2017 Hop Power Hour Recordings

• April 24, featuring Dr. David Gent presented on downy mildew management
• May 22, Dr. Heather Darby shared information on soil fertility management and Scott Lewis shares results from the first goScout survey
• June 26, Dr. Lily Calderwood, Cornell Cooperative Extension, provided information, including management options, on potato leafhopper hopper in hops
• July 31, Dr. Andrew Landers, Cornell University, provided a presentation on pesticide application tools and technology
• August 28, Chris Callahan, UVM Extension Agricultural Engineering, provided a presentation on postharvest handling of hops
• September 25, Hop Quality, End of Season Observations

Resources Related to this Project

• Scouting Sheet for Downy Mildew Scouting – Basal Spikes (PDF)
• Fact Sheet on Managing Downy Mildew in Hops in the Northeast (PDF)
• University of Florida article How to Calculate Fertigation Injection Rates for Commercial Blueberry Production (PDF)
• Dr. Calderwood’s Presentation on Potato Leafhopper Management (PDF)
• Dr. Lander’s website on Pesticide Application Technology

• Cost of Growing Hops in the Northeast (PDF)
• Cost of Growing Hops in the Northeast Worksheet (Excel)
• Eastern Comma Butterfly (PDF)
• European Corn Borer Hemp and Hops Factsheet (PDF)
• Fertility Guidelines in the Northeast (PDF)
• Hop Aphid in Northeast Hopyards (PDF)
• Hop Feasibility Study (PDF)
• Hop Harvest Moisture Calculator (online tool) Also available as an EHop Harvest Moisture Calculator (Excel)
• Hop Harvest Timing in the Northeast (PDF)
• Hops Insect Cheat Sheet (PDF)
• Hop Pocket Pest Guide (PDF)
• Hop Scouting Pocket Guide for the U.S. Upper Midwest and Northeast, and Eastern Canada (PDF)
• Hops Recordkeeping Diary (PDF)
• Japanese Beetles (PDF)
• Managing Downy Mildew (PDF)
• Managing Powdery Mildew (PDF)
• Nitrogen Management in Hops (PDF)
• Organic Fungicides and Hops (PDF)
• Potato Leafhopper (PDF)
• Spider Mite Destroyers and Spined Solider Bugs (PDF)
• Two-Spotted Spider Mites (PDF)
• What Hops in a Hop Yard (PDF)

About the Nwcs Hop Equipment

Working closely with farmers, UVM Extension agricultural engineer Chris Callahan and UVM engineering students, the NWCS program developed prototypes for the following small-scale hop-related equipment.

Hop Oast

Hops are commonly harvested at 75-80% moisture by weight, but are ideally pelleted, packaged and stored only after they are dried down to 8-10% moisture. To address the needs of small-scale hop production, a modular hops oast was developed and demonstrated by UVM Extension and Borderview Farm. This oast is designed as an integrated cabinet drier that holds trays of hops. The drying is accomplished with a fan, heater and controller.

Different hop varieties can be kept separate in the oast by placing them in different trays. A total of 8 trays can be accommodated in each cabinet. Wire mesh is used as the bottom for the trays which allows air flow through the hops.

The aim of the design is to use readily available materials and common construction skills and to result in a modular and scalable oast that supports hop growers of various scales. A base module of 4’W x 4’D x 8’H makes use of standard building materials and allows for conveniently sized hop trays. All of the main structure is made with standard construction lumber and plywood. The electrical system is 220 VAC single phase and uses fairly common parts and wiring. The fan motor is 1/4 hP and the fan impeller is a 24 inch vane axial design capable of 3250 CFM at 0.7 iwc pressure rise (at 1750 RPM). The majority of air flow is circulation within the cabinet, however, in order to dry the hops the humidified air must be removed. Holes are drilled in the top of the cabinet at high pressure and low pressure areas along the impeller resulting in exhaust and fresh air intake respectively. The placement of these holes and the degree to which they are open or covered determines how much “stripping” air is pulled through the cabinet. The heating element is a 3500 Watt bent tubular heater. Although one can dry hops using unheated, ambient air, the addition of well controlled heat to the air allows for quicker drying reducing labor and maintaining higher quality hops. The components used in this oast have been selected to dry 300 lbs of wet hops from 80% moisture to 10% moisture in 8 hours with little to no labor required.

A proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller has been used in the system. This type of controller allows the user to set a target temperature and by monitoring the actual temperature in the cabinet using a thermocouple it “zeroes” in on the set-point. This differs from a thermostatic control that would provide an “average” temperature of the set-point but with sometimes wide fluctuations above or below it. The PID controller is always monitoring the difference between the set-point and the actual temperature, the historical difference, and the rate at which this difference is changing in order to predictably adjust the heater operation to attain the desired temperature.

Plans for the UVM Modular Hop Oast including design drawings, a bill of materials, and a description of the machine are available.

Small-scale Hop Harvester

The development of the small-scale, portable hop harvester was a project of University of Vermont Extension, Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources through the USDA Specialty Crops Block Grants Program.  The intent of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of a portable hop harvester with sufficient capacity to serve a 1 acre hop yard per day.  A machine like this one is needed since relatively few hop growers in the northeast can justify the expense of a larger, stationary harvester given the limited scale of their hop production. Additionally, this project intended from the start to make all design documents available to the public for review, replication and improvement of the machine by other users.

A team of hop growers, brewers, and UVM Extension faculty and staff teamed with an engineer and a fabricator to design and develop a functional prototype of a mobile hop harvester. Two general concepts were considered; a machine that stripped vertically hung bines and a machine that stripped horizontally pulled bines.  The team decided on the horizontal machine since it lent itself more to being portable (lower height).  Power supply was another consideration, with the main options being electrical or hydraulic. The overall power demand estimate and need for speed control suggested that if electrical power was selected, three-phase service would be required. Combined with the fact that most of the hop yards in the group are somewhat remote and the fact that most growers would have a reasonably sized tractor with a PTO, the group chose hydraulic power.

The design requirements were developed by the design team, and the design concept was detailed by the team’s engineer.  Fabrication of the prototype was largely completed by Triangle Metal Fab, Inc. in Milton, VT.  Some final assembly and modification was carried out on-site at Four Star Farm (Northfield, MA) and at Borderview Farm (Alburgh, VT). The work by both of these farms in making final adjustments and, in some cases, major alterations is greatly appreciated. Plans for the UVM Small-Scale Hop Harvester, including design drawings, a bill of materials, and a description of the machine are available.

Small-scale Hop Balers

Prototype of the very small-scale hop baler.

As part of the University of Vermont Senior Experience in Engineering Design (SEED) program, engineering students Ian Pfeiffer, Brian Pinand, Ryan Rzepka, Yuri Hudak, and John Repucci designed and built prototypes of two small-scale hops balers. Their work was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Mike Rosen, UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. The projects were funded in part by the Vermont Agricultural Innovation Center through USDA Rural Development.

The very small-scale hop baler project developed an alternative design, aimed at producing 5 to 10 pound bales using human power, with a particular emphasis on preserving quality, safety, low cost and time efficiency. View the very small-scale hop baler design, analysis, prototype realization and test results here (PDF).

The small-scale hop baler is intended for 15 to 20 pound bales. Here the students retrofitted a log splitter to used with the baler. Small-Scale Hop Baler instructions (PDF).

Disclaimer

Please note that the associated design documents are provided “as-is” without guarantee or warranty of any kind. The purpose is to communicate the findings of a research project with the aim of developing a small scale equipment for use in the Northeastern US. The designs are based on standard practices in hops drying and other agricultural equipment operation. Descriptions of the machines are based on the first year of operation (one harvest season), during which several modifications were made. These designs should be reviewed for relevance to the user/reader’s specific location and operation. The designs of these machines do assume experienced and attentive operation teams who demonstrate safe practices when using equipment. The machines are not intended to be operated unattended or by unskilled operators. Risks of bodily injury, include, but are not limited to those that may occur as the result of various pinch points and injury due to falling from ladders/platforms during maintenance or other operations. Any deviation from the designs may create safety risks that are unknown to the designers. UVM, NeHA, their employees and their contractors do not assume liability for any actions or machine assemblies that result in personal injury or loss of property or damage to property on the part of the user of these documents or any operators of the equipment.

