Hop Flavor

Golding Hop 'Crown'

2010-03-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

Haven't posted in quite a while but hope to do better this year. Below is a picture of a 1 year old golding hop crown that I started from a rhizome I created using the trench method. Click here to go to rhizome blog post.

Stay tuned for pics of rhizomes I cut from the main crowns of my centennial and cascade plants!

Hops Update - June 23

2009-06-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

A quick (and late) update with a few pictures. The plants are still growing strong and the cascades are putting on more cones. They have also started to send out horizontal shoots which I hope will fill up with even more cones! The goldings is looking strong for its second year and I hope that I will be able to get some cones from it this year. The centennials have started to put on cones as well, although they are several weeks behind the cascades.

Cascades (left), Cascade Cones (center), New Cascade (right):

Goldings (left) and Centennials (right):

Hops Update - June 19

2009-06-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

This update is just a few pictures to keep visual track of changes. All of the hops are doing well and the second year cascades are really starting to put on a lot of cones!

Hops Update - June 12

2009-06-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally catching up with posts for this year with this somewhat recent update on the hops progress. All the plants are doing very well, but at different stages due to variety and how aggressive I was when trimming early in the season. The picture to the right is of the entire hop garden, strung on the new hop trellis, and as of yet I haven't received any complaints from the neighbors!

The goldings plants I started new this year (left) are healthy, but as my first year golding last season, I don't expect to get any cones off of these plants this year. I plan on experimenting with trimming them, keeping a few to only 2 strong bines, and letting the others go with up to 6. Then next season, I can see if there is any noticeable difference in the strength and viability of the second year plants.

The early season growth for the 2 centennial plants was crazy, with each of the hop mounds looking like thick bushes. Each plant shot bines out everywhere which caused me to be more aggressive with trimming them back in April. Therefore, they (right) are a little behind the cascades but doing very well. With any luck, one of them will have bines topping the new trellis before my next post!

The cascades are rocking along. As you can see from the picture on the left, one of them has already expanded several bines along the top trellis string. Those bines are now over 15 ft in length! The other second year cascade is close behind and the new cascade while small, looks strong and should produce well next year. Oh, the 2 second year cascades are already putting on cones (right)!

Hops Update - May 30

2009-06-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of pictures of the cascades just a few days after getting the new trellis completed....yeah, they are topping the NEW trellis!

New Hop Trellis

2009-06-13T08:34:00.001-07:00

My first hop trellis was only about 7-8 feet tall, and by the end of last year's season, most of my first year plants had overgrown the trellis. So, I decided that the trellis needed to be taller and just hoped my neighbors wouldn't complain! So, what to do for the new trellis and keep from spending a lot of $$$?

I was able to get some 8ft lengths of 1 ¼ inch boiler steam pipe from my dad along with a length of pipe that fit just over the the outside of the 1 ¼ pipe. That allowed me to take two 8ft lengths of pipe and weld them together to total 16ft tall, using the over sized pipe to provide strength. The picture on the left, shows the section of one of the pipes after being welded together. Each of these pipes was sunk into the ground 2 ½ ft, making the new trellis 13 ½ ft tall. The picture on the right shows one of the new pipes next to the old trellis showing how much taller it is.

I made caps to go on top of each of the 4 pipes I used for the trellis. I cut short lengths of the over sized pipe, welded plate over the top of one end and then drilled and installed large eye hooks. The caps had 2 purposes, provide a place to string trellis line and to keep water out of the pipes. Needless to say, it was a bit unnerving stringing all of the lines. Since the caps were 13 ½ ft off the ground, I had to stand on the top rungs of an a frame ladder to barely reach.

My helpers chillin out on the roof of the shed!

Hops Update - May 23

2009-05-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend left me with a lot of work to get done, some of which I still have yet to do! The big agenda items were weeding the vegetable garden and working on the new hop trellis. As you can see from the picture of the cascades (left), the 8 foot trellis from last year was not going to cut it! Only 2/3 the way through May and multiple bines already wandering the top and twisting themselves together. New trellis....next post!

The new Goldings plants (right) are doing very well. I'm not sure that there will be any cones to harvest from them this year, but they are growing and will come back strong next year. For experimenting with creating new rhizomes from first year plants, I'm very happy with the results!

Hops Update - April 2009

2009-05-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

The beginning of this year's hop season has seen me traveling every week, so tending to the hop garden and updating the blog just didn't get done! Here are some early pictures of the plants from the latter part of April.

