How's everyones hops plants doing so far?

[brenmurph]

all im sayin is that we should consider the extra aroma from unprocessed hops and the potential variation of moisture content depending on weather at harvest, location e.g warm dry polytunnel or the ripeness of the cones the longer on the plant the drier they get hence the shrivel up and turn a dry burnt brown with fleckall moisture. lots of variables to consider... so as per my other thread argument... be carefull when using fresh hops in a brew cos if u over hop ur brew is effed and if u under hop u can add more.
Commercials have QC controls and im sure they have the skillls to harvest hops at certain moisture levels and so on.. as home brewers and home hop growers it may be unwise to follow commercial rules or guidelines. to reiterate I used hallertauer from the polytunnel and used only twice the beersmith recipe amount and have a well bittered and aromatic lager in process

[imark]

Alls I know is I lost 77% weight to moisture. For my wet hop ale I'll split the difference and go with 4 times dry weight.

[brenmurph]

use a moderate amount and test... its easy to boil up some more in a small pot if necessary
we can get a thread goin when we all have a few beers made with the fresh hops and possibly a taster day somewhere..  ive already got two brews with the fresh stuff

[LordEoin]

My Hallertauer Hersbrucker were 300g fresh and after a week in the hot press with an occasional shake they're now 75g.
Busy and not in the mood for maths, but they're pretty round figures for someone to play with.

[imark]

My Hallertauer Hersbrucker were 300g fresh and after a week in the hot press with an occasional shake they're now 75g.
Busy and not in the mood for maths, but they're pretty round figures for someone to play with.

75% moisture.

[LordEoin]

Close enough!

[imark]

I couldn't help myself 

[LordEoin]

Also, a handy hint for those of you that don't have vacuum packers.
Put your hops in a freezer bag, crumple the open end between your thumb and index finger, suck all the air out by mouth, double tie and bang into the freezer.
That should take out enough air to keep them happy 

[delzep]

so who else has a hot press that smells of dope at the mo?

[brenmurph]

ye... i used the oven at 50c house smells great

[Metattron]

Vacuum packed mine tonight.  Dry weights are 9g cascade (after being beaten by frost and aphids), 41g Challenger and 228g Fuggles.  I reckon the Fuggles must suit the northern weather better.

[montofk]

Did I read something that said I can't/won't be able to harvest hops in the first year?
I planted the rhizomes in March this year (Mar 13), the plants have shot up and just noticed this evening the thing is full of cones. Are these useable or is it preferable to wait until next year?... They do look and smell like hop cones!... Just wasn't at all expecting anything this year, so had put the whole hop thing to the back of my mind, will be a nice surprise if I have some to use!... Just curious what I originally read or heard to make me think I had to wait 1 year+?

[LordEoin]

Mine were in their first year too and I got 300G (wet weight) from the hallertauer hersbrucker, but only 70G of small cones from the smaragd.
They're fine to use, and we'll get a bigger harvest of larger cones next year now that they're extablished

[delzep]

My plant is already starting to die back...or as I like to call it - hibernation for a bumper second year 

[delzep]

got 79g dry from 253g wet...so about 30%