Archive for nugget hops
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 Burrs Hop Cones
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Hop Burrs Hop Cones
August 1st hops update. The Cascade hops are mostly hop cones with a lesser amount of hop burrs. The Magnum are smaller cones and more hop burrs than the Cascade right now. Hop harvest will be in about a month I think.
Last year the Cascade and Magnum hops were ready to harvest at the same time. At this point, the Magnum are trailing the Cascade. I would rather harvest them separately anyway – it’s a lot of work.
The Nugget hops are barely hop burrs at this point. They trailed the other hops by 2 weeks last year so no surprise there. I am anxious to see how much more my hop harvest will be this year. I am hoping for double last year’s.
Pictured below is my 1st year container Fuggle hops and my second year hops. Left to right they are Fuggle, Nugget, Magnum and Cascade. Maybe one more update before harvest if I have time. So far, so good!
Fuggle Bines
Hop Burrs Hop Cones
Hop Bine Update
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Magnum Hop Bines
Hop Bines May 1st
May 1st, just 2 weeks since the last post. The hop bines were 10 inches tall on April 17, now they are over 5 feet tall! I thought first year hops were fun to watch grow, this is insane! They grew over 4 feet in 2 weeks and this is not even planting time for my zone (zone 4A). Last year it was about June 7th before the hops reached this height (first year hops).
I was going to double the ropes per hop plant this year but had no time to do it. Oh well, they will be thick this year. I expect the laterals to go crazy and at least double the harvest of last year of 4.1lbs wet.
I have not fertilized or amended the soil at all this year. I must have done a good job when I prepped the soil the fall before I planted the hop rhizomes. The hop mounds were heavily mulched with grass and leaves over the winter and perhaps the decomposing grass and leaves were seeping a compost tea into the soil.
What the hell is going to happen when summer comes? At this rate, I may lose my garage to the hop bines. I expect the bines to reach the top of their ropes(15 feet) by June. I’ll keep you posted.
I also started 2 container hop plants this year – a Fuggle and a Mt. Hood. We’ll see how these do – only about 9 inches tall so far. I am more interested or concerned about how long I can keep them in the containers as hop crowns and roots grow massively. I also need to think about how to over-winter the containers as it can get to minus 30 during the winter here.
Expect future posts of massive bines!
Nugget Hops Harvest
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Nugget Hop Bine
Nugget Hops Harvest
The Nugget hops were ready to harvest 15 days after the Cascade and Magnum hops. A hop yield of 1.3 pounds. Thirty percent more than the Magnum hop harvest, less than the 1.8 pounds of Cascade hops. I harvested the Nugget hops September 10th, the other hops August 25th.
Not a bad harvest for first year hop plants. Next year should yield significantly more hop cones as the hop rhizomes planted have become sizable crowns / root stocks from the photosynthesis and organic nutrients from this year.
An essential ingredient for beers and ales, these hop cones will make an excellent IPA (India Pale Ale). Nugget hops are for bittering with a high IBU (International Bittering Unit) measurement. I will use my Cascade hops for aroma to complete the IPA experience.
Nugget Hop Cone Lupulin
Shown here is the yellow lupulin of the Nugget hop cone – the active ingredient of the hop. Although known for their bittering effect and not as an aroma hop, the Nugget hop aroma is exquisite.
If you are a homebrewer and live where you can grow hops (between 30th and 50 parallels), you have to do this. Hops are an amazing fast growing plant and fun to watch grow. Hops have been scarce in recent times so be self sufficient and grow your own hops! Growing hops will complete the beer making experience and camaraderie of home brewing.
Cascade Hops
Posted by: | CommentsThe Nugget bine and Cascade hops bines have reached the top of the ropes. The Cascade hops plant overtook the Nugget and is now the bine height leader by a foot over the Nugget hops. The Magnum bines are still only 8 or 9 feet tall. I lowered the Cascade and Nugget bines 6 feet to allow the hop bines to continue to climb.
Cascade Hop Bines Take the Lead
I mounted hose racks to the side of my garage to allow looping the hop bines off the ground and allow more vertical growth (see pictures). One thing I learned with this setup is the bines blow off of the hose racks in the wind we have had the last 2 days so I had to secure the rope to the hose hangers ( I used tie wraps/ zip ties – Next to duct tape, zip ties are best invention ever in my opinion.
I chose Cascade hops, Nugget hops and Magnum hops because they are disease resistant, high yielding and grow well in my climate (zone 4). Apparently the Magnum do not fair as well, they are behind the Nugget and Cascade hop plants by 6 – 7 feet (I still love them though). The season is not over, anything could happen yet. My experiment on how to grow hops with a pulley system seems to be working well so far.
The bines are sending out side shoots for hops and I can hardly wait. Because they are first year hops, I am not expecting much of a hop harvest this year, although they are exceeding my expectations from everything I have read on the subject and from my hop growing friends. I can’t wait till next year to see what they will do.
Nugget Hop Bines Give up the Lead
The soil innoculant I used “Alive Soil Activator” revived all of my wifes flowers (can’t be hurting my hops either). Like all flowers, they look great when you buy them but after a month or so the flowering fades. I used this unconventionally and just threw a couple of spoonfuls in a watering container, watered the plants and they all look 200% better! Even revived a plant I thought was dead – it is flowering like crazy now!
Anyway, there is my status report on how to grow hops (my version). There is a lot of good information on growing hops out there – find it, read it, absorb it and grow hops like crazy.
One of my Favorite Beers / Ales
