The Bar Towel

Hey gang,

Just came back from my first trip to Richters today, picked up 9 plants at half price. They had a few Nugget and Hallertauer left, good amount of Mt Hood, and tons of Goldings, which they call Golden (probably why there's tons left). $4 a plant, have at it!

Cheers,
Rick.

derek, make another IPA
if you have surplus, make it a DIPA

Slacks wrote:Hey gang,

Just came back from my first trip to Richters today, picked up 9 plants at half price. They had a few Nugget and Hallertauer left, good amount of Mt Hood, and tons of Goldings, which they call Golden (probably why there's tons left). $4 a plant, have at it!

Cheers,
Rick.

Dang I paid full price in April. But I got to say, after a slow (almost dead) start, my cascades are taking off and growing daily. My Willamette is doing pretty good, but growing slower.

northyorksammy wrote:derek, make another IPA
if you have surplus, make it a DIPA

Derek's beers are VERY good, and so is his belgian cider. Fucking fantastic actually.

Now if only he'd make a scheiss bier and sell it vom foss.

jaymack wrote:Dang I paid full price in April. But I got to say, after a slow (almost dead) start, my cascades are taking off and growing daily. My Willamette is doing pretty good, but growing slower.

Exact same experience with my Cascades from Richters - got them in April, and they were off to a really slow, almost dead/diseased start, but lately they've gone INSANE!!!!

I harvested yesterday and today. I got:
- Cascade (4th year): 2kg, about the same as last year
- Willamette (3rd year): 600g, up from about 50g last year
- Nugget (3rd year): 100g, up from 0 last year
- Golding (3rd year): 0 again

We also brewed a wet hop APA today with the Cascade. The next three weeks will be a long wait...

Just order some cascade and nugget plants from Richters, as I wanted to get them in the ground and give them a head start before next year in the vain hope that it will improve the initial yield. Any advice on giving them the best possible start? I presume keep them well-fertilized to encourage rhizome growth?

Finally seeing my first half-dozen hops, cascade that is.

Also got mine from Richters about a year and a half ago. Didnt think they'd ever blossom.

Any suggestions for drying methods? I've read a few different pieces of advice.

Today's my closing day (assuming it goes through smoothly), so I harvested the biggest cones.

Fortunately, this season was early and some of them were actually browning a little... so if you haven't looked at your crop, you should probably take a look!

They're currently spread out on paper towels on my office shelves to dry. Hopefully I won't get any complaints.

Damn... they had to extend the closing date. Oh well, maybe I can pick some more on the weekend!

I'm freaking out, my plants have really blossomed this year, and its their first growth!

I have chinook and Cascade out the wazoo, lots of great big cones.

When can I tell its peak pickin season? I think I planted in early may.

For the first season, it'll probably be after labour day (maybe mid-to-late september), but this has been such a crazy growing season it's hard to tell.

It's the lupulin we want (yellow, sticky, oily powder at the inner base of the 'leaves' on the bud). You want lots of that. The green of the buds starts to fade a little and they become less springy when you squeeze them. They'll eventually start to go yellow-brown, which is too late (though if it's dry, the tips of the 'leaves' on the buds will start to go dark brown which is okay).

If you harvest too soon, they'll have a fresh cut grass aroma and flavour. So try not to do it too soon. If a few start to go off, you can just discard them and harvest the rest at their prime.

iguenard wrote:I'm freaking out, my plants have really blossomed this year, and its their first growth!

I have chinook and Cascade out the wazoo, lots of great big cones.

When can I tell its peak pickin season? I think I planted in early may.

You think you have Cascade out the wazoo, wait until you see what I have for you. I'll try to get pictures tomorrow but I'm thinking it will come in around 3+ kilos. I also have a lot of Willamette (1kg?) and maybe 100-200g each of Centennial, Chinook, and Zeus.

I ripped a couple of cones apart today and they aren't ready yet. I'm thinking it might be next weekend and no later than the 28th.

Awesome!

So do we try another wet hop, or dry them, and then do a massive IPA?

At 3 kg... we could/should do both!