Cascade 1 (left) and Cascade 2 (right):

New Cascade from rhizome (left) and Goldings (right):

Centennial 1 (left) and Centennial 2 (right):

Cascade Rhizome Update

2009-03-23T20:30:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update on the cascade rhizome survival. When I cut it from the crown the beginning of the month, I was very interested to see how it would do no longer attached to the main plant for sustenance. As you can see from the pictures, it has done very well and looks as though it will fulfill its purpose, to replace the cascade plant I lost last year due to storms.

When measured this past weekend, there were approximately 10 shoots showing, with one of them about 3 feet tall! Now the decision is whether or not to separate the rhizome into a few different rhizomes before planting in the hop garden. If all goes well, I'll have to make that decision this coming weekend and get this thing planted.

Next on the to-do list, is to build a new hop trellis to support the expanded garden, and provide more room for the hops to grow vertically.

Grow-Hops Yahoo Group

2009-03-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

After posting today about my rhizome experiment, I got a comment from Bill Velek, the curator of the Grow Hops Yahoo Group. The last time I posted about the Grow-Hops Yahoo group, it was associated with my posting about the hop plugger I built based on discussions from the group.

If your new to hop growing or home brewing, or just want more information regarding the 2 hobbies, check out the Grow-Hops Portal for a wealth of information, and all if it from other home brewers and hop growers!

Rhizome Experiments - Successes & Failures

2009-03-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Spring is here, well it's trying anyway! Here in Oklahoma, we had days with highs in the 70s and low 80s, and a few days later it was snowing! This past weekend provided mild temperatures in the 50s with sunshine, perfect weather for spending time in the yard.

I decided to spend time pulling weeds from the hop garden and checking for rhizomes I tried to create. Admittedly, I had both success and failure but know how to make more rhizomes for next year. First, let's cover the success!

I was able to successfully create rhizomes in 2 ways:

1. During the growing season, take a bine that is growing above ground and bury a portion of it, leaving the tip above ground and allowing it to continue growing.

2. At the end of the season, leave a small amount of the lower bine attached to the crown and cover it with dirt. The buried bine needs to be healthy and approximately the same diameter as a dime at a minimum.

If you are planning on trying to create rhizomes during the growing season, it is best to get a start early in the season. The pictures below are of 2 rhizomes I created from my Goldings plant. The picture on the left is a bine that I buried early in the season, and was one I had growing up my main trellis. The picture on the right, is a bine I let grow to about 2 feet later in the growing season and buried it. I suspect they are both going to produce plants, but the diameter of the rhizome planted earlier in the season is about twice as large, and as you can see already has a more established root structure.

As for the failures....

I had several plants that I left lower bines attached and covered. In most instances, the bines I covered were small in diameter and they just did not produce any rhizomes. I also tried just taking cut bines and burying them in a trench. This did not produce any rhizomes either. I may try this trench method again this next year with larger diameter bines to see if it makes a difference.

Cascade Rhizome!!!

2009-03-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I couldn't stand not knowing what that growth was from. I was hoping it was due to my attempt to create some rhizomes to replace the cascade I lost due to storms last year, and to start new plants. If it survives.....

Using a small stick, I gently started digging away at the hop mound. I couldn't remember exactly how I had left the crown on this and didn't want to damage any of the plant. After about five minutes of labor, here is what I found:

This plant at the end of last season had one main bine with several offshoots as you can see. The main bine heading down into the ground is right at the center of the picture, so everything you see is the resulting rhizome!

So I trimmed the rhizome right at ground level and carefully replaced all the dirt mound on top of the remaining plant. The trimmed rhizome was then taken inside for a few more pictures and a replanting in a hanging basket for some pampering. Here's hoping it survives and I can plant it out in the garden at the end of March!

Here are a few more pictures of the rhizome:

2009 - Hops Coming Back!!!

2009-02-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

I was up late last night working and caught the most recent episode of Basic Brewing Radio talking about top cropping yeast from a carboy. During the outro, James indicated that hops were starting to poke out of the ground in Arkansas, and since I live only a few hours away, I wondered about my hops. So I went out today and checked, and one of my cascade mounds is showing signs of life already!

This is one of the plants that I left some of the bottom bines attached to the crown, wrapped them in a coil and covered with dirt. This weekend I'll probably unearth the top of the mound and see where the growth is coming from. If it is from the coiled bines, I'll probably trim the 'rhizome' and transplant to replace the cascade plant I lost last year.

