Hop Harvest 2011 Re-Cap

2011-10-13T14:06:00.001-07:00

Crosby hop harvest 2011 was somewhat delayed due to the cool, wet spring and cooler than average summer days that slowed plant growth and maturities on some varieties. We began picking Centennials August 24^th and wrapped up our season with Nuggets on September 17^th. Ironically, despite the cool season we experienced a heat wave during the first week of September with consecutive 100 degree days. Though the heat was a shock to the system we were thankful for dry weather and no rain – the first rains hit about 3 days after we finished picking this year. It isn’t that hops can’t be harvested in the rain, it just makes already hard work that much harder.

Overall from a production perspective, we were satisfied given the tough growing conditions 2011 presented. Most aroma varieties were average to slightly below, with our alpha hops surprisingly coming in somewhat above average despite the pre-harvest ‘eye-ball’ test that predicted otherwise. Cone densities were fair to good (that is the amount of hops it takes to produce a 200lb. compressed bale), and cone structure, integrity, color, etc. was good to very good for many Oregon varieties. The real story of the year was the alpha acid percentages -- with some varieties 20 - 30% above industry averages. We attribute increased alpha to increased sunlight, which may seem ironic given the cool/wet season. However, the adverse growing conditions greatly reduced plant foliage which allowed more sunlight to penetrate the maturing hop cones late in the season.

Fast forward to the present -- we have begun shipping this year’s whole leaf hop crop to brewers around the country. For pellet users, we expect to have most crop 2011 varieties processed, packaged, and ready to ship by December. In the meantime, we still have a wide array of crop 2010 hop pellets available on the website to serve your brewing needs - keeping in mind, if stored properly most hop pellets will last at least 3 – 4 years.

Crosby Hop Farms

Hop Harvest 2011 Re-Cap