Pssst! $3 Per Ounce Will Score You the Good Stuff

This is the first post in a new blog category:  "Potpourri"
for topics that don't belong anywhere in particular.

Last weekend I harvested half the hops 

This is the second year for my experiment with growing hops, and they really performed well this year despite the wet, weird weather. I grew them for the first time last year for a coworker that was brewing his own beer. This year he's on to something else, so I'm selling the harvested, packaged cones at $3 an ounce; internet market value.


David, as usual, pitched in to help with my experiment, and built the 20-ft framework that supports the hops bines (similar to, but different than vines) as they grow. He also devised the system by which we raise and lower the bines. This is necessary because the top half of the hops are ready to harvest sooner than the ones on the bottom, due to getting started sooner, and getting the first kiss of the sun.

Here are some post-harvest pictures, after the hop cones had been dried for a few days on a screen in the greenhouse. Sorry about the fuzzy picture--that's what happens when you're too lazy to put your glasses on to see if it's in focus or not... 

Some browing of the leaf tips is okay, but I think mine may be showing signs of improper watering, according to my research. The yellow stuff between the petals is what the brewers are after. According to several internet sources: "It is the 'yellow powder' or lupulin glands within the hop scales which contain all the acids and essential oils responsible for the hop character."