Election Day IPA - beer review

2009-01-22T21:30:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's been a LONG time since I've posted, and honestly the keg of IPA is long gone. All in all it was a very good beer if I can say so. As most beers go, serving too cold did not do this beer justice. As it warmed up a bit, it had an amazing nose of grapefruit and orange. As you can see from the picture, I like my IPAs on the darker side of the style, with a good malt backbone and a lot of hops. This beer needed a little more mouthfeel, so next time I'm planning on mashing @ 156F instead of the 153F I ended up with during this brew.

I did want some constructive criticism on this beer so I entered it in the AHA Club Only Competition with my local homebrew club FOAM. It did not win out against the other brews submitted by fellow club members to get submitted for the national judging, but I did get some BJCP score sheets back! Average score of 31/50 wasn't bad for my first beer ever reviewed and brewed with homegrown hops to boot!

Election Day IPA - aka The Hop Bomb

2008-11-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Well, the first brew with homegrown hops is now in the keg...and a few bottles. I've decided to call it 'Election Day IPA' since it was kegged on election day. With the aggressive hopping of this beer, my nose was flooded with the aroma of grapefruit, causing my mouth to water during kegging/bottling.

When ready to consume, I'll post a picture of a pint and provide a general beer review. I'm not a certified beer judge, but am really looking forward to finding out if the homegrown hops taste good!

Hop Garden - End of Season

2008-10-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

After the last harvest, I left the plants to soak up as much sun as possible. Here in Oklahoma, the nights have started getting down to the low 50s so I decided it was time to trim back the plants and get ready for winter. I decided to experiment a bit to see if I could propagate some rhizomes for planting/exchange next spring. I decided to try 2 things, leave some bines connected to the crown and bury them, and trim some completely from the plant and bury them in a trench. I was told the latter wouldn't work, but hey it was worth a shot.

To start, I stripped all of the plants of foliage from the top, leaving the lower bines connected to the crown. The picture on the left is one of the centennial plants stripped. For the bines left connected to the crown, I created a coil around the main stem coming out of the ground (right). That coil was then covered with fresh dirt (lower left). I'm hoping that this will allow these bines to continue to be supported by the crown, but start to grow some rootlets.

The picture lower right is of the centennial bines I buried in a trench at the back of my hop garden. I just took some long bine sections from the lower part of the plant, dug a trench a few inches deep and then placed the bines in there. In the spring, I'll dig up the trench and see if the bines are still alive or whether they have died. Either way, I will not have lost anything!

Within the next few weeks, I'll be covering the entire hop garden in a blanket of leaves raked from the yard. These will help to provide a blanket over the winter and will be easy to remove in the spring. After harvesting rhizomes in the spring, I will put down a more permanent mulch.

The Hop Bomb - Active Fermentation!

2008-10-19T13:22:00.001-07:00

After all the issues I faced with this brew, it's good to see that the yeast is happy! This being the first fermentation I've done in glass I was amazed at what went on during the fermentation. I decided to shoot some video of it and post it here.

We are now 3 days into fermentation and it has slowed some, enough that I could finally add an air lock. At the start of fermentation, I knew that it would plug up an airlock due to foam, so I just sanitized a plastic Arnie's Bar cup and used it to cover the top of the fermenter to keep anything from falling into it. I was also sure to put the fermenter in a plastic tub to keep from making a mess on the floor!

The Hop Bomb Nightmare Brew

2008-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well, as previously posted, this brew was not all that enjoyable. I had several problems in getting it completed, and I hope that in the end it is worth all the effort.

I organized all the equipment and got the initial mash water warming to temp. At temp, I added to the mash tun and stirred in the grain. All going well. While warming the sparge water I ran out of propane and had to go ask my neighbor to borrow their tank. Lesson number one.... make sure you have enough propane for the brew!

I decided I wanted to do a little larger brew, so I planned to do 7 gallons. I ran the numbers in ProMash to determine how much water was needed for the mash. After the mash and sparge were complete, I had a full boil kettle, PLUS another 2.5 gallons of wort. Lesson number two.... get the new brew keggles completed so you have plenty of room to boil!