To view our most current (2019) and past Conference Proceedings, as well as links to previous Hop Power Hour recordings, please visit our Conferences and Events page.

Hopyard Construction

• Hop Trellising and Budgets by Edward Page, through Ron Godin's site at Colorado State (Great pictures)
• Getting Started with Hops, Michigan State University
• Simple Earth Hops, WI - Trellising Hardware Information
• Potential sources of wooden hop poles
• Watch Roger Rainville construct the UVM Extension research hopyard on YouTube!

Hardware

• Brookdale Fruit Farm, Irrigation and Row Crop Supplies
• Erigging Supply
• Fehr Bros. Industries, Inc.
• Gorst Valley Hops
• Safeland Industrial Supply
• Schmidt Farms

Irrigation

• Watch UVM Extension’s YouTube video on setting up irrigation in your hopyard!
• Optimal Irrigation Study for Hops (PDF)
• Irrigation parts list from the UVM Extension hopyard (PDF)
• Aroostook Hops in Maine received a Northeast SARE Farmer Grant. Their findings on the importance of irrigation (PDF) in a Northeastern hopyard are well worth a read!

Hop Varieties

• Hop Varieties by Hopunion
• Yakima Chief Hop Varietal Guide (2013) (PDF)
• USDA Hop Cultivar Index

Rhizomes - Wholesale

• Aroostook Hops, Westfield, ME (Certified Organic)
• Crosby Hop Farm, Woodburn, OR
• Foothill Hops, Munnsville, NY
• Freshops, Philomath, OR
• Gorst Valley Hops, Mazomanie, WI
• Left Fields Farm, Sorrento, BC (Only ships within Canada)
• Oregon Hops, Hubbard, OR
• Organarchy Hops, Leesburg, VA (certified organic)
• Pioneer Plant-Tech, Inc., Deerfield, NY (lab-grown hops)
• RNV Enterprises, Yakima, WA
• Summit Plant Labs, Fort Collins, CO (hop plugs)
• Sunnybrook Farm, Middlesex, VT
• Thyme Garden Herb Company, Alsea, OR
• US Hop Source, Denver, CO (Indexed virus free Cascade)

Pest Management

See under Factsheets, Bulletins, Guides, & Online Tools above.

• Pest scouting video with Scott Lewins and Savanna Kittell-Mitchell
• Field Guide for Integrated Pest Management in Hops (from Washington State University)
• Hop Pest Management (University of Idaho)
• Order “Compendium of Hop Diseases and Pests” from the American Phytopathological Society

Harvesting Info

View our Hop Equipment tab above for information on the Modular Hop Oast, Mobile Hop Harvester, and information for a small-scale harvester, small-scale balers, and a small-scale oast.

• Watch UVM Extension’s YouTube video on determining hop harvest moisture and ideal storage dry matter!
• Determining Hop Dry Matter (from Michigan State University)
• Hop Harvest Readiness blog post from What’s Hoppening, UVM Extension’s hops blog
• UVM Extension’s Hop Harvest Moisture Calculator (.xlsx)
• Solar hops dryer designed by Richard Andrews as part of the Colorado State University’s Specialty Crops Program (PDF)

Quality Testing

• UVM Extension Cereal Grain and Hops Testing Lab
• Brew Laboratory, Holt, MO
• Alpha Analytics, Massachusetts

General Hoppy Information

• Growing Hops in Vermont Discussion Group
• Hop – Alternative Field Crops Manual (from Purdue University)
• Hops Fertilizer Guide (Oregon State University Extension Service)
• Hops TV from Hops Direct
• Sustainable Hop Production in the Great Lakes Region (from Michigan State University Extension) (PDF)
• University of Vermont Hops Information by Leonard Perry
• USDA Hops Website
• Yakima Chief - Hopunion

Orgnaizations of Note

• American Organic Hop Grower Association
• Hop Growers of America
• Massachusetts Brewers Guild
• Michigan Hop Alliance
• Northeast Hop Alliance
• Oregon Hop Commission