Almost time for the hop harvest
Monday, August 17th, 2009It is almost that time of year – the hops harvest! For us, Centennial, Mt. Hood and Hallertau are almost ready. Nugget is not yet ready.
Harvesting and storing hops:
- It is time to pick when the petals on the cones just start fading to brown.
- The vines can be cut down to the base and composted. Vines can also be buried to propagate the plant for next year.
- The cones must be dried before packaging. Make sure not to mix up the varieties. A low budget solution is to setup a drying rack made from an old screen and saw horses. Leave them from 2 days in a protected area like the garage. A food dehydrator works too, and much faster.
- When dry and ready for packaging, the cones will open up some.
- Then it is time to vacuum seal. Store the sealed bags, labeled, in a freezer, where they will keep for years.
2 Responses to “Almost time for the hop harvest”
This might sound crazy, but, I have a hop plant growing on a farm I bought 32 years ago. There had long been a stump near the edge of the back yard, by some lilac bushes. I noticed a vine there for years and years and it generally was mowed. One day, wife decides she wants a trellis. I make one from rebar, put it by the vine and well, it grows the past two years, a big hop plant. I guess it from the date of the founding of this place, around 1919. Someone said an old hop plant makes good beer. I don’t know. Know anyone who would want this years fruit? These are still green, but will probabaly dry out again. Myeager2@aol.com ps: first ‘hop site i came to
By Mike Yeager on Sep 21, 2009
We’d be happy to try it out! Depending on the shape and smell of the cones we might be able to hazard a guess on the variety. What you will want to do is pick the cones as some of them just begin to start turning yellow on the edges. Spread them out on a screen, and let them dry for two days. If you have a vacuum sealer that is the best way to preserve them. Put them in the freezer after sealing. You might also be interested to know that 1 pound of hops sells for about $10 right now bulk, as much as $32 / pound retail if packaged in 2oz quantities.
So, where are you Mike? We have folks in Oregon and Colorado.
By admin on Sep 21, 2009