Picking my hops. When and then what to do?

[Ralph]

So I have a few hops growing on my front porch. 

They look like this

So... they look like they are ready to pick to me. Is there any optimum time to pick them?

Once picked should I then dry them somehow? What is the best way to do this?

[Sam Nelson]

I too am in this situation, my hops look a little different though... 

im also worried, what effect will this current rain have on the hop crops?

[Ralph]

Nice hops! Mine are only old smoothcone but it was interesting to see how to grow them. Will get hold of something I actually use to grow next year. What are yours?

[Sam Nelson]

GAH whats with the photos coming out sideways!

Mine are also smoothcone. 
Has the weather hit you hard?  

This is my first year too so ive got no idea when to harvest, from what people say its when they have a papery feel and the luplin (sp) powder falls out when squeezed. also that when they hold their shape after being squeezed.

[Grant R Baker]

I haven't done this myself but these to sites recommend dry the hops immediately if you are not brewing straight away.

Link1

link2

Link3

[Sam Nelson]

Thanks for those Grant.
based on that mine might be ready now?

[Grant R Baker]

Yeah... they look we developed.

I can't quite tell from the photo but the pods inside should be yellowish..

[Paul Fraser]

My hops are looking pretty much identical to yours. I have cut them in half and rubbed them in my hands to get an aroma from them and i think they are not too far away but maybe not quite ready just yet. There was some yellow lupulin in there but not as much as i was expecting and there wasn't a huge hop aroma after rubbing them. I've got a lot of young cones too so should get two harvests from the plants i reckon. My pic was taken a week ago.

[Dougal]

I read up before picking last year and found the best indicator was the lupulin glands changing from greenish yellow to a sort of warning sign yellow (the US site I was reading said "schoolbus yellow"). Not orange, but all of the green had gone. The hops were lighter and more papery, and more aromatic too. You could smell them when you were working around them. 

Apparently later picked hops have more of that dank, resinous quality, and less citrus and sharp fruit. Must depend on variety though.  

[Paul Fraser]

And what method did you use to dry them?? I was thinking maybe on a screen in the attic (away from kids and nice and warm). Had thought about the oven method but one of the links Grant shared advised against this.

[Dougal]

I strung up some windbreak over some saw horses in the garage and stuck a fan on the ground blowing across them. Seemed to work pretty well. You want to go until they're quite dry but not so dry that the centre stems are brittle.

[Ralph]

I am now thinking that I might just do a brew and throw them in as a fresh hop addition... I probably only have enough for about a brew and so this seems like the easiest solution as then there is no drying required!

[Matt Smith]

I did this the other day, my harvest was only 170g wet, so I guess that translates to around 34g of dried hops. I just threw it all into a Saison at 5 minutes. I'm pumped on the idea of homegrown hops in a farmhouse ale