Growing Hops At Home
Growing Hops At Home
by Greg Hawley
<hawley@vbe.com>
Why this page?
The 1996 growing season was my first year growing hops. This
page describes that experience. It isn't meant to be a
definitive guide, but to augment other broader
overviews with my personal, continuing experience. As the 1997
season unravels, I hope to add my second year's experience. Watch
this page for more details.
Another Note: This was saved on this site because it hasent been updated sence
1997
News and Updates
8/11/97: Added the Beginner's Harvesting
Tips section and Harvester's Results section.
Slightly modified the General
Harvesting Information
section. I have a bunch of analog photographs from the '97 growing
season that I hope to get on-line in the coming weeks (say by October).
Stay tuned.
Hop Rhizome Selection
Hops are started from rhizomes (root cuttings) which can only
be purchased in the
spring. I purchased my rhizomes from
Freshops.
Having read Using Hops I learned that European hops
grown in North America don't impart the same flavor and aroma profile
to the beer as they would if they were grown in their native regions
in Europe. This seems to be especially true of varieties like
Hallertauer and Saaz. Hops with the same genetics but grown in a
different environment
yield a different beer. As a result I choose three American varieties for my
hopyard: Willamette, Mt. Hood and Cascade. Just for fun, a coworker
who lives a mile away purchased Goldings (usually grown in East Kent). We
purchased our rhizomes on March 27th, 1996, and at that time all of the
varieties Freshops sold were in stock. Hops are typically available
from late-March through late-April.
Because most home hop growers do not have access to the lab equipment
needed to determine alpha acid content (a measure of bitterness),
authors advice the home growers to
stick to aroma and finishing hops.
Planting
Most sources say you can plant hop rhizomes as soon as the frost leaves
the ground. I live in Appleton which is in northeast Wisconsin. We are on
the edge between
USDA Hardiness Zones 4 and 5. While the frost had left the ground perhaps
two weeks earlier, I planted my hops on April 13, 1996.
Building A Trellis
The custom hops trellis.
This picture was taken on August 5, 1996.
While professional hop trellises made of telephone polls, aviation
cable and twine, every home situation is different. Since the chimney
on my house faces south (hops like as much sun as they can get), I made
a trellis that is attached to this chimney. Not wanting to put holes in
the metal flashing at the top of the chimney I attached two members to
the chimney with sub-floor construction adhesive. The trellis itself
was made of a lattice of thin strips (2" wide and about a 1/4" thick) ripped
for 2" x 4" x 8' dimensional lumber. I buried two pressure treated 4"
x 4" posts into the ground leaving the posts sticking out of the ground
2 feet, and secured the trellis to these posts. Since the trellis is
screwed to both the top members attached to the top of the chimney and
to the buried posts, the trellis is removable for the winter months
leaving only the 4" x 4" posts and the two top members riding out the
winter. The trellis was installed in mid-May. By that point, the
hop bines (no this is not a typo, hops technically grow on bines -- not
vines) were 2 to 3' tall. If I had waited any longer, I would have
been in trouble as by mid-May, the hops were growing an inch or two a
day!
The hop bines really didn't like climbing the trellis. When the
bine would come to the intersection in the lattices, the tip of the bine
had a hard time wrapping around the trellis strips. As a result, the
bine needed to be periodically trained onto the lattice. Also, because
the plants didn't grown straight up their respective parts of the
trellis, the plants became intertwined. At harvest time it became hard
to figure out which bracts were, for example, Mt. Hood and which were
Cascade. This year I will tie 3 pieces of twine to the top of the
trellis and force the three hop plants to climb their respective pieces
of twine.
On another experiment, we simply let the hop bine grow up a single
piece of rope (note: don't try to use wires or cables, they're too
slippery). In the end, this experiment worked fine, but not without
some trial and error. Initially, the rope was pulled taut from the top
of the chimney to the bottom in the ground, and the hop plants were
allowed to wrap onto the rope from the bottom. Unfortunately, after a
storm we realized that the rope contracted becoming shorter after it
became wet. The yard dog chain holder (available at a pet store near
you) holding the rope taut was pulled out of the ground, and the young
hop shoot was ripped in two. We quickly learned that the that a bungee
cord was needed between the chain holder and the rope and that the hops
shouldn't be trained onto the rope until there was enough slack in the
bines to keep them safe.
Growth
Even first year hop bines are gigantic. The picture on
the right is of the Goldings hop plant.
My general philosophy for growing hops involves six words: Miracle Grow,
Miracle Grow, Miracle Grow. Hops seem to need a lot of water. Every two days
I filled a 2 US gallon watering can with double strength miracle grow watering
my well mulched hop plants. The hop plants seemed strong all year and didn't
seem to mind being watered that much.
The bottom of the bine at harvest time was 9/16 inch in
diameter. When the plant is really in the peak of its growth stage,
even in the first year, the bine can add 6 inches in a single day. Each
day they make one wrap around their trellis or rope following the sun
from east to west.
