The guy that lives down the street from turned me loose on his Cascade hop plant. The plant is several years old and it was loaded. I must say I did pretty well for myself. This was the first time I have picked fresh hops and Im not sure how to care for them. Anyone out there have any suggestions? Also, the cones I picked are still very green but there are some dried brown leaves (the tips of some of the leaves). Is that going to be a problem? Thanks in advance.

No idea to help you (except dry them or use them). I just wanted to say: SCORE! That's awesome and I am extraordinarily jealous.

When the tips of the leaves are starting to turn brown, you're picking hops at the right time. Just dry them and use them. Nice score!

Cheers,
Dave

Yeah I'm drying them right now. I will have to go back tomorrow and get some more the plant was so loaded I picked 1/2 of a trash can bag full and only got about half of them. It seems like this was a good score lots of yellow luplin and they smell awesome.

Kudos on the score.

Sounds like they're ripe. Gently dried (I use window screen to get good airflow) in the shade, they will lose about 75% of their weight.

looking to sell any? ..... Joking, but not totally!

Curlyfat if you email me your address I send you some to try out (fishonjohn(at)hotmail.com). Just for your info hops direct (.com) is a whole sale hop farm and they have killer deals on their hops right now. I just ordered 14 pounds of different kinds and the most I payed was $11 per pound. Cascade is like $8 per pound. The hops are killer, vacumed packed in oxygen barrier bags 2008 crop. Can't beat that deal..

Wow. Those are great prices. I usually use freshops (.com) and they're not quite that great in price. I'll PM my address to you if you're totally serious. If you can accept paypal I'll gladly pay you for the use of your hops as well. I'm sort of "smitten" with the idea of using home-grown hops.

I will suggest you to score much you can because it seems like extraordinary thing, i don't have any idea other then this.

I just looked through prices on this site again (hops direct (.com) ) and am just blown away. If you're buying in bulk, this seems to be the way to go. Seriously, I didn't see anything above a dollar per ounce. Outstanding!

P.S.

Thx, Beernut!

Did you know hops are deadly to dogs? Even a small amount. Causes malignant hyperthermia. I had no idea until I read an article on the web.

Yeah don't let your dogs get to your hops.. I hear even a little will kill them..

Your welcome Curlyfay, I'm glad you like them. Let me know how your beer comes out with the home grown Cascades..

I plan on brewing Next? week, if my schedule permits. I'll send you some of the "results" when it's all finished, and post a written version on here as well.

Sounds good too me!!!