My first hops harvest. The strong dry smokey East winds blew for three days on my short hops plant. I had watered them heavily prior to the winds, knowing I did not want to be outside in the smoke for a couple days.
When the wind stopped there was a two day window before the rains came so I felt I better harvest them. Took the vines in the garage and dried them for a day with my dehumidifier, the air had gotten muggy prior to the rain but the smoke had pretty much cleared from the air.
I snipped each hops bud off with a scissors and put them in a shallow cardboard box. There was a pleasant hops smell to them. I put the box in our convection oven and dried them overnight, checking the temperature not to exceed 135f.
The hops were beautiful and light green with fine aroma. I turned off the oven and closed the door as the air was still humid.
While my Grandson and I were checking out some sporting equipment upstairs, Grandma pre-heated the oven to bake a cake.
Burnt hops smell is awful and stays in the house for days.
Oh, what a shame! Hope there are more hops to gather!
Hops were once a HUGE crop in Wisconsin due to all of us Germans moving here because Wisconsin looks so much like Germany, it’s uncanny! And, of course, we brought our beer making skills with us. ;)
As a parent I learned to ALWAYS look in the oven before firing it up.
(”firing”, see what I did there?)
Oh lord that is horrible.
Where are you located and what are younusing the hops for...home brew possibly?
No posts yet from the heatwave/drought sufferers.
55 degrees here, drought continues, central Connecticut.
Zone 6. Late cukes still growing. Sunflowers peak.
I finished knotweed eradication 2 days ago. Back to regular yardwork. I don’t know how to do photos yet.