OK, so I decided to do a 90 minute boil, to boil down some of the volume before adding hops. That was going great until it boiled over on me, putting out the flame of my burner and subsequently gumming it up. I then had to remove the burner from the stand and clean it before I could proceed. Lesson number three.... avoid boil overs at all costs!

So, I got that cleaned up and got the kettle back on the burner and up to a boil. At the same time, I had the 'extra' wort boiling in smaller pots on the stove in the house. Gotta boil it for at least 60 minutes to get rid of DMS...I think it's DMS. It's for something! One of the pots boiled over on the stove making a mess! Lesson number four.... avoid brewing on the stove. Refer to lesson number two, gotta get the keggles done!

The rest of the boil went fine and I felt the trials were over. Wrong! When turning the water on for the wort chiller, I noticed that the line into the copper coil was leaking, and into the brew! A quick grab of the screw driver (still on the porch from the burner cleaning) to tighten the hose clamp fixed the problem. Lesson number five.... test the wort chiller during the brew to ensure it isn't going to leak!

OK, so the rest of the night went fine. After chilling, I whirlpooled to get the hop matter to the bottom of the kettle, then racked to the fermenter. I missed my target gravity by .02, so all in all not bad. Although, my target was only 70% efficiency. I think I'm going to see if adjusting the grain crush will help that.

The IPA is now happily fermenting. I used glass for my primary fermenter for the first time, and it has been very interesting to watch the fermentation. I never realized how much churning the wort did during fermentation, pretty freaking cool! It will ferment for another few days and then I will rack to the secondary and add dry hops.

Below are pictures from the brew:

Chek out the Arnie's Bar cup I used instead of the arilock. That will be replaced with an airlock after the initial fermentation slows.

American Citrus IPA - The Hop Bomb

2008-10-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally did it, I brewed with some of my homegrown hops. I've included the recipe below if you are interested. In another post, I'll go in detail about the nightmare that was this brew.

American Citrus IPA - The Hop Bomb

Grain Bill
---------------------------------------
14.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row)
1.50 lbs. Wheat Malt
0.75 lbs. Crystal 60L
0.50 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt
0.50 lbs. Crystal 20L
0.50 lbs. Flaked Soft White Wheat
0.19 lbs. Chocolate Malt

Mash @ 154 for 60 minutes
Sparge @ 170 for 30 minutes

90 Minute Boil

Hop Schedule
----------------------------------------
60 Minutes:
1.50 oz. Amarillo Gold

20 Minutes:
0.75 oz. Amarillo Gold
1.00 oz. Cascade
0.50 oz. Centennial

5 Minutes:
1.00 oz. Cascade
0.75 oz. Amarillo Gold
0.50 oz. Centennial

Flame Out:
1.00 oz. Cascade

Dry Hop:
1.00 oz. Cascade
0.50 oz. Amarillo Gold

Yeast: Muntons Gold Dry

2008 Harvest Totals

2008-10-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

After drying and packaging, the final harvest yielded and additional 2.65 oz of cascade and 0.65 oz of centennial. When making the hop plugs (right), I did things a little differently this go round. I took a piece of cling wrap and placed over the end cap (lower left) of the plug chamber. I then with the cling wrap in place, inserted the tubing for the chamber (lower right). That way, when pushing the plug out of the chamber, it was already partially wrapped.

All in all, not bad for the first year.

2008 Harvest Totals
Wet Harvest:
37.30 oz Cascade
13.05 oz Centennial

Dry Packaged:
9.55 oz Cascade
3.20 oz Centennial

Final Hop Harvest - October 2

2008-10-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Well, the final cones have been harvested from the bines for my first year of growing. The last picking yielded in wet amounts: 2.80 oz of centennial and 11.40 oz of cascade. All in all, not a bad year considering most I've read says not to expect any hops the first year. I'll be doing a batch of pale ale or an IPA soon to try out my hops. Probably the IPA first, combining the homegrown cascade and centennial with amarillo. Yum!

My next post I'll have the total dry hop amounts for the year, and hopefully some pictures of hop plugs made with my new plugger!

Third Hop Cone Harvest!

2008-09-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

After looking at the plants, I decided that I had more cones ready to pick, and again had one or two that had already fallen off the bines. After picking I had 6.9 oz of wet cascades and 2.1 oz of wet centennial cones. After drying, I netted 2.0 oz of cascades and 0.5 oz of centennials.

