Hop Growing 2017

[bigchris]

Was hoping to pick a few hops today but its raining

[Wonkydonkey]

ive had a few from a unattended allotment shed /greenhouse. they are unknown as I was told by the next door allotment holder they haven been there afew yrs. first ive seen them. ive got about 250g dry weight and more to come, I must get a few bits of roots in the winter. but I'm not sure if there I more than one type been planted. I will have to make a smash and try to find out what they are. maybe take the beer to the homebrew meetup.
my hops on my shed got some sort of mold, and really not worth bothering with the rest on the plant.
the challenger which has been good every yr is lacking hops this yr.not sure why thou.
the santium hops have done good just. nowilt this yr. they just need a few days / wk yet. they make a nice single hop beer.
and the cascade has gone bonkers again but its much better to wait till the end of sept to harvest ,,as ive picked it to early before and wasted them as they did not have much smell or flavour in the beer
cheers to brewing with your own grown hops

[keith1664]

I picked my Cobb today, a decent haul.


And my hairdryer powered hop Oast.



The Cascade aren't ready yet and next weekend might be too late for the First Gold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wonkydonkey]

I like the hair dryer in the bottom

[grunter]

Like the DIY-drateor !!!

My Centennial, Cascade, Willamente, Chinook all seem in various stage stage of growth (from most to least) - chinook still has hop burs for the branches that get lease sun, but this was a late developer last year.

Re the mould - I see some of the cascade cones have a white mould on them, does anyone know the best course of action ? cut of the base ones and burn? Some sort of mildew spray?

Also none of the hops are very fragrant at all this year, despite having a lot of the yellow pollen, just smell green leafy even when rubbed just wondering if this is due to all the rain?

The cones are starting to sound papery when scrunched but still feel leafy rather than papery, I'm hoping they dry out for harvest in a couple of weeks.

[Wonkydonkey]

How's the inside of your hoporator look ? Is it 2x4's with fly screen stapled to the bottom keith1664
how quick do they dry?
Hair dryers do suck some juice when on full tilt, but I guess it worth it when full of hops, bet it smells lovly

[Wonkydonkey]

Ei think the mould is just unfortunate, just like wilt etc. some yrs are good and others are bad but hopfully not all the hops get it. I just harvest what I think is worth it, and I don't think spraying anything is worth it on hops. After all, hops is hops to a home brewer, it not like we got fields and fields of hops and gonna go bust, I recon my hops save me £20 ish...
Cheers

[keith1664]

How's the inside of your hoporator look ? Is it 2x4's with fly screen stapled to the bottom keith1664
how quick do they dry?
Hair dryers do suck some juice when on full tilt, but I guess it worth it when full of hops, bet it smells lovly

One of these about a third of the way up, I made 2 but only use 1. It's 1.5" square timber.



Edit.. drying time about 6 hours last year. This year I picked half of them while it was raining so much longer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jambo]

Finally cones forming here in the north!!

[Hanglow]

Picked two plants today

cutting in greenhouse - not much to be expected tbf



main plant - 1550g wet, not bad, up 50% from the first year



Still got my second cutting and small centennial to go but not expecting much from them

[Meatymc]

Just back from hol's expecting to have missed the best of the 'harvest' but far from it - not even sure if they are ready yet. Anyone else up in North Yorkshire in a similar position?

Varieties are Prima Donna (First Gold), Northdown, Fuggles and Cascade. Most active is a 2nd year Northdown some of whch feel ready but not enough to make a worthwhile batch. As in the 1st year the Prima Donna seem the smallest cones by some way.

[Eric]

Just back from hol's expecting to have missed the best of the 'harvest' but far from it - not even sure if they are ready yet. Anyone else up in North Yorkshire in a similar position?

Varieties are Prima Donna (First Gold), Northdown, Fuggles and Cascade. Most active is a 2nd year Northdown some of whch feel ready but not enough to make a worthwhile batch. As in the 1st year the Prima Donna seem the smallest cones by some way.

Still poor, small with virtually no smell, a further 50 miles north.

[Coffeeuk]

Picked and brewed with mine here in Bradford today (first gold)
Cones were massive, much bigger than previous years.

[Meatymc]

Picked the Fuggles last night - filled a 3.5 gallon bucket. Given it's the 1st year and grown up against a brick wall (which I now understand isn't recommended) I'm well pleased with that. Given it overnight in the garage to hope the critters take a walk - oven drying starting tonight.

Will also be trying to get some of the Northdown picked tonight but it's grown through an apple tree (which is overloaded with fruit) and, as still in a pot, don't want to remove too much 'greenery' so it's chance to die-back and get some goodness into the roots before I transplant this winter.

Cascade still not ready but First Gold might be by Friday - going to p£$$ it down up here tomorrow so might as well get the sloe gin underway tomorrow night.

[Hanglow]

Any tips on planting wild? I'll have one to plant wild from this year and next I might take a few more cuttings and plant them out too