Colorado harvest?

[moti_mo]

Anyone in CO harvested yet? Mine definitely aren't ready this year (they're second years), but last year I harvested my buddy's second years on August 22nd for a fresh hop beer. I feel like his were probably ready a week prior last year, so it would seem like the time is getting near (we're in Denver/Golden).

When do you Coloradians typically harvest?

 

[Hopfarmer]

We usually start harvest here in Paonia the last week of August.I will post readiness ,dry matter as well as touch feel and smell instructions and video tonight Cheers Glen

 

[moti_mo]

Thanks hopfarmer. Mine definitely aren't paper-y enough yet, and I still actually have a lot of the small starbursts that haven't fully developed into cones yet. So I might have two harvests this year, since I have a lot that are already really nice cones, just waiting for them to dry out a bit.

 

[Hopfarmer]

Dont count on 2 harvest it just does not really happen the burrs rapidly catch up Cheers Glen

 

[moti_mo]

groovy - one harvest is fine with me. One harvest of my hops plus one harvest of my buddy's hops means two fresh-hop brew sessions.

 

[moti_mo]

My buddy's Cascades are looking good to go. Think we're doing a fresh hop IPA on Thursday. Anybody else in CO harvested already or planning to do so soon?

 

[Hopfarmer]

mine will not be ready till the end of the month

 

[Hopfarmer]

Have you checked the ripeness video I posted

 

[moti_mo]

I haven't yet, but I've been meaning to. I've looked at another couple of videos that described what to look for to check if they're ripe. Papery sound, bounces back when squeezed, i.e. not still "squishy" from moisture content, and nice golden lupulin glands, slightly browned tips from being naturally dried out from sun once moisture content is low. Using those criteria, I think that a good portion, probably half, of my friend's hops are ready, while ~1/2 aren't. Using the same criteria, the hops at my house are definitely not ready.

So I think my plan is:

1. fresh hop IPA on Thursday with the half of my buddy's hops that are ready
2. fresh hop red some time next week with the other half of my buddy's hops that need a bit more time
3. fresh hop something (IPA/Brett IPA probably) with my hops that should be ready by the end of the month

Thoughts?

 

[Brent_in_Aurora]

Mine are not ready, but I have a bad habit of waiting too long to harvest them after they turn all brown. I have harvested as late as October when they are crispy. They still worked in the beer.

 

[moti_mo]

Harvested some of my friend's Cascades yesterday. 4 pounds of fresh Cascades in the last 20 minutes for a fresh hop IPA (11 gallons). Split the batch into 3 fermenters - ~4.5 gallons with Denny's Favorite 50, ~4 gallons with American Ale II, and ~2.5 gallons on 1214 Abbey ale for a fresh hop Belgian IPA.

Those 4 pounds barely put a dent in his hops, there are probably another 20 pounds left (in addition to the probably 4 pounds I'll have from the harvest at my house). So it looks like I have a few more fresh hop brewing sessions lined up in the next two weeks. All in all, it will probably come out to around 40 gallons of different fresh hop beers this year. Gonna have to throw a party...