I also endeavored to build a Hop Plugger (right) after reading some posts on the Grow Hops forum. I have posted instructions and pictures of my Hop Plugger Project on my BrewTech blog. It worked pretty well and I will probably use it again if I get the chance to pick cones one more time this season.

No Impacts from Hurricane Gustav

2008-09-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

We did get some wind, rain and cooler temperatures but nothing near what I was expecting for storms. Watching the radar for 2 days, for the most part Gustav fell apart right as it hit the Tulsa area. The cascade cones I picked Tuesday are dry and in the freezer, only 0.35 oz, but at least I didn't loose them to the storm.

It's been quite a while since I've fertilized, so I plan on mixing up some Miracle Grow all purpose 15-30-15 and dispensing across the plants this afternoon. We'll see if I can get a last push of energy with the plants to get some more cones before the weather starts to turn cold. Still haven't gotten to High Gravity to purchase ingredients for a brew so I can try out some of the cones I've already harvested.....GOTTA GET THAT DONE!

Hurricane Gustav - Heading This Way

2008-09-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, now it's just a Tropical Depression, but it's still heading toward Tulsa at this point. My hop plants have done well with the recent heat and I'm hoping that this storm doesn't damage them too much. I've already harvested some cones, but there are much more to harvest and I'd hate to loose them to the storm! I took some time this morning to go pick the most ripe cones, only picking 1.55 oz of cascade. I was going to wait a while longer until more were ready to pick, but I bet a good hard rain will knock some of the ripe cones off the bine as I've already noticed a few have fallen off on their own. Not a lot picked I know, but the 15 minutes of effort are better than loosing them in the storm.

Bring on the rain!

Hops Update - August 22

2008-08-27T20:08:00.001-07:00

Here in Oklahoma, we're still trying to get through the hottest days of the year, and yes, they have not been kind to my hops. My plants are still healthy and producing cones, but man they don't look too pretty anymore! As you will see from some of the pictures in this post, some of my hop cones and leaves are significantly brown and wilting. The interesting thing is that this is happening while new growth is showing within inches of what looks to be almost dead!

I've been watering the hops each day when the temperature is over 90F and so far, they are surviving. They soak up the moisture (along with the hot day) and are ready for more the next day. I'm trying to decide whether or not to trim some of the bines back where I have already harvested cones, so that the plant can focus energy on new growth.

My Goldings plant is producing more and more cones, although they are all very small. I've heard others haven't had the best of luck with goldings in the lower latitudes, so maybe this just isn't the right climate. I'm not giving up though, hopefully I'll be able to at least harvest enough to brew one batch of my brown ale that uses goldings.

And lastly, is a picture of the whole hop garden. It's hard to believe that just 5 months ago, this area of the back yard was basically weeds that was a pain to mow! Now it is helping in my quest to brew good beer.....well, as soon as I get the ingredients pulled together to do a batch and start using some of the harvested hops!

Second Hop Cone Harvest!

2008-08-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

This week I when I checked the Centennial and Cascade plants, I noticed I had a lot of cones browning (some significant). Also, the majority of the cones had that papery feeling so I decided to do another harvest. Below are pictures of the harvested cones. If you look closely, you can see some cones almost completely brown, with others while still mostly green have browning of the tips.

I also took one of the larger cascade hop cones and split it down the middle. If you look real close, you can see the yellow substance among the leaves which is lupin.

In total, I harvested 6.65 oz of Centennial and 12.95 oz of Cascade this time (wet). After drying, I ended up with 1.7 oz of Centennial and 3.5 oz of Cascade.

Here are my totals for the year so far:

Wet Harvest:
17.45 oz Cascade
8.15 oz Centennial

Dry Packaged:
4.55 oz Cascade
2.05 oz Centennial

Hops Update - July 31 Growth

2008-08-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted an update. Not a lot to discuss in this post but I've included a few pictures I took the end of July. I was finally able to get a few good close up pictures of the cascade hop cones still on the bine. I also took a picture of the 2 cascade plants together that show a lot of cones, and the last picture shows the base of the OK goldings plant. On all of my plants I stripped the bottom 2 feet of vegetation to minimize the possibility of mildew and insect problems.

Hop Cone Drying and Packaging

2008-07-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

The hope cones that were harvested last weekend have been dried and packaged. To dry them I took a house window screen I had in the garage and spread the picked hop cones on it. I left it in the garage for 2 days, placed so that air flow could reach the hops from above and below but didn't use a fan or applied heat to help in the drying process.

