new guy from MN

[CRohwer]

I've been brewing since 2001, all-grain since almost the beginning. I can't afford any fancy equipment, and in fact, I gave all of my stuff to my Dad (he live half an hour away) so I could teach him and we could brew together. We do 15-20 5-gal. batches per year now.
I work at the University of Minnesota as a horticulture scientist, and I started what I call 'the largest university-affiliated hop research project between Traverse City and Ft. Collins": http://sroc.cfans.umn.edu/People/Facult ... /index.htm.

[cornhole]

Awsome!!! Welcome to the forum. My cascades survived the drought without extra watering, they are growing in a half oak barrel 3rd year. Some of the flowers did not develop. My northern brewer and nugget burned, each planted in a 5 gallon bucket, each first year in buckets.
-CH

[spiderwrangler]

AWESOME. Nice when the 'new guy' is an expert and not just a freeloader.. I'm certain that there will be people bending your ear on hop stuff! In fact, I have a question that the Brew Strong guys weren't able to answer more than "Try it and let us know". If I were to get fresh hops in (shipped from the PNW), and some of the cones have a short section of bine (and maybe a leaf), would this be sufficient to vegetatively propagate a plant? My thought was that similar to how bines can be buried after harvest to generate new rhizome, I may be able to prop up a plant from the pieces that make it through the picking. Or would it need a connection to root structure to be able to supply the necessary nutrients/etc.?

[spiderwrangler]

Also, is there a higher res version of the hop pedigree poster available? Even enlarged, I can't make out the legend...

[CRohwer]

AWESOME. Nice when the 'new guy' is an expert and not just a freeloader.. I'm certain that there will be people bending your ear on hop stuff! In fact, I have a question that the Brew Strong guys weren't able to answer more than "Try it and let us know". If I were to get fresh hops in (shipped from the PNW), and some of the cones have a short section of bine (and maybe a leaf), would this be sufficient to vegetatively propagate a plant? My thought was that similar to how bines can be buried after harvest to generate new rhizome, I may be able to prop up a plant from the pieces that make it through the picking. Or would it need a connection to root structure to be able to supply the necessary nutrients/etc.?

Short answer: probably not. It's likely a sidearm you've got, not the main stem, and I doubt you'd have a lot of success propagating. If it is indeed a section of the main bine, however, that's a different story. Trim it to just below a node, but try to get 2 nodes per cutting, dip the bottom in some rooting hormone and stick it some fresh potting soil in a moist, warm-ish, humid place, with the bottom nodes in the soil and the top nodes not in the soil, then....try it and let us know.

Also, is there a higher res version of the hop pedigree poster available? Even enlarged, I can't make out the legend...

Sorry, there isn't a high-res version available. The legend just has a list of the named varieties on the chart, plus a little extra information, such as:
"Columbus is considered equivalent to Tomahawk and Zeus"
"Styrian Golding is Slovenian-grown Fuggle, and US Tettnanger considered equivalent to Fuggle. Early Green is also very similar to Fuggle"
"There is an equal chance that either 7k491 or 2L118 is the grandmother of Northdown, 1/61/1, 1/61/8, and 1/61/57"
(for example)

[Afterlab]

Welcome aboard! It's great to hear there is some level of hop research being done at the U. I saw a large hop pedigree poster with the UMN logo on it the last friday when I was at the St. Paul Northern Brewer, I may need to purchase one of those.

Has anyone from NB approached you to do any classes at the Northern Brewer Minneapolis store?

[CRohwer]

Has anyone from NB approached you to do any classes at the Northern Brewer Minneapolis store?

Yes, but not officially. Just 'sometime in the future', which I happily agreed to.

[TheDarkSide]

Welcome!!

Now tell me why my centennial hops won't grow but the cascades are going crazy I'm probably going to dig them up next year anyways.