2019 hop crop

I’m wondering about when to harvest mine, since this is my first year with a crop. Local hop farms in my area are already harvesting, and a local brewery is putting out a wet hop beer on Thursday (and another place is releasing theirs on Friday). So I’m thinking mine should be close, but I’m unsure. How will I know? This is what they look like today:

As shown in the first picture, the cones have lupulin in them. I squeezed them and they’ve started to feel more dry/papery in the last week or so, and they are starting to smell good. The tips of the bracts aren’t browning yet. I’ve only highlighted some of the most mature looking cones. Some are smaller, less aromatic, and have less yellow lupulin than those pictured.

Also, how long is the window once they’re ripe? My instincts says these are ripe or very close to ripe, but I’m unsure. I’ll be out of town for the long weekend, so I’ll have to harvest these before Friday, or after Monday. Should I be worried?

 

You say they are starting to feel dry. Do they spring back after squeezing? If so, they're probably ready. You could get some more alpha acid development by waiting longer if that's important to you, but IMO that sometimes leads to onion-y aroma.

 

Scheduled our office harvest/fresh-hop brew day for Thursday.

 

Yes, I would say that they spring back, but I sort of felt like they always did, so I’m not sure I really get that reference. Maybe they still have to get “springier”?

I don’t care about the alpha acid, as I plan to only late/“dry” hop with these, and actually don’t mind a little onion/garlic aroma. So no risk leaving these on the bine for another week or so?

 

Probably not.

 

Fuggle, East Kent Goldings, Vanguard and Nugget:

 

9.25lb cascade and 4.33lb of Columbus in the bags, and a couple cascade cones

 

Last of mine are done, only managed about 3lb dry. 25lb+ went to a local brewery. GormBrewhouse, how many plants do you have?

 

I was only able to harvest a paltry 7.3 oz of wet cones from my 5 plants. (Although the Centennial produced virtually nothing, so it was really only 4 plants.) All of that went into a single beer brewed last Tuesday, with some being added as a dry hop 3 or 4 days post-pitch. Planning to keg this weekend. Hoping for the best, but my last wet hop beer (using purchased hops) used 5 pounds, so I hope less than half a pound isn’t undetectable.

My question now is how to care for the plants post-harvest? I left the bines on, since I read you should for first year plants. The leaves seem to be dying off. Should I keep watering? When should I cut the bines down? Do I need to move them into the garage for the winter (they’re in pots)?

 

My first few plants were in pots. Leave them up until you get frost, then cut them down to the ground-ish. If you see little nubs, try to leave those. and cover the plant with some dirt. I would recommend putting them in the garage, and kind of surrounding them with bags full of leaves, or something similar, to keep them from getting too cold.

 

Do you have to break these up before using. I dried mine but i don't get a strong aroma unless the cone is split. A brewery near me uses a leaf shredder.

 

No, just throw them in the boil. Cheers!

 

The totality of my 2019 hop crop.....isn't she a cutie?
Guess I'll need to bone up on small batch brewing.

 

Mine almost made it all the way up my 10’ section for it and never produced any cones. I have Cascade and centennial. Beginning of summer it looked super promising!

 

My ‘crop’ had several issues……
First year rhizomes, planted late, set the rhizomes too deep, didn’t have a soil analysis, didn’t mound up dirt/mulch enough over my rhizomes, standing water after heavy rain (exacerbated by raised bed w/solid plank sides), etc.

Hopsters, please assess my plan:
Take a soil sample to the county extension service
Mulch heavily for over-wintering after the plants die back in a few weeks
In spring dig them up and amend per the soil analysis recommendations
Reset the rhizomes a little shallower and mulch heavily
Drill holes as needed in the side of the bed for drainage
Feed and tend as recommended
Hope for a better crop

Anything I left out?