Did I let my cascade go to long?

[autonomist3k]

I just picked my cascade, some of the hops went entirely brown and I trashed them, here's a picture of the ones I harvested, did I let them go to long or will they be good?
When torn apart all the lupilin it's still there.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1470593488.949780.jpg

 

[bionut]

It looks like good hops to me. The brown spots are normal. Bag and freeze them.

 

[autonomist3k]

Thanks!

 

[thaymond]

If they smell like cheese or garlic, they're no good. If they smell like Cascades, they're good. You're only interested in the yellow lupin on the cones, not the cones appearance. They're fine as long as your browning isn't due to disease like downy mildew.

 

[HopeinHop]

Those look nice! What area are you in and how old are the plants?

 

[autonomist3k]

I'm in Sacramento, and they're in the second year. I think I might not let them come back next year though, I had a bad spider mite infestation that showed itself the day after I put them in the dryer.
Plus every time I brew with them the hop character just doesn't seem right.

 

[Turkeyshot]

I'm in Sacramento, and they're in the second year. I think I might not let them come back next year though, I had a bad spider mite infestation that showed itself the day after I put them in the dryer.
Plus every time I brew with them the hop character just doesn't seem right.

I would let them go another year. I had problems like that too, but this is the third year for my plants and they are doing better than ever. If you check for spider mites early on in the season, you can usually get rid of them no problem. As far as the character not seeming right, same here too. But in their third year the hops smell and look great.

 

[autonomist3k]

The strange thing is that there was no signs of spider mites at all, then after a day of being in the dryer they were covered, there must have been some eggs that hatched or something.

 

[Turkeyshot]

The strange thing is that there was no signs of spider mites at all, then after a day of being in the dryer they were covered, there must have been some eggs that hatched or something.

You sure they are spider mites and not something else.