggle hops. Same as last year – 2 weeks after my other hops were ready and harvested. I had three bines on this one rope and harvested exactly one kilo or 2.2 pounds of wet hops. They are really not that wet as they have dried somewhat on the bines.
Last years Nugget hop cone harvest was 1.3 pounds – 70% more than last years first year hop harvest.
Nugget Hop Harvest
Generally hops dry out to end up at 20 to 25% of the wet hop weight. If that holds true for this batch, I will end up with .44 to .55 pounds of dry hops. Splitting the difference, I will end up with about 8 ounces of dry Nugget hops.
These are currently drying in my living room under the ceiling fan. The temperature and humidity is down this year. Last year they dried while we still had the air conditioning running. This September here in Minnesota is below average (have not even hit 80 degrees this month – must be global warming).
Nugget Hop Cones Drying
That’s it for the 2010 hop season. I may update some posts or come up with some new ideas for the hop garden I may run past y’all (for my southern friends). 2010 was a great year for hops – for me and my Minnesota friends anyway. I look forward to your comments and ideas. I hope you all had a great hop harvest yourselves. If you are not growing beer hops, you should be – it’s easy and they are fun to watch grow. Prepare your soil now for next year – go back quite a few posts and I explain how I prepared the soil. My southern hemisphere friends, you must be coming up on your spring – best of luck to you.
Cheers!
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Hop Harvest 2010
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Cascade Hops Harvest
Hop harvest 2010 – mostly second year hops, with the addition of a first year Fuggle container hop plant (from rhizome). We harvested Sunday September 5th (Labor Day weekend). The above picture is half a grocery bag full of Cascade hop cones. We did not weigh them wet (freshly picked) but I will update the post with the dry weight. A friend of mine is drying them and going to use them in his home brews. I donated them to him as he has far surpassed my brewing abilities.
Hop Bines Before Harvest
Above are, left to right: second year Nugget, Magnum and Cascade hops. I have not harvested the Nugget hops yet, they were not quite ready. People keep asking when to harvest so here is the general rule: when they feel papery and squeeze easily and bounce back – they are ready. If they feel moist and do not squeeze easily, they are not ready. You will often see some brown edges on the hops when they are ready to pick also. You may find that not all of the hops seem ready even on the same bine. Up to you if you leave them for later or pick them all. I have my bines on pulleys so I hoist them back up and have a second, smaller harvest a week or 2 later.
Fuggle, Magnum and Cascade Hop Cones
Above are the three hop cone varieties we picked in a side by side picture. The Magnum is noticeably lighter in color. They are hard to distinguish apart as most of the cones are fairly round. The Cascade pictured above is one of the longer cones, but all 3 varieties are mostly round with some longer than others. When they are in the bags, they are tough to tell apart. Each of the 3 hop varieties has it’s own aroma. Similar, but distinct per variety. The Fuggle and Cascade hops are aroma varieties and the Magnum is a bittering hop.
Conjoined Hop
Here is a pic of a conjoined hop cone. I have only seen 2 of these in a couple of years growing hops.
I will add the Nugget harvest pictures and hopefully all the dried hop weights when I finish harvesting. First year hops are amazing to watch grow, but second year hops are over the top. If you are not growing hops, you should be. Whether for brewing beers and ales, privacy, covering arbors, fences or pergolas, calming teas or sleep pillows – there are many uses for hops (and excuses for growing them).
Until the next update, grow hops – cheers!
Beer Hops Harvest
Posted by: | CommentsFinally, 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!
Cascade Bines Before Harvest
Cascade Bines Post Harvest
