First cascade harvest...wow

Some pics of my first cascade harvest. The first pic is actually from the top of the bine (which sort of slipped off the rope and slumped over). I have it lowered for easier picking. My hops are actually 2 years old, but the first year they were in pots just staying alive until I could get my raised bed completed....so, first harvest at any rate.

I'm not sure how much they will weigh once dried (any guesses?) but I measured about 2.5# in my 5-gallon bucket....about 3-4 gallons I suppose. This is from one plant that had a few bines all strung together. I still have yet to harvest my centennial and zeus hops....they probably have the same amount. Oddly, the nugget is much less and chinook and goldings are almost nonexistent. Whatever... Anyway, I'm pretty happy about the harvest so far! I was going to make a Belgian Strong Dark tomorrow but it's tempting to do a wet hop IPA instead!

I owe a lot of thanks to the fine individuals here on HBT who have posted a lot of information on growing hops....thanks for your contributions!

Great harvest - I've got some 5 year old cascades that still kick out a good amount each year.

I hate to break it to ya- you'll get maybe 1-2 oz dried...use em as a wet hop ale

3-4 gallons has to be more than 1-2oz. 2.5lbs should be more like 8oz, right?

+1 for wet hop.

Thanks...I'm fine with 1-2 oz...but it'll by my homegrown 1-2 oz

shoreman said:

I hate to break it to ya- you'll get maybe 1-2 oz dried...use em as a wet hop ale

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That is not true. There is a 70-80% weight loss from water. So if you conservatively have 3 lbs. (48 oz.) you will end up with 10-14 oz. of dried hops.

3-4 gallons has to be more than 1-2oz. 2.5lbs should be more like 8oz, right?

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That's what I was thinking, but until I dry and re-weigh, I won't know for sure. I'll update the post in a few days with the final weight....if I do actually dry all of it!

I had a full 5 gallon bucket and got 28 oz dry... love this hobby

Two second year plants of Brewer's Gold netted me 56 oz of dried hops. Can't wait to see what I get out of the Cascade and Nugget. Last year's Cascade outproduced both others combined so I could easily end up w/ 4-5 lbs of Cascade this year!!!

How'd your nugget do this year? Mine did horrible, but I also dig the crown up and moved it to another part of the yard. I can't place all the blame on the weather.

My guess... 11oz dried. My cascade is just about ready for harvest and also did great this year. Post what the final dried weight is! :rockin:

Drying as I type...I picked a couple gallons of centennial yesterday and still have some more left on the bine...getting too hot to pick unless it's early or late in the day. I'll have to start drying them as well. I think I need to build an oast...I'm going to start running out of screens unless I stagger each variety and don't dry them all at once. I thought about the furnace filter method and even bought a couple of them, but they just don't hold enough. I'll try the filter method with my nugget crop since it'll be pretty small.

I ended up with about 9oz dried, so approximately 25% of wet weight. Does anyone else have difficulties getting the seal started with a FoodSaver? It doesn't want to seal right away for some reason...takes 2 or 3 tries for each 1oz bag. Oh well...

I have a Foodsaver, and have the same problem.. I seems to need a good 3" - 4" of unfilled and flat bag at the top before you feed it in. Kind of a waste of space, but that works best for me.

That looks awesome, great work, I've tried Cascade in Gulf Coast Texas Weather ... 1 oz wet hops