hamilton hops 2009

Hop prices still remain high. Not as high as they were last year, but still quite a bit higher than when I started brewing with Marc. We have friends that grow hops and have offered them to us, but before last year, it never seemed worth it. Picking hops isn't all the difficult, but it is a bit time consuming. Spending hours to get enough to brew a beer never seemed worth the $5 we would save. Last year, however, hops were really expensive and a number of varieties were not even available.

Kara and Dave have offered up their hops to us since they started growing them a few years back. We picked a few the first year and used them in the first beer Marc and I brewed together. Since then we have only taken them up on their offer last year and again this year. They have two plants which did really well last year. We managed to get three pounds (dried) of hops off them. Unfortunately about half developed mold before we had a chance to use them and were thrown out.

Not having a good feel for how much time it was going to take to pick them last year, we headed over to their house late in the day. We started picking them and about a half hour into it, it started to rain, then got dark. Marc and I were both cold and wet before long. We had picked a fair amount of hops by that point, but there were still a lot left. We decided to cut the remaining plants down and load them in my truck. I hauled them home and laid them in the car port to dry. I waited a day or so until they were more or less dried out and then over the next couple of days I pulled the remaining cones off the vines. I finished drying them by hanging a bed sheet, spreading them out on the bed sheet and blowing a fan past them.

Well, it is that time of year again. Dave said we could come over and get this years crop. After last years battle, Marc and I decide the best course of action would be to wait for a nice sunny day and then go over pull the vines down and pick the cones off in my car port again. Marc and I have been having trouble scheduling a time we could both go when it was sunny, so last night I went over by myself and pulled them all down. I loaded them my truck and they are now sitting in the back of my truck in our car port. I hope to get all the cones pulled off over the three day weekend.

Thanks again to Kara and Dave!

Hops
One of the hop plants in front of Kara and Dave's house

Hops
Loaded up and ready to go