Once dry, I packaged in zip lock bags, compressing the hop cones to purge as much oxygen from the packaging as I could. I did run into a problem however. When compressing the cones in the bags, I did get punctures through the plastic. To fix this, I used a bag inside bag approach to ensure a seal. For the next harvest, I'm either going to get thicker bags, or possibly spend the money on a vacuum sealer.

In total, I ended up with 1.05 oz of dried cascade hop cones, and 0.35 oz of dried centennial hop cones.

First Hop Cone Harvest!

2008-07-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Well, after debating on what to do, and looking the plants over, I decided to go ahead and harvest some cones. Several of the cascade hop cones were showing significant browning, and a few of the centennial hop cones had actually fallen off the bines on their own. My wife was kind enough to come take some pictures of me in my first harvest, so now you can see my ugly mug! It was very rewarding getting a chance to harvest my own hops, hoping to brew with them soon. I'm going to wait until my main harvest to brew a 'harvest ale' so, the harvested cones are now sitting in the garage on a window screen to dry. I do not have a vacuum sealer, so once dried I plan on packaging in good quality freezer bags, purging with CO2 to eliminate oxygen from the packaging.

Below are pictures of the harvested hop cones, cascades on the left, centennials on the right. In total, I ended up with 4.5 oz of cascade cones, and only 1.5 oz of centennial cones. Not a lot harvested, but I didn't want them to go bad!

Hops Update - July 24 Growth

2008-07-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

Since the last hops update, we have had very hot temperatures (95F-98F) and absolutely no moisture. I've been watering every day but still have some leaves browning and some withering due to the heat. We finally hit the hot, dry Oklahoma summer! Overall, the hops are still very healthy (right) and all of the plants are shooting laterals everywhere. The Goldings has finally started producing burrs, so I'm hoping we'll at least see a handful of cones before the end of the growing season! If so, we'll be able to get hop cones off of all the rhizomes planted (First Season!), except for the one heavily damaged by storms early in the season.

Other than the goldings, the other 4 plants all have produced cones and some seem to be ready to harvest based on what I've been reading in the grow-hops forum. All of the plants are still producing new burrs but some of the cones are papery to the touch and starting to brown slightly. I've had a few cones dry enough that they have fallen off the bine, so I may not have a choice on whether to harvest some or not. Pictures: Cascade Hop Bines (above left), Centennial Hop Bines (right), Cascade Hop Cones (lower left), Centennial Hop Cones (lower right).

Hop Pictures - Night Shots

2008-07-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to try and take some pictures of the hops at night. I've seen some very interesting pictures of hops taken at night, but think I have a lot more learning to do to get good pictures. Figured I would share some with you anyway.

Hops Update - July 17 Growth

2008-07-20T21:54:00.000-07:00

A much delayed update for this week, but I'm finally getting it posted. All of the hops are doing well, producing cones and shooting lateral bines everywhere. The picture to the left is of the entire hop yard, all 5 plants. All 5 are well beyond the top of the trellis (8 feet) and running along the horizontal lines. Some of the bines are over 15 feet long! Right, are the 2 cascades, the bines are not growing much in length anymore, but are producing laterals and cones like crazy!

Left is a picture of the one goldings I planted. As of now, it is still not showing any signs of burrs or cones, but the plant itself is very healthy and is shooting out lateral bines everywhere. Hopefully I'll see signs of cone growth soon! Even with the vertical growth of the goldings, it was still creating strong lateral bines at ground level. I let these bines grow to approximately 2 feet in length, trimmed all the leaves off and then buried them in the ground to attempt to create rhizomes for transplanting next year. The picture on the right shows the 2 bines from the main stem being rerouted into the ground.

In the course of watering the plants, the mounds I started with have eroded somewhat, and in certain instances I can see the root growth off the rhizome. The picture on the left is one of the centennial mounds, and if you look closely, you can see the pale yellow/green roots. I'm planning on adding a shovel of dirt to the top of each mound to get all of the roots back below the surface. The last picture (right) is between the 2 cascade plants, looking up from ground level.

Hops Update - July 10 Growth (More Cones!)

