Hops, Hops, Hops, I like Hops....

The cutting, picking and drying of the 2nd year bines has begun! Bob and Joyce have been maintaining the plants and adding new ones all summer and they took down the more mature varieties (Cascade, Newport and Fuggle) two days ago.

Cascade variety planted summer 2012 - close to peak of ripeness!

The plants certainly aren't at full maturity, but we had a good growing season that led to a surprisingly robust crop compared to what we expected. No major pest problems, but they did use some Sulfur based herbicide to counteract possible Downy Mildew issues.

So, September 4th the bines were clipped and carted off to the barn where they were sorted into varietal piles. I began picking with the help of my assistants that evening, Zoe and Aggie. We started on the Cascade's since they looked to be the easiest to pick. There were large, well formed cones in big clusters - grabbing each hop by the base near the stem and "popping" them off wasn't too hard to figure out.

Our local workforce - Aggie and Zoe picking Cascade Hops

Nikki, Zoe, Riley and Joyce went at it the next day (Happy Rosh Shashna!) since we needed to get the hops off the bines and dried within 48 hours. They were able to get all of the Cascade and Newport picked and the first batch into the oast. I showed up that evening after work and got all of the Fuggle done. The Fuggle were dried up pretty good and not as easy to pick - we may want to cut that variety down first at an earlier date next year.

The hop kiln (oast) works great! We were able to insert a digital thermometer and determine that the high heat setting and low fan setting got the middle drawers to a toasty 94 degrees. The first batch should be done by the afternoon of the 6th and we can put the remaining hops in for the final batch. Can't wait to see how many dried hops we get!

Next week we'll start our first batch of LCB hop flavored beer! Thanks for stopping by!

Hop Oast Ready to Go!

Charlie built a great hop kiln for us that goes far beyond what we were hoping to have this harvest season. The oast has everything we need: large screened boxes, a fan for circulation and a small ceramic heater to help the drying process. 

"Chaz" - my suggested name for our new oast (gasoline not required for operation!)

Charlie custom designed the stack-able trays that should hold an abundance of hops. The electrical connections are all up to code (which would never happen if I was left to building it) and work off of a 120 volt standard supply. The heat source and fan have separate supply, so you can run it with or without heat. The top drawer has an air exhaust hole to complete circulation. 

We can't wait to fire this puppy up! Thanks Charlie!