HARVEST TIME:

Get Those Hop Cones Ready for Some Homebrew

Posted by Josh Smith | KalamaBrew |August 28, 2008 18:00PM

If you followed the advice of Chris Martinson (Heritage Hops,Tales from the Mash Tun and Got Your Hands Dirty Back in the Spring), it’s time to reap the benefits of all that hard labor and waiting. All set? Ahem ... That's right, it's harvest time!
Martinson is back, fresh from his own harvest and kindly offered some tips to all of us first time hop farmers on how to reap what we sowed.

A hop cone, split apart to reveal lupulin glands, which produce the beta acids present in hops.
Hop Harvest and Saving Tips
When to harvest
While your hop cones are forming, check on them every day or two so you can gauge when to pick. If they are mature, you should be able to see yellow lupulin glands forming in the bracts. They will feel slightly papery and you should be able to to smell the hoppy aroma that we all know and love. Go ahead, give them a taste.
Pick them before the edges of the bracts start to turn brown.
These clues will help tell you when the hops are ready. It’s common to get more than one harvest, so don't pick them all at once. If you think they aren't ready, wait a day. /
If your hop cones have started to turn brown, you have waited too long.
How to pick them
I like to fasten a paper grocery bag (the kind with a handle) on my belt so I can pick with two hands (it's always nice to have both hands free while standing on a ladder). If your vines are too tall, you can cut them down and pick the hops from the ground. However, if you do cut them, you'll have to forfeit a harvest later on.
Keep in mind that the flavor compounds found in hops will be affected by the sun, so you should protect them once they are picked.
Drying your hops
If you are not going to brew the same day as picking, the hops should be dried as soon as possible.
A quick and reliable method is to spread the hops on an old window screen that is propped up on wood or bricks to provide circulation.
To protect the hops from light, I fashion a cardboard "tent" to cover them. To decrease the drying time, position a fan at one end. This method will take about two to four days.
They should feel papery and by the time they are dry, will have lost about a third of their weight.
It's OK to gently move your hops on the screen if they aren't drying evenly. But be careful not to jostle them too much, because you can lose some of the lupulin.
DO NOT use direct sunlight, an oven, or a food dehydrator to dry your hops since high temperatures can result in a loss of flavor.
Storing hops
When your hops are dry, they should be bagged and stored in a refrigerator or freezer immediately. An ounce of freshly dried hops will fit nicely into a quart size freezer bag.
Remove as much air from the bag as you can and label it with variety and harvest date.
Hops will go bad over time, so cold storage is a must. A freezer is the best choice for long-term storage. If you don't have room, the fridge will do.
-- Chris Martinson /
Diether Endlicher | Associated Press: Don't you wish you had this kind of yield? Lorenz Huber, son of a Bavarian hop farmer and his grandmother pick leaves and stalks from a crop of hops in Lohwinden, located in southern Germany. The hop harvest has just started there.

An old window screen placed on top of some bricks or wood will allow good ventilation for your hops to dry. Covering your freshly picked hops is very important, since sunlight will destroy the hops flavor compounds. You may also want to consider constructing your hop dryer on a covered porch or somewhere else that is protected from wind and rain as well.
© 2008 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

Article Located Online At: