Picking And Drying

My Cascade hops seem to be about ready to pick. Most cones have been full size for some time and they are starting to turn color. I picked a pie tin full and I'm going to dry them in the oven just to see the moisture content.

These are my Centennial, not quite as far along as the Cascade, but close.


Here's the pie tin in the oven

Looks awesome. How'd you dry them in the oven? How long & hot hot, I was considering using my food dehydrator on the lowest setting, I heard high temps start to degrade the delicious hop flavor.

Awesome looking hop growing network too. I should've done that.

They're drying right now. I have the oven as low as it will go ~ 200º f. The kitchen is a mixed smell of citrus (Cascades) and curry (Dinner). Those pics are only a half hour old.

Looks like my wet weight is about 4 times the dry weight. The hops weighted 44 g before and 12 g after. That whole pan was less than a half ounce dry! Considering that some of those hops were on the dry side to begin with, I think 4x the normal dry weight for whole hops will be good if I use the fresh, undried ones.

Dang hard to believe that's only 12 grams. But then again it's always amazing to see how much vacuum sealed whole hops soak up wort.

Brewsmith said:

These are my Centennial, not quite as far along as the Cascade, but close.
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ZOMFG, how did you train them to look so perfect??? That alone looks fabulous!

I just ran twine up to the roof and then over the patio. The twine over the patio was too flat for them to climb, so I was daily straightening them out. I didn't really need to do anything once I got them going up verticals, though.

Here's a pic from about 2 months ago when they were just starting to flower. Basically when the bine grew about a foot, i started training it up a piece of twine. Once it got going, I didn't really have to do much until it reached the roof. Next year I'm trying a taller solution.

2 Willamette on left, 2 Cascade on right

Wow. Those hops look great. I can't believe you have so much growth from planting in pots. What year are your plants?

nice, we just cut back our cascade as well, it still has some growing to do, tho!

Milhouse said:

Wow. Those hops look great. I can't believe you have so much growth from planting in pots. What year are your plants?

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All are first year

Damn you!!! LOL! That is awesum. I am getting some good number on my first year plant, but the other two are much smaller and I am hoping for enough for one or two batches.

Next year, man. Next year...

I just picked a bowl full of hops off of one of my cascade plants. I got 287 grams or just over 10 ounces. After I dry them I should get about 2.5 ounces. Time to pick the other plant. It has at least the same amount, maybe a little more. I think I'll get to picking the Centennial tomorrow.

That is a great harvest for 1st year hops-in pots no less- and you are in So Cal-not exactly the ideal hops climate- Congrats!

I finally got all of the Cascade picked. The other plant had about a pound undried. When all is done I should have over 6 ounces of fresh Cascade alone. The Centennial is next...

Brewsmith said:

I finally got all of the Cascade picked. The other plant had about a pound undried. When all is done I should have over 6 ounces of fresh Cascade alone. The Centennial is next...

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you got that done at 4:50 this morning? So I wasn't the only crazy person awake doing stuff around the house

My Cascade produced a decent amount for a first year plant. I haven't picked yet so I don't have a total. However, my Willamette doesn't have any cones on it and the Chinook never ever started to grow.

Still looking forward to a rhizome exchange when others are ready.

Brewsmith, I'm quite near you and some of my first year Cascades look to be ready to harvest as well. Interestingly enough, though the ones up high look ready, papery feel and browning tips, lower on the same plant I have more flowers that have just appeared in the last week. My Chinook and Crystal are not far behind. Not a hint of a flower on the rest of my crop; Fuggles, Goldings, Hallertau, Horizon and Willamette.

You guys are making me jealous! My Cascade never grew and my Mount Hood has about 8 cones on it. Both first year plants. I plan on buying a few more Cascade Rhizomes next year and some other varieties. Just went with 2 this year to see if I could grow anything.

Your growing technique is pretty damn cool and I'm impressed at the first year harvest. I can only imagine how you will do in the next few years.

raceskier said:

Brewsmith, I'm quite near you and some of my first year Cascades look to be ready to harvest as well. Interestingly enough, though the ones up high look ready, papery feel and browning tips, lower on the same plant I have more flowers that have just appeared in the last week. My Chinook and Crystal are not far behind. Not a hint of a flower on the rest of my crop; Fuggles, Goldings, Hallertau, Horizon and Willamette.

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I noticed some of the same things. The early flowers turned brown and the late ones were small. I waited for a compromise between the extremes. The small flowers were not getting any bigger and the bigger ones were just getting browner, so I decided to just pick them all.

And about the 4:30 am comment, I'm on west coast time. It was only 1:30 am. That's early!

Finished drying the Cascade...

I had to stuff it all in a 1 gallon ziplock bag. Smells great. Citrusy and a little pungent. I want a pillow stuffed with this. Total weight after drying:

250 grams
8.82 ounces

With the current prices, the hops from these two plants alone paid for almost half of the 10 plants that I bought this year.

Here's some off the first plant


Here's the makeshift drying apparatus


And the proud papa

Very nice!
There might be something to this horizontal growing thing. I have two plants that pretty much trained themselves to go horizontally after they hit the top of the trellis. The horizontal sections have, not only far more hops, but the sizes average much larger than those that are growing on the vertical sections.

I just went out to pick my (first-year) hops. The Cascade is far and away the most prolific and earliest to be ready; quite a few of the cones were papery but had brown tips...into the pail with those. I left an equal quantity on the bines and got 2.25 ounces green.

The Liberty has a lot of ground growth and two bines (not three like the Cascade) and yielded a quarter ounce. I was surprised to see how much smaller and how much less lupulin the Liberty cones had than the Cascade.

The Willamette was the first to flower but was the shortest one...I picked all three cones.

I imagine I'll end up with 5 or 6 green ounces of hops total, which will be enough to aroma hop a couple batches and that's it. I will be happy with that, considering I expected nothing for this year.

And yes, the fresh Cascades smell delightful!

Finished drying the Centennial today. 152 grams, or 5.36 ounces. It looks like I'm going to have plenty for my harvest Double IPA and some left over. Chinook are the next to be picked.

Chinook are in today. 86 grams, 3.03 ounces