Hop Growing 2009

If you have a hop related question about International Bittering Units or alpha acid, post it here!
Post Reply
Subsonic

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by Subsonic » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:25 pm

Excellent reading! Nice to see you have chickens there as well. My first lot of Kent hops are going to go into an IPA, I can't wait! Subsonic.

fivetide

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by fivetide » Tue Sep 08, 2009 1:39 pm

Thanks - do you know that despite the varieties I chose to grow and the ones I buy from online HBS all over the world for the few brews I do, my favourite hops are still East Kent Goldings? I should get a plant, really.

I really don't think you can beat a good English ale made simply using two-row barley, Fuggles and EKG.

mysterio

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by mysterio » Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:36 pm

fivetide wrote:Thanks - do you know that despite the varieties I chose to grow and the ones I buy from online HBS all over the world for the few brews I do, my favourite hops are still East Kent Goldings? I should get a plant, really.

I really don't think you can beat a good English ale made simply using two-row barley, Fuggles and EKG.
Here here =D>

User avatar
Oggy' Bar
Hollow Legs
Posts: 367
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:03 pm
Location: Near lancaster

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by Oggy' Bar » Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:40 pm

mysterio wrote:
fivetide wrote:Thanks - do you know that despite the varieties I chose to grow and the ones I buy from online HBS all over the world for the few brews I do, my favourite hops are still East Kent Goldings? I should get a plant, really.

I really don't think you can beat a good English ale made simply using two-row barley, Fuggles and EKG.
Here here =D>

and here...without doubt.....I always have a cornie on tap for when I get fed up with some of my American flavoured ales. :D

beers_great

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by beers_great » Thu Sep 10, 2009 9:51 am

Hi,
I have picked my Primma Donna (first Gold) hops and got about 20 litres. I have spread out two layers of kitchen towel on the dinning room table, spread the hops out on that and put a fan and dehumidifier next to the table.

The thing that worries me is that I have a huge number of insects on them. I have crawlers, aphids, worms and catterpillers. :shock: I have used a strong light and rolled the hops again and again on the table to fiond and kill the little blighters and Iam happy that I have got most of them, but Im a little worried that I may add a new ingrediant to my beers when I eventually use the hops. Its difficult to tell if you have them all because they are right in deep in the cones. If these were veggies Id just wash them, but obviously I dont want to do that. :(

Does any one else have this problem or have I been unlucky?

Any suggestions on how to get rid of them?

Cheers

fivetide

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by fivetide » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:59 am

I haven't had this problem. Flies and aphids on the bines earlier in the summer, but not on the harvested cones. Very odd. Caterpillars? Ug.

But as far as the beer is concerned, I wouldn't worry too much. You can skim from the boiler!

User avatar
OldSpeckledBadger
Under the Table
Posts: 1477
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:31 pm
Location: South Staffordshire

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by OldSpeckledBadger » Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:33 pm

Look on the insects as yeast nutrient and you'll be fine :D
Best wishes

OldSpeckledBadger

Subsonic

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by Subsonic » Thu Sep 10, 2009 8:05 pm

I finally finished my picking. The single bine at the back of the farmers house produced 900g so all in I think I got 3.8Kg of Fuggles for nought. I could eaasily have doubled that but I think I will be ok. The drying results in a huge weight loss, my 600g the other day dropping to 200 so its pretty much a third weight loss for me. Colour changes a lot too, the shop bought hops being nice and green. My fuggles were a lovely line green but soon turned to a much browner colour even though they are out of the sun. Comparison here of todays picking versus Tuesdays http://picasaweb.google.com/subsonic40g ... 4176111378 The old farmers were really happy to see me picking and I promised them a few bottles of IPA made with their hops for the first day of their shoot and they were well chuffed. If anyone is near Gravesend Kent and wanted some locations I would be happy to share, theirs far too much for me to use and it is roadside so free for all. Subsonic.

User avatar
Oggy' Bar
Hollow Legs
Posts: 367
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 10:03 pm
Location: Near lancaster

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by Oggy' Bar » Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:59 pm

My bines have done terrible this year. My established bines got off to a flying start in the early spring, I would say I had about 10X the mass of bines I had last year and up until June they were prospering....I was in for a bumber crop :=P ...Unfortunately the aphids seemed to take over almost overnight and now it is obvious they decimated the side-shoots...the ones that produce the hop cones. I will be lucky if I get 100g off what should have been a 1kg crop.

