First year cascade harvest

So out of the 3 rhizomes I planted the cascade was the only one to produce hops. The goldings grew well but haven't put out any burrs yet and the fuggle had some issues but finally put out a shoot at the end of July. I harvested a little over half the cascade and got about 5 oz. The rest of it should be ready in a week or 2.


Check out my blog for the whole write up of my first year growing and some more pics.

That's great, Chris. I enjoyed your write-up on your blog about your first year Cascades.

I also did the first harvest of our first year Cascades. I picked 7 ounces (wet) and there's at least 3 times as many still on the bine, maturing. I put up some photos and a write-up on my blog, too, at http://www.singingboysbrewing.com/The-Blog.html?entry=first-hop-harvest

After holding them like this, my hand was very fragrant!

I just wish the goldings would of done more. They where the first to start climbing but once the cascade started it blew the goldings out of the water. It was up the line and half way across the arbor before the goldings made it to the top of its rope.

Chrisl77 said:

I just wish the goldings would of done more. They where the first to start climbing but once the cascade started it blew the goldings out of the water. It was up the line and half way across the arbor before the goldings made it to the top of its rope.

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Same thing happened to me. I planted two cascade and one EKG this year. The EKG came out strong but pretty much stopped gaining any height about a month ago and never produced any hops. I've heard this is par for the course with EKG.

Can anyone recommend another good hearty strain that is easy to grow?

Chrisl77 said:

I just wish the goldings would of done more. They where the first to start climbing but once the cascade started it blew the goldings out of the water. It was up the line and half way across the arbor before the goldings made it to the top of its rope.

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I also had two hills of Willamettes, which are related to Goldings, I think. Mine came up fine, but the bines never really thrived - looked like they didn't get enough water, but I watered as much as they could possibly want.

Here's hoping your Goldings and my Willamettes spent all their energy building root crowns for next year!

Those look awesome!! Congrats on your first harvest!

rexbanner - I had excellent luck with my first year Centennials.

They are all dried. I was surprised that my rig dried them overnight. I put the screen across 2 tables in my basement with a sheet draped over it and clamped on the 4 corners. Then I put exhaust from a dehumidifier up one side of the sheet so the air would inflate the sheet without blowing the hops around. They went from just about 5 oz. to just under 1 oz. overnight.

I planted 4 rhizomes this year one Cascade and three Chinook, all the Chinook failed but I just harvested about half of the Cascade and it came out to about a pound and a half wet.

I am really pleasantly surprised since I read that first year plants put out very little if anything.

I got 13 oz wet from my first year Cascades - I dried them down to around 3.5 oz and used them all (along with a few dozen cones of Magnum and Santiam first year plants) in a pale ale, and was disappointed with the final flavor and aroma. Some of the cones had started turning brown and most had a decent aroma when I tore them open, but the flavor didn't come through in the beer. I ended up boiling a hop tea to add a little IBUs to the beer post fermentation, and then dry hopped with an ounce of Cascade and Centennial pellets to add some flavor to the brew.
I guess what I'm saying is to have some commercial hops on hand in case you don't get the flavor you are expecting from your home grown hops. I'm attributing the lack of flavor to being first year hops, as it seems to be a common problem to growers. It tasted more 'hoppy' in the kettle, but after fermentation (WLP007) it was kind of bland. It could be user error on my part too, but I don't really know for sure. Regardless, it was a fun experiment and I'm hoping for better results next year. Maybe I've just burnt out my taste buds from too many high IBU IPAs and I can't taste pale ales anymore...

I am planning on using these to dry hop with ontop of pellets during the boil. They smelled great when I was picking them I didnt wash my hands for an hour after I was done they smelled so good.