Home grown hops are greener

[Hogarth]

Not claiming any special hop-growing talent here, but I've often noticed that my home grown -- and home dried -- hops are much greener than commercial ones of the same vintage. What's more, they always seem to have more aroma. Here's a pic with my hops above and commercial ones below:



Has anyone else noticed this with their hops? The only reason I can think of is that commercial ones are kiln-dried, whereas mine are dried over several days in the airing cupboard.

[Kev888]

I've noticed a similar amount of variation even within commercial hops too, but it must be said that none have been quite as green and fresh looking as yours. Could it partly depend on when they're harvested? I've seen some home-grown ones that were left unpicked a bit too long and they went very brown even on the vine.

Cheers
Kev

[Dave S]

I would regard it in a similar way to supermarket vegetables vs good market stall ones. I have a fruit and veg stall near where I work and I tell you the their produce is invariable superior to our local supermarket, fuller colour tastier and often cheaper. I would not be surprised if the same is true of hops - less processing not force grown etc. If you grow it yourself, you know what you've got.

[seymour]

Plus, no matter how you dry your own, it's guaranteed they don't go through nearly as much hostile mechanical processing as commercial hops. Makes sense yours would have more organic colour and aroma intact. Garden fresh!

[scuppeteer]

Or you picked em too early!

What variety are they?

With home grown you are able to keep an eye on them everyday, when they look the best you pick. When you have 50 odd acres to look after it is more of a gamble as you have other varieties which may be more valuable to get in first, so some may suffer and not get picked at their best. Saying that the latest batches of USA Cascade (2012 crop) we have would put many to shame. They are still very green and have huge aromas as soon as you open the foil.
As you all know hops are very dependant on the location grown, so it may just be that Hogarth has near perfect conditions and soil. It is well known that Goldings do not grow as well in Sussex as they do in East Kent, whereas you can grow a Fuggle almost anywhere and still get a good crop.
With hops time is of the essence.

Either way nice quality hops Hogarth.

[seymour]

...whereas you can grow a Fuggle almost anywhere and still get a good crop...

Except my garden in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Believe me, I tried three different growing years with all my might!
A few feet away, Cascades grew like the weeds they are.

[scuppeteer]

Sorry Seymour, I meant anywhere in Europe.
All I can suggest is that you are too far South for a Fuggle!

[seymour]

Sorry Seymour, I meant anywhere in Europe.
All I can suggest is that you are too far South for a Fuggle!

Now you tell me!
Makes sense, Kent appears to be 51°N and I'm 38°N. I also have very wet, very heavy, hard-packed clay soil which causes swift root rot for many hops, but I thought I'd churned-in plenty of organic soil amendments and nutrients. Oh well, some things just aren't meant to be, I suppose.

[Hogarth]

The homegrown hops in the photo are fuggles. (No, not fugues, you stupid auto-correct thingie.) As far as I know I pick them at the usual time, when they're just getting a bit papery on the vine. They're on an east-facing wall and get the morning sun and plenty of traffic fumes.

What do other people's dried homegrown hops look like? Are they green like this? If not, perhaps I have a magical touch and should go into business.

[stevetk189]

I'm just venturing into home grown hops and if the first crop or second look anything like yours, I'll be well chuffed.

I've got Cascade and Bramling Cross, 2 hops I use a lot of and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Limousin terroir and climate do with them.

[scuppeteer]

I'm just venturing into home grown hops and if the first crop or second look anything like yours, I'll be well chuffed.

I've got Cascade and Bramling Cross, 2 hops I use a lot of and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Limousin terroir and climate do with them.

Ooohh. French Cascade that could be very interesting.

You so have to do 4 different cascade brews with ones from each continent to see how they compare!

[boingy]

Maybe they are greener because you haven't dried them properly...

I dried some wild hops a few years back and they lost a startling amount of colour in just a few days. They still smelled great and made a great beer but they were almost grey. On the converse I dried some of my home grown Cascade and they stayed a similar colour to yours (and also smelled great). So I dunno really. Maybe it's variety dependent or maybe it's the ripeness. I try to harvest at the point where a small proportion of the cones are just starting to turn brown. I think I get much more lupulin that way and they certainly make good beer.

At last years harvest I opted not to dry any of them but to brew an immediate batch within a few hours of picking and then to vac pac and freeze the rest of the harvest "in the green". They take up a bit more freezer space but the brews don't seem to suffer.

[stevetk189]

I'm just venturing into home grown hops and if the first crop or second look anything like yours, I'll be well chuffed.

I've got Cascade and Bramling Cross, 2 hops I use a lot of and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Limousin terroir and climate do with them.

Ooohh. French Cascade that could be very interesting.

You so have to do 4 different cascade brews with ones from each continent to see how they compare!

I totally plan to do so.

[Padalac]

I heard somewhere that for aroma it is better to let the hops get a bit brown before harvesting, or more precisely that hops are usually not that green at prime picking time for aroma, and picking them green can miss some aroma development. Maybe that's not always the case, but I think it explains why a lot of commercial hops are brown out of the packet.

[chivelegs]

I've found my homegrowns always turn a little brown as the lupulin turns the brightest yellow. May do two harvests next year, early and late to compare flavour.