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Author Topic: Setting up a hop yard  (Read 5537 times)

Offline Kit B

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Re: Setting up a hop yard
« Reply #15 on: September 01, 2011, 02:36:49 pm »
WHAT!?

More than 10 lbs from 2 plants!?
Good God!
I'm hanging it up.
I only get about 5 oz per plant.

Offline akr71

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Re: Setting up a hop yard
« Reply #16 on: September 01, 2011, 02:41:39 pm »
WHAT!?

More than 10 lbs from 2 plants!?
Good God!
I'm hanging it up.
I only get about 5 oz per plant.
Those are 'wet'/fresh weights - so about 2 lb dry.
Andy

Amherst, NS - Canada

Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Setting up a hop yard
« Reply #17 on: September 01, 2011, 03:49:48 pm »
WHAT!?

More than 10 lbs from 2 plants!?
Good God!
I'm hanging it up.
I only get about 5 oz per plant.
Those are 'wet'/fresh weights - so about 2 lb dry.

In the PNW they get about 2000 lbs/acre, 1000 plants/acre, so 2 lbs/plant.
Jeff Rankert
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BJCP National
Ann Arbor Brewers Guild
Home-brewing, not just a hobby, it is a lifestyle!

Offline akr71

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Re: Setting up a hop yard
« Reply #18 on: September 02, 2011, 06:59:51 am »
You have thrown some great info at me - thanks!  At this point I think I need to find out what varieties my buddy is looking for.  I could plant those (if I don't already grow them) and gradually (over 2 or 3 years) work my way up to supplying just his harvest ales (again, we're talking about a brewpub, so not a huge system).

Coincidentally, I had a talk with the hop farmer that lives near me.  I was trying to see if they had surplus from their contracts and if I could score a deal for my club.  It sounds like they grow enough to supply a (different) micro-brewery for their harvest ale.  Potentially a great opportunity for an Oast Coop.
Andy

Amherst, NS - Canada

Offline gmac

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Re: Setting up a hop yard
« Reply #19 on: September 02, 2011, 07:13:25 am »
Andy,
Drying is going to require some sort of forced air system.  You could possibly build your own if you just need to run air through but if it needs heat you'll probably need help. 
We dry corn ears in 4X4 foot wooden boxes with a perforated bottom that fits onto a natural gas/forced air dryer.  You can stack multiple boxes on top of each other.  These sort of things are available commercially.

Years ago I worked in a another crop and we used large dryers that we brought in from Georgia.  They were actually dryers for peanuts, not sure how easy it would be to modify.  Here is the website http://www.peerlessmfg.cc/batch_drying_curing.html

I wish you luck and hope you can make this work (partly so I can buy hops from you).

Offline jeffy

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Re: Setting up a hop yard
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2011, 07:55:33 am »
At a hop seminar at NHC last year, they recommended the less heat the better.  Hops evidently lose a lot of the acids with anything over 105F (from memory).  Here's a link to a paragraph on that from Gorst Valley Hops web site:
http://www.gorstvalleyhops.com/processing.php
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995