Hop rhizomes

[James P]

Hi All
(Hopefully I didn't miss a thread here, I searched first!)
Just wanted to see if anyone has rhizomes available this year? I hear there is a shortage, however if there are any suppliers anyone knows of I would be keen to given them a go!

Maybe we can get a list of suppliers going? I see in the old forum that Stephen @ Hallertau may have been one of them, any ideas?

Cheers

[Chris Banks]

Sorry not sure whats up with this forum I posted this ^^^at the top of
page 15 and it ended up here mid page 16 WTF??

[Steve Baker]

My mystery german have gone about 4m and there are quite a few cones at the bushy top. I might harvest this weekend if they seem to be ready. Last week I got a nice aroma when I squeezed a cone.

[MrC]

How do I know when my hops are ready to harvest, and how should I dry them? Do they look ready? They smell fantastic!

[studio1]

send them to me and I will put them in my food dehydrator ;-)

[jt]

Absolutely no idea Mr C, but they're a couple of top pics for sure

cheers, jt

[denimglen]

Pick when the cones just start to go brown on the tip of the bractoles. You'll also see a slight change in colour of the Lupulin glands from a lemony-yellow to a slightly more orange-yellow. HTH.

[JoKing]

I will be having a preliminary tasting of my homebrew that I mde with my Danscade. I pitched and fermented US-05 at 19 degrees, so it should be a good indication of how these cones taste. The recipe is as follows:

Original Gravity: 1.051 (1.038 - 1.054)
Terminal Gravity: 1.011 (1.008 - 1.013)
Color: 4.85 (3.0 - 6.0)
Alcohol: 5.25% (3.8% - 5.5%)
Bitterness: 26.1 (15.0 - 28.0)

Ingredients:
4.75 kg Pilsner Malt
0.250 kg Melanoidin Malt
10.0 g Nugget (11.6%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
42 g Home Grown Hops (8%) - added during boil, boiled 12 min
42 g Home Grown Hops (8%) - added during boil, boiled 1 min
1.0 ea Fermentis US-05 Safale US-05

For those who give a shit about the specs - here's the info from the USDA about smoothcone:

USDA ACCESSION NO.: 66056
SELECTION: Selected by Dr. R.H.J. Roborgh at the Riwaka Research
Station near Nelson, New Zealand, in the early 1960's
GENUS: Humulus
SPECIES: lupulus
CULTIVAR: Smooth Cone
PEDIGREE: California Cluster x Open Pollinated
PRIMARY SITE: USDA-ARS World Hop Cultivar Collection, Corvallis,
Oregon, OSU East Farm
ORIGIN: Seedling Selection
DATE RECEIVED: Spring 1966; PI Number 314970
METHOD RECEIVED: Rhizomes
AVAILABILITY: No restrictions, commercial cultivar
REFERENCES: USDA-ARS Annual Report of Hop Investigations 1966, p.8.
MATURITY: Late
LEAF COLOR: Medium dark green
SEX: Female
DISEASES: Downy Mildew: moderately susceptible
Verticillium wilt: unknown, probably resistant
Viruses: unknown
VIGOR: Very good
YIELD: Fair to good near Corvallis, Very good in New Zealand.
Corvallis average 989 lbs/a (5-year range 651-1,520 lbs/acre)
SIDEARM LENGTH: 12-24 inches
ALPHA ACIDS: 8.2% (5-year range 7.0-9.5%)
BETA ACIDS: 4.2% (5-year range 3.4-5.2%)
COHUMULONE: 31%
STORAGE STABILITY: Very good, 73% of original alpha acids remaining after 6
months room temperature storage
OIL: 1.00 ml/100 g (5-year range 0.38-1.14 ml);
Humulene 20.7%; caryophyllene 6.1%; myrcene 55.2%
Farnesene trace. H/C ratio = 3.38
MAJOR TRAITS: High yield potential in New Zealand; some similarity to
Cluster hops.
OTHER INFORMATION: Grown commercially in New Zealand in the 1960's and
1970's, but not grown commercially any more. Sister
selection of First Choice (USDA 66055). A tetraploid
Smooth Cone was developed at the Riwaka Research Station
in the late 1970's by colchicine treatment. It was used
to develop the triploid superalpha hops Green Bullet
(USDA 21404), SuperAlpha (USDA 21405, and Alpharoma (USDA 21406), which are now the predominant hops grown in New Zealand.

[denimglen]

I found some more info about smoothcone but I think the link are on my other computer, will hook everyone up later tonight.

[JoKing]

So.... the tasting was pretty good. Not much in the way of hops - a bit of acetaldehyde on the nose. Needs a couple of weeks. Weird for my beers - I never get that crap. Maybe I should have used a fresher packet of US-05!!! I guess when they say "03-09" they mean it!

We'll see... early days yet.

[Sam]

Hey guys, just wondering what you do with your rhizomes over winter (if anything). I've heard that they're pretty hardy so they should survive a frost outside? I'm from the tron so we're not exactly going to get snow or anything :)

[denimglen]

The rhizomes actually like a bit of a freeze cause it sends them into hibernation, nutrient scavaging mode, or whatever the correct term is.

[Tony]

Cut them right back mate. Presuming they in a relatively dry position ( meaning, not water logged), they will be fine. Next spring, when they start to shoot again, choose they 3 best/healthiest shoots and cut the rest back again. That way the plant will concentrate all the nutrients into those and you should get a better harvest.