Fascinating blog post from Mark Dredge, English beer writer, on the National Hop Collection (NHC) at Wye College where there is over 780 hop varieties collected since 1908. Some of these were used exclusively for breeding without checking their aroma qualities. One such is the hop OZ97a which in trials in 1960 was seen as too “American” for British brewers. Apparently the hop has  apricot, pineapple, lychee, grapefruit, melon and tangerine aromas and flavors. Hop should be ready by 2015 harvest for small commercial brewing. Apparently there are other hidden gems in the NHC.

Read more at http://www.pencilandspoon.com/2013/02/hop-oz97a-rejected-in-1960-rejoiced-in.html

Having never grown hops before, I was unsure when to harvest these bad boys. Of course there are many and varied opinions online. Some say to harvest when the hops change color, are paper like, cut in half you see yellow lupulin, edge on petals turn up, and are starting to brown. I might have left them on the bine a little too long because a lot were a little crisp, but interestingly enough those ones had the most hop-like smell. Didn’t weigh wet but will weigh when dry. For the first year of this plant I think the yield was OK. Going to split the rhizome up and start another one or two from this one.

Constructed a drying screen out of scrap wood and 5 dollars worth of window screen to make a 3′ x 3.5′ drying screen. I’m using a fan to blow over the top to keep the air moving and help with the drying process. After 18 hours or so they are already drying out nicely.

The hops I started in early May are ready to harvest at the top of the bine. It is my first time growing hops and it seems like they matured quickly. I had two pots but one rizome never got going for some reason. Would put them in the ground but the gopher situation in the backyard is out of hand.