2008-07-13T17:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we were out of town last week, so no update. I was a little worried about the hops, since I wouldn't be around to water them, but luckily we did get one good rain shower while we were gone. The hops sure were ready for a good drink! All 5 plants are doing very well, the 2 cascades (left) are both strong, and putting out cones like crazy. The plant in the right of the picture is sending out a lot of laterals at ground level. Most of these I have trimmed, but a select few I let grow to about 18 inches in length, then trenched them with the tips showing to try and start some rhizomes for next year. The centennials and golding are both doing well (together right). Both centennials are have burrs and cones, but the leaves have a slight yellowing to them, with some brown spots. I'm hoping that is because of not being watered for a week but I'll keep an eye on them just in case.

My largest cascade plant (below left) has just gone crazy. On this plant, I have gone with the alternative theory to not trim back to only a few main bines. I want to see how the production output differs from my other cascade which I have trimmed back to only 4 main bines. As you can see from the picture, it pretty much looks like a climbing bush. At last count, I have 8 bines climbing, with multiple laterials. My single goldings (right) has yet to produce any burrs indicating that cones are coming. The plant itself is very healthy, and shooting lateral bines all over the place but as of yet no cones. On this plant as well, I have buried a few late growth bines that had good mass to see if I can produce some rhizomes for next year.

As indicated above, all but the goldings now have cones, and the cascades have a good number. The first 2 pictures below are of some of the cascade cones.

The 3rd (below right), with the blue cloudy sky as the backdrop is a picture of some of the centennial cones. Surprisingly, the centennial plants started producing cones approximately 2 weeks after the cascade, but the cones are about the same size. I guess this make sense, as the cascade cones are said to be smaller, and centennial cones are bigger.

Hops Update - June 26 Growth (Cones!)

2008-06-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hop Flavor was recently mentioned on Home Brewing Perspectives, a new brewing podcast hosted by Doug and Mike! Mike is also growing hops for the first time, and is tracking his efforts on his blog The Hop Cone Cometh. Mike was very generous in his comments of my hop yard, and I wish him the best of luck. If you haven't already taken the time to check these guys out, you are missing out on some good homebrewing information!

Hops are still looking good. Four of the six plants have reached or exceeded the 8 foot mark, some with multiple bines at that length! The two remaining cascades (left) are doing very well with burrs all over and some cones forming. The OK goldings (below left) is doing very well, no burrs yet but starting to get some lateral growth on the longest bine. The two centennials (below center and right) both have at least 4-6 climbing bines. One has 2 bines over the 8 foot mark and is showing burrs! The other got a slower start but is quickly making up for lost time.
On the right is a picture of one of the larger Cascade cones that has started to form! Still not close to harvest time, but it's good to see those coveted cones starting to grow! Looks like we should have enough cones to brew a harvest ale! Man, I've gotta learn how to use my camera, it took about 20 pictures and 2 cameras to get a clear closeup of that cone!

Hops Update - June 19 Growth

2008-06-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Quick update on the hops this week. I gave up on the small bine on the second chance cascade that wasn't growing and I buried it, so we'll see what happens. Everything else is growing strong, with the 2 remaining cascades (right) both flowering! The OK Goldings (lower left) and one of the Centennials now have bines at the 8 foot mark. The two Centennials are lower right.

Hops Update - June 12 Growth

2008-06-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Another week, another update on progress. Everything is still growing well, except for the second chance cascade. It's still alive, but doesn't seem to be growing. Oh well, 5 out of 6 plants are growing well so no complaints.

The 2 biggest cascade plants (below left) have reached the top of the 8 foot trellis and are still going. The tip of one of the bines in the biggest cascade broke off and that main is no longer growing. I did however wire tie the bine to the twine and it is going crazy with new lateral shoots going everywhere (below center). The second chance cascade (below left) is still alive, not much more news on it though.

The OK Goldings (below left) is now over 6 feet tall and still going. Centennial 1 (below center) is starting to catch up, with 3 climbing bines and it is now around 3 feet tall. The other (below right) centennial is now around 6 feet tall and is beginning more lateral growth.

The other exciting news is that on the 2 largest cascade plants, the bines are starting to flower, and although I don't know much about hops yet, I think this is the beginning signs of cones! The picture on the right is an up close of one of the cascade bines, with the prickly flowers.

