Hop plants/rhizomes - growing report
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Just picked the last of the Cascade: 29 Sept. Was hoping for a warm spell to finish them off but it didn't come and they're starting to brown so had to get them in. Really poor crop of them this year, last year they were the best.
Still drying and bagging them all up but Challenger look like the clear winner this year, followed by Styrian Goldings, with Cascade bringing up the year. Good job I've still got a load of Cascade from last year, I used all the Challenger so good to have that available again.
Still drying and bagging them all up but Challenger look like the clear winner this year, followed by Styrian Goldings, with Cascade bringing up the year. Good job I've still got a load of Cascade from last year, I used all the Challenger so good to have that available again.
I have a single bine that arrived by itself 30 years ago, It was originally climbing up my greenhouse but when that fell down I moved it to a chimney pot at the base of a tall privet hedge. Not ideal, I know. This year it was badly neglected as I was working away but there are plenty of cones just out of reach.
My question is, can anyone identify the variety and advise when to harvest them? Thank you.
My question is, can anyone identify the variety and advise when to harvest them? Thank you.
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This should be of help, courtesy of @Northern_Brewer
Like most fruit trees etc, hops don't grow true from seed and so named varieties need to be propagated by cuttings etc. Random hops in a hedge will almost certainly have grown from seed and so won't be genetically identical to a named variety.
Also hops are notoriously variable in cone and leaf shape, so it's hard to identify random ones even if they are clones of named varieties. But the mature stems can give you some idea - the Goldings family tend to have green stems with red "pinstripes" or flecks, Fuggles have green stems with red leaf stalks. Hard to say, but it looks like you may have some pinstripe on yours?
It also depends on where you are in the country. There was a huge acreage grown in the Home Counties in the 1880s, but the industry collapsed soon after as pasteurisation meant fewer hops were needed for preservative purposes, so a lot of the genetic legacy of hops in these ex-hopgrowing areas is based on the big commercial varieties of the 19th century, which are not grown now for a good reason - things like Colgate, Grape and Tolhurst.
But as long as you pick them at the right time - you look like you've hit it just about right with the odd bit of brown on them, it seems to be an early year this year - then you should be able to make beer with them.
Ideally you don't want to dry them, use them fresh off the bine - but be aware that there's a very narrow window to use them at their best. Some of the Kent brewers won't use green hops more than 4 hours after picking, although outside Kent they'll go up to 12 hours. Otherwise dry them.
When to pick - when ripe and before they go all onion and garlic aroma-ed!
Again from N_B that's when they are no longer squishy but rustle between the fingers, and generally have one brown petal on one in 10 of the cones.
Down South here in Kent that time window is long past, they are brown and oniony in the hedgerow.
Looks like yours are probably right at the harvesting point now. Pick a couple and squeeze, rub and sniff to check.
Again from N_B that's when they are no longer squishy but rustle between the fingers, and generally have one brown petal on one in 10 of the cones.
Down South here in Kent that time window is long past, they are brown and oniony in the hedgerow.
Looks like yours are probably right at the harvesting point now. Pick a couple and squeeze, rub and sniff to check.
Thanks both for your informative replies. I'm on the Black Isle a couple of miles East of Inverness. The cone I picked this morning was still squishy but smelled good. I can't use them immediately so would you recommend drying in a low oven - I was thinking about freezing them.
Freezing - That's what I did with the first hops I harvested.
If they smell good, with stickyness from the hop oil in the rub, I wouldn't wait much longer.
The problem with wet hops can be space in the freezer.
Remember to use 5 - 7 times the weight if not dried.
There are many methods on this forum if you choose to dry them,
Low oven temp. is the best way there.
Still fridge or freezer them though.
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