With the last of this years crop emerging from the airing cupboard, I got my new vacuum packing machine out and with a big, custom made bag…
200g of Fuggles hops … Shrunk!#hops #driedhops #beer #homebrewhttps://t.co/WthCIeux5J pic.twitter.com/8NxOn4ag3E
— mbc (@barnconversion) October 10, 2018
We got the last two bines of Fuggles hops in this weekend.
Time was definitely running out as autumn encroached and the cones neared late middle-age.
Two plants remained, those occupying the west and north corners of the Fuggles pyramid. The west facing plant provided far more cones, on a thicker stem that were less mature than those on the north facing plant, the cones of which had already started to turn over ripe. I hadn’t expected to see such a difference due to orientation to the sun.
Abergavenny Food Festival yesterday so harvesting had to wait until today & it rained… all day, without a pause.
So next week harvesting will conclude (weather permitting)…
…and my airing cupboard should have been vacated by last weekend’s crop…
Dried hops
& my Fuggles glut
Damn it! Forgot to weigh my hops before starting to dry them…
So four days in the airing cupboard and my Fuggles have proven themselves way more impressive in terms of yield ~ just over 1kg of partially dried cones from two plants in comparison to 100g give-or-take from my four Cascade plants.
But ohhh… the smell of those Cascase hops makes any amount worthwhile.
We’ll harvest the rest of the Fuggles this weekend & remember to weight them.
So having planted four Cascade and four Fuggles hop plants last winter that have prospered over the summer and with what feels to me like an early autumn setting in, last weekend it seemed that the time was ‘ripe’ for harvesting.
I think the pictures tell the story…
The Fuggles plants have been very profuse, yielding a total of five mushroom crates, each of which has been half filled.
Whilst nowhere near as profuse, the cascade plants provided a ‘blissful’ aroma…
Harvesting #Cascade #hops my god, the aroma is blissful! #BreconBeacons #BreconBeaconsHops pic.twitter.com/VsHpNj7oTR
— mbc (@barnconversion) September 9, 2018
More on yields once the cones have completed drying in the airing cupboard that I’ve requisitioned for the purpose.