If you have a hop related question about International Bittering Units or alpha acid, post it here!
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Chappie519
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by Chappie519 » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:11 pm
Chiltern Brewer wrote:Established bines should be fine in cold weather - IIRC they need a cold period to trigger growth properly when Spring arrives - they are tough plants.
BTW I got my Challenger bines several years ago when I was on holiday from a nursery on the Black Isle -
Poyntzfield Herbs.
Haha, Noway! Thats one of my friends folks businesses. I did not know they did hops, Ill have to go get some! Yeah the 3rd year plants will probably come up soon! Very hardy plant indeed.
Cheers
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grumpysod
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by grumpysod » Sun Mar 01, 2009 10:20 pm
2 of my 3 second year Prima Donna /First Golds have sprouted as well as 19 of the 21 cuttings I took last year. I'm going to do a spot of guerrilla gardening and plant them in the local forest by the river.
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Phill
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by Phill » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:28 am
After reading this post I thought i'd have a quick look today to see if hops this far north had started growing yet. Both my Fuggles and Challenger have shoots coming through, its there second year so its good to see them. They have been covered over the winter in straw which I took off today.
Fuggles
Challenger
I've since covered them with more compost.
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Chris The Fish
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by Chris The Fish » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:09 pm
good to hear your re-covering them, theres cold weather on the way.
My 2nd year bines look very similar in growth.
Fingers crossed the 2nd year should be a belter.
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coatesg
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by coatesg » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:08 am
I've a goldings rhizome in a pot currently - it got hidden in the shed during he really cold snap, and recently put outside (but still potted) - no sign of life yet though.... (needs to go in the ground soon!).
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SiHoltye
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by SiHoltye » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:24 am
Has anyone researched getting hops AA tested? I may have quite a few this year and as long as the cost wasn't prohibitive it'd be good to know for sure how potent my free hops are. That way they could be more accurately used for their bittering properties rather than just playing safe and using them as aroma.
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Buzz
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by Buzz » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:30 pm
I'm having a crack this year too. Planted my two First Gold rhizome's earlier this week at the back of my allotment. I'm hoping to grow them up and along the fence. I read that you don't get many flowers in the first year, but I'll be interested to see how they do.
Good luck all.
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delboy
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by delboy » Thu Mar 05, 2009 2:59 pm
SiHoltye wrote:Has anyone researched getting hops AA tested? I may have quite a few this year and as long as the cost wasn't prohibitive it'd be good to know for sure how potent my free hops are. That way they could be more accurately used for their bittering properties rather than just playing safe and using them as aroma.
I think consensus was that it was prohibitively costly with the additional problem that you need quite a lot for the tests also (more than you could grow at home probably). IIRC it was deemed that the only really practical solution was to make a comparison of hop teas (home grown vs hops of a known AA). So for instance say it takes 10g of homegrown to have the same perceved bitterness as say 5g of target with 10 %AA then you can infer that your hops are around about 5 % etc.
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Phill
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by Phill » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:03 pm
The Hop teas idea sounds good not thought of or read that before
. My hops (Fuggles and Challanger) where in there first year last year and flowered quite well as I think alot of other peoples on the forum did. Ive also read that they dont usually flower in there first year so if you go into it expecting them not to, its a nice suprise when they do. And you can make beer out of them which is even better.
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adm
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by adm » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:07 pm
Dunno if this has been posted before, but there's a pretty good downloadable .pdf guide to hop growing
here.
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ritchie
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by ritchie » Thu Mar 05, 2009 10:32 pm
Just been invoiced by A-plus Hops for last years plants. Very odd, i thought they'd have took the cash off my card before sending them out.
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fivetide
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by fivetide » Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:24 pm
Aha! All three of my second year hop plants have shoved themselves aboves soil with multiple bine buds! Are they crazy, it;s cold out there
I guess they know what they're doing. Photos next time it's sunny
Rah!
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Chris The Fish
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by Chris The Fish » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:55 pm
Mine too, they have worked through the compost coat i put over them and now think they are Usain Bolt!
me thinks if the weather is good this summer we'll get a good harvest, and with the amount of people on their 2nd year were in danger of gaining some really useful knowledge on home grown hops!!
Better sit down quick
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Subsonic
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by Subsonic » Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:05 am
In the end I managed to gig 7 rhizomes up from the field (extremely difficult) and planted them along my chicken run that has a 100metre length of 7 foot wire fence. I went out today and saw that all of them are throwing buds and shoots out left right and centre. I'm well chuffed as I was thinking I would be lucky to get one to live!
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fivetide
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by fivetide » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:47 am
Haha, Subsonic, you're going to be a doing a lot of bine twiddling in your spare time and get a LOT of hops. they will look spectacular along that fence at the end of the summer.
As far as testing AA etc... goes - I have been using my Fuggles and WGV in the exact same proportions as commercially packaged hops and they have been spot on, in my opinion. I've made a cracking mild and stout as well as the usual ales.
Your own hops will also smell, look and feel fresher from your own storage. Homegrown hops rock - use without fear
