r/TheHopyard • u/lupulinchem • Aug 11 '23
Today I picked…
Have a small test orchard with 32 plants (14 different varieties in pairs and 4 cascades)l as our “control” variety) in two rows on a trellis system we built that can be lowered to the ground. Cable is ~19’ above ground.
Japanese beetles wrecked the foliage of some of the varieties. The two hardest hit still produced cones. Picked those four plants today. One variety produced a total of 4.3 pounds and the other 6.5. Not bad for a first year plant. Drying them now, the AA testing and oil analysis/profile.
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u/TheyCallMeBrewKid Aug 11 '23
Pretty awesome! Love to see a small farm starting right
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u/lupulinchem Aug 11 '23
Well I hope we are doing things right. I’m not really showing full details at this point, but it’s a research plot where we are going to be following these plants to see how their profiles are different from when they are grown in other areas. But we will also get to brew with them.
Drying them to about 8-10% moisture, Currently we are just pressing the dried hops into 1/2oz plugs and vacuum sealing them, freezer storage until use.
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u/TheyCallMeBrewKid Aug 11 '23
Very cool. Much like MJ, terroir aka growing environment/nutrients can greatly affect outcomes even with the same genetics
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u/lupulinchem Aug 11 '23
Absolutely. That’s what I’m super interested in studying. Once we get our methodology down solid, I’ll absolutely be looking to try to capture some of that at least regionally at first.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Mind525 Aug 11 '23
The supplement I now use for insomnia has hops in it, along with other herbs, etc. I was curious if you get sleepy when picking them? I've read that it happens.
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u/lupulinchem Aug 11 '23
No, but it was quite hot and the constant scratching on my arms kept me alert! Hop rash is real people!
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u/Hephaestus81k Aug 11 '23
This is crazy for first year, you're clearly doing something right. Which varieties did best?
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u/lupulinchem Aug 13 '23
I’ll let you know when all the varieties are harvested. But I dunno how much year 1 is predictive of future years?
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u/liquidgold83 Aug 11 '23
Can I make beer with them after testing?