July Hop Crop Update

Thought it was time for a little update on the hop crop situation here at Barking Dog Brewery. The pictures below were taken last weekend, Sunday July 31st. At that time, some hop cone buds had begun to form on the Cascade and Centennial plants. Their horizontal/lateral growth seems to have slowed a bit so as to accommodate for the change in priorities. In the week since these pictures were taken, the Chinook plant has started to join the cone club, though it’s horizontal/lateral growth may just now be on the cusp of slowing. This is good, as the Chinook plant has run out of lateral room to grow and is now starting to invade the unoccupied space devoted to the Hallertau plant (which, along with the Northern Brewer plant has not had much horizontal success beyond three or four feet and isn’t yet displaying any beginnings of hop cones).

Based on the number of cone buds evident on the Cascade, Chinook and Centennial plants as of 8/6/11, I’m actually kind of excited about the potential yield of my plants considering they’re all only in season one. I’m planning to do a wet-hopped IPA (or maybe it turns out more like a pale ale?) around the beginning of October when I’m guessing I’ll be harvesting my crop. I’ll have to keep a close eye on the buds though, and may have to be a little flexible with my brew date for that particular batch.

Chinook:

Centennial (far right):

Cascade:

Struggling Northern Brewer:

Struggling Hallertau: