Fresh Hop Cones

Hello everyone.

In a few months Im going to be doing a class for the Bristol Renaissance Faire concerning beer during the renaissance. I have used in the past dried whole leaf hops from my homebrew place to demonstrate hops but I am hoping to bring that up a notch and use, if I can find it, real hop cones.

Does anyone know of a place that would have fresh hop cones?

Thanks,
DDI

DirtyDuckInn wrote:Hello everyone.
Does anyone know of a place that would have fresh hop cones?

I'm guessing it's the wrong time of year, but I have a contact with a serious homebrewer -- if he doesn't know, nobody does.

As JoelF said, it's the wrong season for fresh hop cones, unless you can find a source in Argentina (Argentine Cascade is an increasingly popular variety) or Australia (Pride of Ringwood variety).

Leaf hops are readily available, though - they're basically deconstructed cones, somewhat dried.

Leaf Hops, courtesy of Midwest Supply, a large homebrew supplier

Or, if you've got some time before your talk, and you've got a little bit of land, you can get hop rhizomes and grow your own. Hops grow well in the Chicago area - several LTHers grow their own - you might want to ask/post for some full cones in late summer.

Of course, if you're talking about the early part of the Renaissance, hops weren't especially common - they threw all sorts of other herbs in there, instead (there are still a few examples of these gruit beers around if you look hard enough).

You might try:
Australian Hop Growers Association
Phone: (03) 6236 3654
Address:
30 Burnett St North Hobart TAS 7000

My friend came through:

You mean besides my freezer?

Try www.freshops.com

When he says "my freezer" I don't think he was implying he's willing to share.

These will be dried leaf hops, not "fresh" hop cones. Pretty much everything you can purchase will be dried. The only way to get fresh is to grow them, but even if you planted some rhizomes they generally won't be ready for harvest until fall, and most varieties will not produce the frist year.

JoelF wrote:My friend came through:

You mean besides my freezer?

Try http://www.freshops.com

When he says "my freezer" I don't think he was implying he's willing to share.

I have several home-grown varieties which were dried, thermally sealed, then frozen. I should be able to find some that are relatively intact. PM me if you are interested. Fresh hops are usually available late august-october

Dave,

Have you figured out which varieties are which? (Not that it would matter to the original poster.)

I'm trying to find rhizomes for dwarf hops (e.g. Summit) but no luck yet. Any ideas?

nr706 wrote:Dave,

Have you figured out which varieties are which? (Not that it would matter to the original poster.)

I'm trying to find rhizomes for dwarf hops (e.g. Summit) but no luck yet. Any ideas?

Tom,
I never found the original plot. I can identify the major strains: cascade, goldings, fuggles, challenger etc, but the weirder ones like viking and icelandic, I am not sure of. Redvine does indeed have a red vine, so it is easy to identify. Two years ago, I made an attempt to keep the strains separate. Last year, I got lazy and just mixed them all together. I call it hop-luck. I know I have no dwarf varieties.

Dave

Hi,

There are hops growing on a neighbor's fence. What do you need to identify the strain? Shoots? Vine color? Flower? I will collect whatever information you need to ID these.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

There are hops growing on a neighbor's fence. What do you need to identify the strain? Shoots? Vine color? Flower? I will collect whatever information you need to ID these.

Regards,

Flowers and leaves will usually give a pretty good indication of the type of hops. Some are unmistakable by the smell or flavor. There are various wild hops growing around the midwest (especially in Michigan) which can be traced backed to varieties brought by early settlers. Some are types of Goldings that were brought by English settlers, some are Saaz brought by German settlers from Bohemia, etc. I wonder if anybody has done a study of the 'feral' hop varieties of the Upper Midwest.

HI,

The hops are grown on a chain link fence of a home over 130 years old. I am guessing they were planted to hide the ugly fence and of fairly recent vintage. When they are in bloom, I will bring you a sample to evaluate.

Regards,

Thanks for all of the responses to the post.

Not not going to need them until mid June anyway. I was just curious if there were any local growers that would have them.

nr706 wrote:Of course, if you're talking about the early part of the Renaissance, hops weren't especially common - they threw all sorts of other herbs in there, instead (there are still a few examples of these gruit beers around if you look hard enough).

That is true. But the era that we represent at the fair is 1574, bristol england. Hops were slowly making there way to the port town. Not very popular but slowly being used for there preservative properties. If I have to stick to my dried goldings, then be it.

During my research years back I found one of the reciepts (recipes) was for a ale made with chicken. Mind you, Im willing to try almost anything but I might draw the line with that.

....might.....but not definately.

The powers that be that run the faire will not allow me to grow hops on site.

But if there is anyone out there that can provide me with a few cone in Mid June, contact me via LTH, I will give them comp tickets to the Bristol Faire for the coming season.

Just came across this thread. Two sources I know of (from the recommendations of the homebrew community) are Puterbaugh Farms; www.hopsdirect.com and Niko's Homebrew Supply; www.nikobrew.com

Freshops has already been mentioned. I know that hopsdirect only sells by the pound, but I'm pretty sure the others sell smaller quantities. Hops direct purportedly has great customer service and might be able to point you in the right direction for whole cones. They're definitely not local, though. They definitely sell rhizomes and have a good variety of hops.

Good luck,

Jeff