We told you last week about all the creative ways we used the pears and apples coming out of our orchard. But now we’re focusing on our ripening hops. We have Chinook, Cascade and Centennial varieties reaching maturity.
We grew hops – now what?
The first step is to cut down the bines. They climb 14+ feet up ropes that we attached to our garage. Then we take each hop cone off the bine and lay it out on a screen to dry for 3 days. A few times a day, we fluff and move the hops on the screen to make sure they dry evenly. Bonus – our hands smell like hops!
You don’t want to let them dry for longer than that because the longer they are out, the more they oxidize (and lose their hoppy goodness).
We’ve been weighing out the hops and packing them into vacuum-sealed bags to freeze for use in future batches of home-brewed beer. But we’ve also been grinding them up and using them to scent our homemade candles! We have a cascade hop scented candle that is out of this world! If you love the smell of fresh hops, you’ll love it! In the next few weeks, we plan to have some of our candles available on our Shop page. They’d make great Christmas gifts for any beer lover!
Our plan is to add a few plants every year until we have enough for ourselves and to share with other beer brewing nerds. Eventually maybe we’ll even sell to some of the great craft breweries in the area.
????????
My son Casey in Seattle did some home brewing to some pretty good success. He didn’t grow the hops but…
As you might know, in Seattle, to live there, you either have to have a micro-brewery, a home brewery, a coffee shop, or home roaster to live there. It’s a requirement for residency.
Brew away!
I think the other path to residency is an amazing beard. Next time you’re out at the farm you’ll have to try some of our brews and maybe next year we can supply Casey with enough fresh hops to brew a batch!
I’m tired just reading your page. so many talents love