Is that the Lake Hopper by Citizen? I’ve shied away from commercial dry hopped cider because I wasn’t a huge fan of it the time I tried it in my own cider. That said, Lake Hopper has piqued my interest because I really enjoy their other stuff that I’ve tried.
Probably? It’s definitely Citizen Cider who buys a lot of their hops. I can’t imagine that they produce more than one hopped cider, do they? I don’t buy much beer or cider so I haven’t had it. I have enjoyed one or two of their other ciders in the past; they definitely hit the local/regional market at a good time.
I’m not personally aware of anyone growing hops in my area of Southwest Indiana, but one of the guys in our local brew club harvested some wild hops growing along a railroad right-of-way and brewed a tasty beer with it.
As I mow around my new house I don’t see an area that has direct sun all day due to trees. Are there any hop varieties that do well with only partial sun?
Not really. Hops do have to have full sun and an adequate water supply in order to grow well and produce hops. I have a Northern Brewer bine that gets great morning sun, but little in the afternoon. It is a poor producer. My Cascade and Centennial have poor morning sun, but full afternoon sun and they are great producers. I’m betting that the variety has a lot to do with those results, but I’d recommend getting good afternoon sun.
I live in Joliet, IL ( Will County) I planted Cascade and Centennial 2 years ago. The cascade are doing Great! 2nd year lots of BIG hops. the Centennial are doing good not GREAT, fewer cones and not as big. Hoping a little more time with them. They are already coming up this year, the Cascade about 2’ tall. the Centennial only about a foot. At the end of the year I do not cut them back all the way back to the ground. I understand nutrients in there will flow back to the root ball to help next years growth. Reading in this forum I’ve learned Centennial have a few problems, nice to know. I believe with maybe another year mine will produce as much as my Cascade do. I have heard each year will have a different effect on your/my harvest
Even the farmers in Yakima get low yield from Centennial. My plant never gave more than two handfuls of small cones as compared to two grocery bags of Cascade cones.
The best yield of all the varieties I had was Chinook. Huge cones and maybe 4-5 grocery bags harvested.
I’m between Ann Arbor and Flint MI. Chinook loves Michigan. Centennial, not so much.
If you ask hop growers around Yakima what variety they wish they didn’t have to grow, the answer is always Centennial. Disease prone, low yield. Add to that you’re not in prime hop growing latitude.
My Homebrew Club, the Glass City Mashers, has an acre hop yard in NW Ohio. It was an experimental hop yard started by Ohio State University that we took over three years ago. I believe they were trying to find out which varieties would thrive in this region. We had Goldings, Galena, Mt. Hood, Sterling, Cenntenial, Cascade, Chinook, Williamette, Nugget, and Columbus. This year we removed Cenntennial, Williamette, and Goldings because they were not doing well and not producing. With the help of a Michigan hop farm, Mr. Wizards, we are planting more Cascade and Mackinaw. Our best yielding hops are Chinook, Columbus, and Nugget.
Very cool!
Working with Mr. Wizards has been wonderful. When we harvest our hops, we take them to their facility where they run them through a machine that separates the hops from the vines. Then, they dry, test, pelletize, and package them. Some local breweries even use some of our hops .