Home grown Hop Dilema

[Cazamodo]

I have three second year hop plants which I left to grow wild this year, I was hoping to move house early spring but I'm only now completing so they've been neglected.

One plant has not grown, the other two have gone mad.
I now have a good amount of green hops on them all. One has larger cones, one quite small cones.

They could be Fuggles, Challanger, or EKG. I'm 90% sure the Fuggle is the one that has not grown...

Anyway I know identifying them may be difficult, but whats the best use for these hops, as I would like to do a green hopped beer with them.

[seymour]

...They could be Fuggles, Challanger, or EKG. I'm 90% sure the Fuggle is the one that has not grown...

That would make sense, anecdotally at least. I tried to grow Fuggles twice from different rhizome sources and both years they quickly withered, while other varieties thrived a few feet away. I'm sure it has everything to do with soil and climate conditions. Fuggles became the dominant variety in parts of England because it was the most prolific of that time, right?

With regards to your brewing dilemma, any of those three hops would work well together in every stage: bittering, flavour, aroma, and dry-hop additions. Just use a favourite proven grainbill, except way more green hops than you're used to using since the water weight hasn't evaporated away.

[Fil]

i have first year fuggles and challenger hops growing, in my case the challenger green hops are half the size of the fuggles, while the challenger has grown about 5m up and over an arch and along a fence, the fuggles have barely grown 3m up and along a string line.

i will photo for your information and comparison a little later and post this evening.

[YeastWhisperer]

In my humble opinion, Fuggle is not worth the effort. I planted Fuggle in two different hop yards in two different hardiness zones with different soil types, and it still did not produce much in the way of cones. I am going to give it a second year in this hop yard before replacing it with a more productive cultivar. On the other hand, Wye Challenger is a beast of a hop cultivar given the right growing conditions. It produces big, tight cones. Wye Challenger is easy to distinguish from Fuggle and Golding. It has a neat columnar growth habit with a dense cone set.

Wye Challenger growth habit




Cones from my first-year Wye Challenger hills:



(The ruler shown below is divided into inches and fractions of an inch)

[Fil]

seems like tha challenger have caught up with the fuggles..
Fuggles



and Challenger

[YeastWhisperer]

It looks like your hills are coming along nicely. I wish that Fuggle would produce like that in Maryland. Fuggle grows well until the temperature hits 30C. I also believe that our peak photoperiod may be too short for Fuggle. Wye Challenger has been such a delightful hop to grow that I am adding Wye Yeoman to my hop yard this fall. I am also adding Southern Cross (NZ hop), Southern Brewer (South Africa), and Early Cluster plus two undetermined cultivars to my hop yard this fall (Centennial, Glacier, and Northern Brewer are in the running).

[scuppeteer]

Fuggles have a distinct red top side to the stalks/laterals whilst green underneath. They are generally quite a large four sided cone. Challenger have deep red bines (you can clearly see the colouration in Fils pic). Goldings have quite a light flower with a green bine.

[YeastWhisperer]

I noticed that you question Brenchley, Kent as the birthplace of Fuggle. Do you know Fuggle's actual origin?

[scuppeteer]

I noticed that you question Brenchley, Kent as the birthplace of Fuggle. Do you know Fuggle's actual origin?

Yes, but to save the most "quintessentially" English 'op from disgrace I will not divulge on a forum of this size or any for that matter.

[Cazamodo]

seems like tha challenger have caught up with the fuggles..


and Challenger

These are the exact of what I have so, I know thats challanger and the other must be EKG!