Pests
Hops harbor a whole host of pests. I had a limited infestation with
what I believed were hop aphids. Since I didn't discover them until
harvest time, I simply made sure that I checked the hops I harvested
for aphids. Since this is a really time-consuming process, next year
I'll be more alert and check early and take aggressive action.
It almost goes without saying that if you're in an area where hops
are grown by professional growers and you find problems, you will want
to notify others. Since I'm in Northeastern Wisconsin, that just isn't
a problem.
Harvesting
General Harvesting Information
Hops almost ready to pick. This picture was taken
on August 5, 1996.
About two weeks before hop plants produce recognizable bracts, hops
flower. These flowers don't look like flowers but more like burrs that you'd
find stuck to your socks after walking in a field during the fall.
Hops are plentiful at
the harvest!
Reading material about when to harvest and translating that printed
advice into a decision of whether to harvest was tough. Two general
rules of thumb seem to loosely indicate that hops are ready for
harvesting: the hop bracts become papery and the lupilin glands turn
bright yellow. These rules are helpful, but I was left trying to
answer two questions: how papery is papery and how bright yellow is
bright yellow. As the season evolves it becomes easy to notice when
hops are just past their peak. Left to their own, hop bracts will
naturally turn brown long before the first frost. I found that when some
of the hops just start to turn brown at the tips of their bracts and a
very small fraction have some brown spots, this is the time to harvest.
Beginner's Harvesting Tips
If you're anything like me, you'll
be impatient to begin harvesting. Resist this temptation! If you
harvest too soon, your hops won't have the potency you would expect.
Watch your hop plants. When just a couple of the bracts (say a
dozen) have a bracteole (leaf) tips just turning brown, pick about a
third of the hops. Then, 5 to 7 days later go back and do the same.
Though don't wait until the hops turn brown before you pick them.
Use the bracteole tip color more as a guide than the 5 to 7 day rule.
You should get three or four harvesting
sessions. By picking in sessions as a beginner, you'll gain two
advantages. First, you'll pick hops as they rippen to their fullest.
Second, you'll get a chance to see hops as they rippen. Leave a
few hops on the vine. Watch them as they rippen and then go bad.
Use this knowledge and experience to learn better when your hops
have matured.
I made several harvests that are shown in the table below.
Drying
Hops drying on a screen. I borrowed an unused window
screen and placed the hops on it to dry. As I read the available
literature I was a little more than confused about what to expect while
drying my hops. Some say that hops can be dried in an attic in a day.
Others claim in takes several days. This, of course, depends a lot on
the climate in which they are dried. Here in Northeast Wisconsin, it
took between ten days and two weeks to dry my hops. The key to knowing
when hops are dried is how they break apart when split. Hold the top
of a hop bract between the thumb and forefinger of one and hand and the
bottom of the hop bract between the thumb and forefinger of the other
hand, then flex the bract in a motion similar to what you might do if
you were trying to break a pencil in half. The inner part of the
bract, the strig, should break -- not bend -- when the hop is flexed
with. If the hops don't break apart, they're not ready.
Another way hops can be judged dry is by weight. Some authors
claim that the final weight of you're hops should be about one tenth
of their initial weight. Other authors say less. My experience
indicates that a value between one fifth and one sixth is more likely.
(e.g.: 100 grams initial weight yields 17 to 20 grams of dry weight).
Once the hops were removed from the attic where they dried, I sat
them in my cool basement letting the moisture level in the hops come to
equilibrium. Arbitrarily I let them sit about five days. The reasons
for doing this are less than clear, but some say it helps remove some
of the greener, grassier tones from your hops.
Storing
Hops in a Canning Jar. Once the hops have been properly
dried, I placed them into a canning jar. Authors caution not to compress
the hops too much. By overly compressing the hops, the lupulin
glands are easily knocked loose. I found that this happened
surprisingly easily. Nevertheless, I tired to fit an ounce or so of
dried hops into each jar. An ounce and a half is probably, however,
too much to attempt to fit into a 1 pint (500 mL) wide-mouthed canning jar.
After stuffing the dried hops into jars, they are placed into
our chest freezer. There they sit at about -5 degrees Fahrenheit (-20
degrees Celsius).
Using Your Hops
Use your dried hops just like you'd use hops from any other source.
You may, however, be surprised how much fresher your hops will be when
compared to those you buy from your other sources. Take the hops you
buy from your home-brew store or mail-order catalog -- compare their aroma
to that of your home-grown hops. I was amazed at how much fresher mine
were!
I have used my home-grown hops on several batches. In some cases, I
have noticed hay-like tones evolving from the brew kettle after
pitching my home-grown hops. The first time this happened I was
very concerned, but any off aromas seem to ultimately boil off.
By the time I drank these beers all was fine. With good results, I
have also dry-hopped home-grown hops.
Preparing for Winter
Preparing for winter isn't much of a big deal. At your leisure, cut
the bine down to an inch or so above the ground. If you cut your bines
just after you harvest (and there's nothing wrong with doing this), we
found that the bine will sprout new shoots. After the first stiff
frost comes, do, however, make sure that all these shoots are removed.
