Almost ready to pick!

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

My home grown hops are almost ready to pick!
Does anyone have any advice on how and when?
Also, how to dry them or use wet?

stevey · Aug 25, 2015

Wow, nice. How tall have they grown?

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

Only 2 - 2.5 metres, it's a dwarf variety called golden tassels.
It's either good for brewing or not good for brewing depending on which source you read. I picked it up in a plant fair and was assured it was good for brewing with! Bloody hope so, been nursing this baby for months!

HebridesRob · Aug 25, 2015

Isn't it normal to get people to come and pick your hops by offering a free holiday?

stevej · Aug 25, 2015

Sod picking them just send me some :lol:

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

Well if you want a free holiday in this area of Cardiff you're welcome my friend, don't forget to pack your knuckle dusters and mace!
Oh and given how many I have to harvest, I reckon you could take about 4 grams back with you.
Bring some beer ;-)

stevej · Aug 25, 2015

Its interesting though, what sort of weight of hops do you think you will get

ManseMasher · Aug 25, 2015

http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.3/montell.html

Have a read of this.

HebridesRob · Aug 25, 2015

TheRedDarren said:
Well if you want a free holiday in this area of Cardiff you're welcome my friend, don't forget to pack your knuckle dusters and mace!
Oh and given how many I have to harvest, I reckon you could take about 4 grams back with you.
Bring some beer ;-)

Mate. I lived in Canton for 30 years & Fairwater for 15 (The rest in Talbot Green, hehe). I'll still pass though.

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

stevej said:
Its interesting though, what sort of weight of hops do you think you will get

Really difficult to say mate, 250g if I'm lucky? But I really can't be accurate. I'm just hoping for 100g or so (dried, obviously) for a nice hoppy SMaSH.

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

ManseMasher said:
http://morebeer.com/brewingtechniques/library/backissues/issue2.3/montell.html

Have a read of this.

Thanks MM, very interesting.

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

HebridesRob said:
Mate. I lived in Canton for 30 years & Fairwater for 15 (The rest in Talbot Green, hehe). I'll still pass though.

Ah mate, Canton is a nice place.
I'm in deepest, darkest Splott.
A fine locale for urban wildlife ;-)
Of the human kind...

LarryF · Aug 25, 2015

Really nice Darren, they look lovely. You'll have to do a brew using just them and let us know how it comes out.

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

LarryF said:
Really nice Darren, they look lovely. You'll have to do a brew using just them and let us know how it comes out.

Will do fella

jceg316 · Aug 25, 2015

I'm growing a cascade, saaz and fuggles. The latter 2 have started to flower but saaz has been a bit poorly throughout the year. They are all in their first year.

Pick them when the cones feel papery, I found this page is quite useful too http://www.irishsourbeers.com/2015/02/growing-hops-in-ireland-faq.html?m=1.

My sister lives in Cardiff, there are some great drinking spots round there now. I went to the hop bunker last time, a great place to get a pint or two.

TheRedDarren · Aug 25, 2015

jceg316 said:
I'm growing a cascade, saaz and fuggles. The latter 2 have started to flower but saaz has been a bit poorly throughout the year. They are all in their first year.

Pick them when the cones feel papery, I found this page is quite useful too http://www.irishsourbeers.com/2015/02/growing-hops-in-ireland-faq.html?m=1.

My sister lives in Cardiff, there are some great drinking spots round there now. I went to the hop bunker last time, a great place to get a pint or two.

Yea we are blessed with quite a few 'craft beer' bars now.
Hopbunker is a nice, if unusual one.
Urban tap house is great, and they've just won beer of the year too.

johnnyboy1965 · Aug 26, 2015

To check if theyre ready to pick, peel back the leaves of a cone and look for a yellow dust. This is the lupulin glands (the stuff that we want). I doubt if they are ready yet (weather etc). Here in the West Mids they will be at least another 3-4 weeks, maybe more.
Harvesting......
Cut the whole bine down to 6 inches above the ground, drag this onto a large piece of polythene. Pick the cones of by hand (you might want to wear plastic food handlers gloves for this, the bines are not sharp but do tend to irritate your hands).
Drying......A quick trip to your local greengrocers and ask for a mushroom punit (they are about 18 x 12 inches, plastic, mesh type baskets, Im sure they will give you one).
Line this basket with news paper and place your hops in it. Put this tray in a warm dry place (airing cupboard is ideal). When you dry them you are looking for 25% of the wet weight. eg....100g wet = 25g dry.
Any Q`s just ask. HTH Johnnyboy.

TheRedDarren · Aug 26, 2015

johnnyboy1965 said:
To check if theyre ready to pick, peel back the leaves of a cone and look for a yellow dust. This is the lupulin glands (the stuff that we want). I doubt if they are ready yet (weather etc). Here in the West Mids they will be at least another 3-4 weeks, maybe more.
Harvesting......
Cut the whole bine down to 6 inches above the ground, drag this onto a large piece of polythene. Pick the cones of by hand (you might want to wear plastic food handlers gloves for this, the bines are not sharp but do tend to irritate your hands).
Drying......A quick trip to your local greengrocers and ask for a mushroom punit (they are about 18 x 12 inches, plastic, mesh type baskets, Im sure they will give you one).
Line this basket with news paper and place your hops in it. Put this tray in a warm dry place (airing cupboard is ideal). When you dry them you are looking for 25% of the wet weight. eg....100g wet = 25g dry.
Any Q`s just ask. HTH Johnnyboy.

Ah thanks for that fella!
Great answer. I shall go and check then in a bit. Do you grow any?

Tony1951 · Aug 26, 2015

Those hops look great. I'm going to grow some next year. Look forward to an update on how they brew up.

TheRedDarren · Aug 26, 2015

Just had a look under a few scales and there is some lupulin there :-)
I've heard this variety goes bronze when ready and a few are just starting to turn so I'll wait a bit.
Is there a way to gauge the aa?
I was thinking to boil a quantity for an hour along side two or three other varieties of known aa, and compare by taste?

Almost ready to pick!

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