Hops

Has anyone grown their own hops? If so, what determines the best time to pick them? Also, is there a best practice when preparing them for the beer or do you just throw them in right off the vine?

You already know how I process my hops, so no need to repeat here. Feel free to put them in the boil, but you really need 5 times as many by weight. The boil will kill any yeast, bacteria, or critters. If you add them late you really need a pile of them and consider if you can drain your wort out of the boil kettle. I have had many insects fly into my wort. Heck, hamburger and hot dogs can legally contain rodent hairs! Don't worry, get brewing. The alcohol will probably sanitize the dry hops. Just think of the critters as a "worm in the bottom of a tequila bottle". Wet hops are not predictable. If you want to spend your brew day making an unpredictable beer that you wont be able to duplicate, have a ball. It is like decoction, at least you can say you did it once! Have fun!

Now that we are talking hops, I planted hops for the first time - centennial and cascade. Embarrassingly I'm not 100% which one is which. One has lighter colored maybe fluffier and fatter cones. I'm pretty sure these are the centennial but would appreciate help.

Also, I'm in the Chicago area and each plant has maybe 10 cones pretty fully developed. But there are many other cones on the plant in various stages of development. Do hops need to be harvested many times?

Thanks

Centennial has the overall larger cones. It has ~ 2x the alpha acid of Cascade.
It will smell far more pungent too the point you say WOW! It is considered a super cascade.
Cascade can produce large cones too, but the odor is delicate, lower alpha. With the amount of cones you have you can pick them as they mature. They should feel a little crispy when you gently pinch them. In the early morning they are damp from the dew and won't be crispy. Wait until the afternoon, when they are dried back out to check. Some people wait until they get a touch of brown, but they do become a bit oniony if you wait too long and they turn brown. I pick when crispy as the cones start to loosely open their petals.

Don't cut your bines on first year plants. Just let them lay on the ground. The roots need the nutrients in the bines to go back to the roots for next year. Cut them off next spring pre growth.

I got my annual home grown hops batch completed Sunday. A strong 60 min addition of Magnum & Crystal, with a 30 min whirlpool addition of the same. Should be tasty. Will be dry hopping soon!

RiverBrewer said:

I got my annual home grown hops batch completed Sunday. A strong 60 min addition of Magnum & Crystal, with a 30 min whirlpool addition of the same. Should be tasty. Will be dry hopping soon!

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Did you use all wet hops in the 60 minute addition?

No wet hops, fresh dried whole hops! I don't like the "grassiness" of wet hops.