Homercidal

Recipes 

I've seen several people with some impressive first year hops. Nice going guys!

I downloaded a "Hops Manual" from a website, which I can't remember off the top of my head, and this is an excerpt from it about when to pick:

"The most straightforward way to tell if a hop cone is ready to be picked is to look at it and feel it. As the hops mature, they gradually lighten in colour from a rich, brilliant green to a paler shade, with some of the bottom bracts turning slightly golden. The lupulin will also gradually change colour, darkening from a very pale gold to a dark yellow reminiscent of Ministry of Transportation vehicles. As the lupulin darkens, it also becomes more sticky - in some varieties, you can judge ripeness by the stickiness of the cones. Cones will also go from feeling distinctly damp when squeezed to feeling light, papery and quite dry, and will become more resilient."

EDIT: Found the link:http://www.crannogales.com/HopsManual.pdf