My this years bines have done slightly better...though still grossly affected by aphids. I'll maybe get a couple of hundred grams off these. Will be harvesting this week-end. I'd like to have an answer to this problem for next year.

On a positive note the local pub owner has donated his hops to me...Apparently the pub brewed its own ale up to about 1910 (possibly shortly after) and the hop bines remain from then. There was a maltings in the next village (2 miles away) and I daresay the original barley was locally grown as many of the villages nearby had mills....So i might do some research and try and recreate a local brew (1910)

Any suggestions gratefully received.

SiHoltye

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by SiHoltye » Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:14 am

Nasturtiums are supposed to help deter Aphids. When I move my First Gold hop shortly I'm planting a bed of these around it. They look quite pretty too and self seed year on year so no maintainance. As to how effective they are I have no experience, just read this somewhere.

Chiltern Brewer

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by Chiltern Brewer » Sun Sep 13, 2009 12:41 pm

Subsonic wrote:... Colour changes a lot too, the shop bought hops being nice and green. My fuggles were a lovely line green but soon turned to a much browner colour even though they are out of the sun. Comparison here of todays picking versus Tuesdays http://picasaweb.google.com/subsonic40g ... 4176111378
I've had hops go brown like that when they were either picked slightly damp or I didn't get the drying right. They went "cheesy" in storage and I had to put them on the compost! :( I've learnt my lesson - only pick the best hops and have a good method for drying the amount you are going to pick - see below.
Oggy' Bar wrote:My this years bines have done slightly better...though still grossly affected by aphids. I'll maybe get a couple of hundred grams off these. Will be harvesting this week-end. I'd like to have an answer to this problem for next year.
Aphids/green fly were bad back in June. I had marigolds planted around my hops this year which is suppose to attract predators (lacewings, ladybirds) and crucially I sprayed a weak soap solution (a few teaspoons of washing up liquid per litre of water) onto the underside of the leaves a couple of times over a period of a few weeks. This "knocked them on the head" so to speak (actually it suffocates the little blighters apparently :twisted: ).

Anyway, here's an update on my harvest.

Cobb Golding and first year Fuggle:

Image
click for larger image

There weren't a significant number of hops on the Fuggle, I think it got a bit shaded out by the Golding which is covering four fence panels.

Hop drying frame with second tier:

Image

A single layer of hop cones (Challenger on top, Cobb Golding below) on each tier results in efficient drying. It also allows the "creepy crawlies" to escape. I transfer to newspaper hop pockets after a few days. If you are using the hop pockets as your primary method of drying (i.e. you are putting in wet/green hops) only fill them a third full or otherwise the hops can get "sweaty".

For drying small amounts (e.g. my crop of Prima Donna) I've used the same fly screen material used on my drying frames to make some drying pockets:

Image

I've picked more hops over the last few days while the weather has been good. What hops are left on the bines have started to brown so I'm probably done for this year.

delboy

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by delboy » Sun Sep 13, 2009 1:53 pm

Ok so the hop harvest is nearly over for the guys living in the balmy south, I was wondering how people up north are getting on with theirs? My own cones (first gold) are still on the small side and look like they have a way to go yet, hopefully this little bit of good weather (N.I for once getting the best of it) will ripen them up pretty quick.

grumpysod

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by grumpysod » Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:45 pm

delboy wrote:Ok so the hop harvest is nearly over for the guys living in the balmy south, I was wondering how people up north are getting on with theirs? My own cones (first gold) are still on the small side and look like they have a way to go yet, hopefully this little bit of good weather (N.I for once getting the best of it) will ripen them up pretty quick.
del, don't worry, one of my bines has only started to flower, one has about 5 cones, the biggest plant has 2 bines, one of which has absolutely nothing and the other bine on it is laden and about 2 weeks away from harvest. It looks like a worse harvest than I had last year when they were just planted :(

User avatar
Hogarth
Under the Table
Posts: 1793
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:30 am
Location: Brixton, London

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by Hogarth » Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:50 pm

My entire hop harvest -- 100g of fuggles -- in the airing cupboard:

Image

Should go nicely in my Christmas porter.

softlad

Re: Hop Growing 2009

Post by softlad » Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:57 pm

I've just picked my hops from first year bines. Ive got a handful of cones from my Northdown and a reasonable crop from WGV and Fuggle. My Challenger never looked strong and hasnt grown so I'll be replacing that with another plant later this year. I think I'll have enough hops for a couple of beers so I'm happy with that.

Theyre all drying out on the improvised hop drying table, soon to be put into newspaper envelopes.

Post Reply