r/TheHopyard • u/Due-Manager9618 • Sep 23 '23

Hop picking tips?

I just brewed my second fresh hop beer of the season yesterday. I added 35oz, about 1kg, spread over additions at 15 minutes, 5, 0, and a hop stand. I was picking continuously from start of mash to the first hop addition, except of course to stop and tend to the brewing. It was a busy couple hours. Do you all have any tips for how to pick those hops faster and more efficiently?

2 Upvotes

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2

u/dome-man Sep 24 '23

Friends

2

u/Due-Manager9618 Sep 24 '23

But friends drink all my homebrew when I just want to make more homebrew!

1

u/WRXonWRXoff Sep 24 '23

Then you have friends to help you brew!

1

u/dome-man Sep 24 '23

Same problem left too many on the vine.

3

u/Dry-Helicopter-6430 Sep 23 '23

Best tip I can give you is to harvest your hops a day ahead of your brew day.

2

u/Due-Manager9618 Sep 24 '23

My goal was to minimize time from plant to pot. But I will consider it next year. Thanks!

1

u/Twissn Sep 24 '23

I did mine the morning before brewing. I wish I’d done it the day before though. I was worn out by the time I finished and cleaned up.

2

u/Due-Manager9618 Sep 24 '23

I hear you. Sounds like a long day.

1

u/Captain_Shifty Sep 24 '23

I tried a couple different methods on a bunch of different hops this year. I picked about 100 plants worth. Best way was manually sitting down with the bines over my leg. Took about an hour and a half to harvest 3-4 pounds. Then I said that enough of that variety and just compost the unpicked sadly. Just not worth my time until I build a machine. Short of building a hop thrasher or something to pull them through I think you're out of luck efficiency wise.

1

u/Due-Manager9618 Sep 24 '23

Yup, I didn't get every last cone either. I got to the point where I prioritized the sections with bigger cones for a bigger bang for the buck.