Some say you can bury the thick, main bines in a shallow trench over the
winter to use for rhizomes the next year. Since I don't have much room
for more hops I didn't try this. I did mulch the area
with about six inches of straw.
Greg's 1996 Harvest Log
Date
| Event
|
8/14/96
| Chopped down the Goldings bine (23' long, 7/16" in diameter
at the base. 177 gr. wet hops. Begin drying them in my
garage attic.
|
8/14/96
| Picked 224 gr. of Mt. Hood/Cascade Blend from my trellis.
|
8/16/96
| Picked 125 gr. of Mt. Hood/Cascade blend from my trellis.
|
8/22/96
| After days in the mid-70's to mid-80's, 50% cloudy removed
Goldings from drying. Final weight 36 gr. (20% of
original weight. Despite that, strigs weren't entirely
brittle. Packing in one wide mouth pint canning jar,
closed & left in basement at 68 degrees for 5 - 10 days.
|
8/25/96
| 190 gr. of Mt. Hood / Cascade mix picked. Hop aphids
appeared in a small number of cones on right side of trellis.
|
8/29/96
| Put 8/14 Goldings in Freezer, 8/14 Mt. Hood and 8/16 Mt. Hood
now have brittle strings. 8/14 final weight = 37 grams,
8/16 final weight = 22 grams. Both batches put in the
basement. 90 gr of Mt. Hood/Cascade/Willamette picked.
Last harvest. Some have gone past ripe.
|
9/5/96
| Froze 8/14 and 8/16 hops - both have hay like aroma - picked
too early? Nevertheless, crushed cones still smell right.
Removed 8/25 from attic (36gr = final weight).
|
9/12/96
| Use 1/4 ounce in Belgian Abbey Ale (of 8/14). Order of
magnitude fresher than what I normally buy.
|
9/15/96
| Chopped down most of hop vine.
|
9/17/97
| Froze 8/25 and 8/29 hops.
|
Greg's 1997 Growing Log
Date
| Event
|
3/5/97
| After a spring thaw, two of the three plants have small
numbs of growth near the end where last year's bines
were cut down!
|
4/17/97
| All 3 plants have many budding new bines. Some are up
to 2 inches tall!
|
4/23/97
| 20 chutes on the Cascade plant, 13 on the Mt. Hood
and 14 on the Willamette. The longest is 3 inches.
|
4/25/97
| Cut back some of the shoots (5 or 6) from each plant.
|
5/3/97
| Installed the hop trellis for the year. The longest
vine is about 16 inches tall. The trellis definately
couldn't have waited until next weekend.
|
5/6/97
| Between the 3 plants, I have cut back between 40
and 50 small shoots.
|
5/19/97
| Tallest plant is 44 inches (1.1 m). Shortest plant
is 26 inches (0.75 m) tall.
|
5/21/97
| Despite repeated frosts in the last 10 days (like last night),
the bines keep growing.
|
6/8/97
| The longest vines are now 8-10 feet tall. Lateral grown at
the bottom is growing strong.
|
7/4/97
| The Mt. Hood bines have just started to show burrs. This
is the start of the formation of hops.
|
8/11/97
| The Cascade hops are very near to being ready for harvest.
Tomorrow it will probably rain. On Wednesday I think I'll
make my first harvest.
|
9/8/97
| Yesterday I put the last dried hops in jars and put them
in the freezer. Total: 21 1/3 ounces dried weight!
|
Other Harvester's Results
If you grow hops and are willing to share yield results,
send me information
on your harvest!
Name/Email
| Variety
| Growing Year
| Number of Plants/Rhizomes
| Age of Plants (years)
| "Wet" Weight
| "Dry" Weight
| Comments
|
Greg Hawley hawley@vbe.com
| Mt. Hood/Willamette/Cascade/Goldings
| 1996
| 4
| 1st year
| 25 oz. (716 gr.)
| 5 1/3 oz. (151 gr.)
| Combined Data for 4 plants.
|
Greg Hawley hawley@vbe.com
| Mt. Hood
| 1997
| 1
| 2nd year
| 11 1/2 oz. (335 gr.)
| 2 1/2 oz. (69 gr.)
|
|
Greg Hawley hawley@vbe.com
| Willamette
| 1997
| 1
| 2nd year
| 34 1/2 oz. (984 gr.)
| 6 3/4 oz. (69 gr.)
|
|
Greg Hawley hawley@vbe.com
| Cascade
| 1997
| 1
| 2nd year
| 60 2/3 oz. (1729 gr.)
| 12 oz. (345 gr.)
|
|
Suggestions or comments? Mail
the author.
File: ~hawley/hops.htm
Last Modified: (3/01/05)
Over the last few years I would find a web site that I really liked only to find that either the author died, changed host,
loose interest or just plain forgot about it.
and it would disappear off the face of the earth. So... with not to many adjustments I have put some of these pages (ones
which I deem useful) on my site. This is purely as reference material. I have not received a monetary benefit in any form.
This way I know as long as I live, keep my host, have interest and don't get too old to forgot about it. This web site and
others like it will stay alive. CAH