My hops vine has been climbing the twine on its own now. It only took a couple of days to train the sucker. When I come home from work, I’ll check on it and I am amazed at the progress. I haven’t seen foot long (Five, Five dollar…) growth yet, but it’s still early in the season.
I’ll take some pictures to give a visual update.
I was wondering if other experienced hop growers knew how many hop cones you would need to get an ounce of hops.
I know there will be a difference in weight in fresh hops vs. dried hops, so I guess I am wondering how many hop cones do you need to produce one ounce of dried hops?
I am starting to formulate a harvest ale recipe.
Jon
I’ve picked some wild hops that worked out to roughly one ounce dried when I filled up a medium sized zip lock bag (i.e. the next size bigger than a sandwich bag, I believe). This was a couple of years ago, but I’d guess that would have been around 75 cones. I could be way off on that count though.
Gabriel Nagmay
“how many hop cones you would need to get an ounce of hops”
That’s like asking ‘how many apples in a pound’? Are we talking crab apples, granny smith, or golden delicious? Hop cones are the same way. Some varieties produce small cones, others large.
Much better to get yourself a scale.
curt
It’s really hard to tell, my first year hops i had some HUGE cascade cones and fewer of them to an ounce. so i really can’t make a decent guess. my first year cascade’s gave me 7 oz dried. my goldings, and hallertau not even an ounce each. this is the second year and it looks like a different story there all 12- 15 feet tall already
John
Yeah, I knew I would get a comment like Gabriel’s. I should preface my question a bit. What I am looking for is an indicator to see if my plant is going to give me enough hop cones to brew with in the fall.
Although not 100% accrurate, I wanted to know if I see “x” number of cones growing on the vine then I won’t have to buy a vacuum pack of hop pellets from the store.
I understand there are plenty of factors that play into the final weight.
So, just looking for a rough estimate for a first time hops grower from experience hop growing readers. I have a scale and will be weighing them out once harvest time comes around, that’s for sure.
Seor Brew
How many pits in a pear?
Sorry, inside joke. You’ll probably have to buy hops the first year. You’ll get some cones the first year, but it doesn’t really kick in until the 2nd or 3rd year.
John
Yay. Go root system.
mike
Can’t wait for the pictures!
I am curious how our hops are doing on the farm as well. I am thinking of going out there this coming Friday to do some weeding and training. I haven’t seen them in over a month. Hopefully all is well. I’ll post an update when I see my little pretties to! Maybe we can share…kind of like two fathers with their baby pictures. Only this is way cooler!
Mike
Mike’s Brew Review