When to harvest?

[Frothy]

Hi all
I planted these hops earlier this year, they are from a local hedgerow and I belive may be connected with the monks that once lived in our village (which is a good 800 years old.) Recently the cones have formed and I'm wondering if it's time to harvest? When I take a cone and rub it between my fingers it smells pungent.

I of course would like to use some fresh and I read somewhere that dried hops are approximately 25% the weight of fresh hops. My hope is to brew a standard pale ale and throw about 100g / 5gal in for the aroma/ flavour addition. Maybe I should make some hop tea first.

Frothy

[DRB]

[Chris The Fish]

that looks very appetising seeing them up there like that, any idea what variety they are?

im going to give growing hops a bash next year and that pic is real inspiration!

get em in the pot green fingered one!

[SteveD]

Generally speaking hop harvest time is now - 1st 2 weeks of September.

They are ready if:-

(1) the green cones turn papery, and rustle slightly when 'fondled'
(2) the lupulin is evident - yellow/gold dust where the petals join the stem of the cone
(3) when the aroma is right, and pungent, when you crush a cone and you can feel the sticky resins on your hands.

If you see some of the cones developing brown patches or fading to beige - get cracking!! They are starting to go over the hill.

I'm harvesting mine tomorrow.

Straight after harvesting you need to dry them in the dark, in a warmish place with an air current. Some people lay them out on newspaper in the loft, others cut and hang up the whole bine in a garage or shed. Others use 'active' drying methods - herb drawers, or will build an 'oast' as I have done, with a hair dryer set to warm to provide a current of warm air. Should be dry in a day.

As soon as they're dry, (which is when the cones are dry but the stems still bend before breaking) bag em up in zip lock freezer bags, squeeze the air out, compressing as much as possible, and bung them in the freezer.

You can use fresh hops straight away but you need to bear in mind that you'll need 4 times the weight to allow for the water content. If you used 2 oz dry, you need 8 oz fresh.

[Frothy]

Thanks steve I'll be getting in there asap. I had a look and the yellow glands are well formed which would explain the aroma. I was worried a few weeks ago as I had cones but no aroma. There are also shed loads more of these up the field to harvest so I hope they taste nice, no idea what variety so they'll be named after the field which is "plough pasteur."

This was a useful site
http://www.freshops.com/gardening.html# ... %20support

Frothy