Nugget Hop Bines

The 2015 Nugget hops harvest is done. I ended up with 1.6 pounds of wet hops (they were pretty dry). I should end up with about 8 ounces of dry hops. They are under a ceiling fan on a screen drying now. It should take 2 to 3 days in the air conditioned (dry air) environment.

It went fairly quick, just short of an hour. Of course it had to fall on a hot and super humid day – Saturday of the Labor day weekend. The dew point was in the 70’s and a temp of 89. That’s a “feels like” temp of 95+ degrees.

Nugget are a bittering hop so you don’t want to over do it with these. Aromatic hops like Cascade are much more forgiving as they are much less bitter and mainly contribute to the “nose” or aroma of the beer or ale. I have yet to come across a beer or ale with too much aromatic hops though I suppose it is possible. I have come across some that were too bitter for my taste (and I like a few at 100 IBU+).

That’s it for the 2015  hop growing season here.  I am hoping for a warm sunny season next year.  I should be producing more cones than I have this season (or the last few).  I will keep you posted with any new things I may try to improve my harvest amounts.  I hope you all had a great season and I would love to hear your success stories (or challenges).  Leave a comment if you wish.

Hop on!

Nugget Hop Cones of Various Shapes and Sizes