Hops Update - June 5 Growth

2008-06-09T21:20:00.000-07:00

Another progress update on the hops. The more prolific cascade plants are going crazy. One has a bine almost 8ft tall, and the other is close behind at 6ft. The second chance cascade is still alive but not showing much progress above ground. Hopefully it is building a good root structure for next year. Following are pictures of the Cascades. Left is the 2 big cascades, middle is the biggest cascade crown, and right is the second chance cascade:

The 'OK' goldings is still doing well, and the 2 centennial plants are beginning to grow fast. The goldings now has 3 bines climbing, one centennial with 2 climbing bines and one with 3. Below left is the goldings, middle and right are the 2 centennial plants:

Hops Update - May 29 Growth

2008-05-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on progress. Some growing fast, others slowly making progress, and the poor second chance cascade is still alive! The following 3 pics are of the cascades:

The next 3 are of the 2 Centennial (left) and one 'OK' Goldings (right). Lots of weeds, I know...but I've been busy!

Just for fun, I decided to do a measurement on the most prolific cascade plant. Using a sharpie, I marked the tip of the bine on the trellis twine, then measured a week later to see how much it had grown. As you can see from the pic on the right, over 2 feet of growth in one week! I hope the rest of the plants start catching up so I have at least some hops to harvest the end of the summer.

Hops Update - May 19 Growth

2008-05-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

The biggest cascade (left) is going strong and it now has 3 bines climbing the trellis chord. I'm amazed at how fast it is growing, inches per day! I've read that at the height of growth, they can grow over a foot a day. The 2 centennial plants are healthy, but are growing slower than the other plants. I am having good luck with my goldings plant (right), even though on message boards and several podcasts, it sounds like these don't grow as well in the Midwest. It has one climbing bine, and 2 others that will be long enough to train on the trellis soon. I also had a cascade (below) that got damaged in a recent storm, and the 2 bines that were about 10 inches long were broken off at ground level. These plants however are very resilient, and it has sprouted 2 new bines and looks like it will rebound. This week, I fertilized with Miracle Grow all purpose 15-30-15, mixing up a gallon, and dispensing that gallon across the 6 plants. More updates to come!

The Hop Garden

2008-05-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

OK, so I purchased rhizomes and got them started in pots (see previous posts). The next step was to find a place to plant them and prepare the area. I decided on an area in the northwest corner of my back yard, up against my shed and the neighboring privacy fence. This area gets a lot of midday and early afternoon sun, but does provide a little shade for the late afternoon which can be very hot in Oklahoma. As the hops grow up the trellis, they will get more and more of the afternoon sun. Of course, I don't have a tiller, so I had to prepare the bed with hand and shovel, lots of fun! I prepared the bed in an L shape up against the fence and shed, the picture on the right is half way through the process, ugh!

So, once I got the full bed prepared, I spaced out the hops per recommendation by Freshops, 3 feet between same variety, 5 feet between different varieties. See the plan of the bed (left) for plant placement, and to see where the trellis lines were placed. For each plant, I dug a hole about 1.5 feet deep, and a foot in diameter. I put a few handfuls of dried spent grains at the bottom of the hole. The dirt dug out of the hole was mixed with an equal amount of sandy loam, and a small amount of ash. The hole was then filled back in with this mixture, and then the rhizome planted about an inch from the surface, and then a small mound of dirt on top. Below are some pictures of the finished bed. Before I put up the 'trellis'.

For the trellis, I took advantage of the privacy fence. I nailed up slats on 2 of the existing posts, and I sunk one post on the other side of the bed by the shed. I then strung twine between the 3 'posts'. I got some 2x2x8 treated posts, and used 2 of them for center support for the twine. For each plant I cut 2 lengths of twine, long enough to wrap over the top of the guy lines and come back to the ground. These were staked at the bottom of each hop plant, forming a twine T pee. This design is only 8 feet tall, so depending on first year growth, I may have some really bushy plants. Next year I plan to modify the trellis, so that it is around 14 feet tall.

Growing Hops

2008-05-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to take on a new challenge this year, and that was to grow my own hops! I ordered my rhizomes from www.freshops.com and about 10 days later, received the package in the mail.

Above on the left is an East Kent Golding rhizome and on the right is Cascade. Soon after receiving the rhizomes, I planted each in a separate temporary pot (because I hadn't yet figured out where I would put them!) In total, I planted 1 EKG, 2 Centennial and 3 Cascade into pots. By mid April, all of the plants were showing bines!

Above left, the EKG. Above right one of the Cascades. Below, all 6 hop plants starting strong.

Next post, I'll line out the plant bed I put together and the VERY simple trellis structure. Here's 'hoping' all goes well and all 6 plants last the Oklahoma summer!