If the hop plants in the garden bear their typical umbelliferous fruits, you might consider brewing your own beer with them or harvesting the hop fruits for tea or medicinal purposes. When are hops ready for harvest and how are the fruits harvested?

Only female umbels are harvested

Only harvest female umbels

If you want to use hops, you must grow female plants. Only these develop the fruits that contain lupulin. The yellow powder contains the coveted active ingredients that make the beer foam or achieve the desired healing effect.

You can only tell if a plant is male or female when it flowers. Female hops form umbelliferous flowers in which the hop fruit ripens. The flowers of male hops can be recognized by the long panicles.

Make sure you only grow female plants if you want to harvest hops. It is therefore better to buy the plants in specialist shops. In beer brewing areas, the breeding of male hop plants is even forbidden.

When is the harvest time for hops?

The harvest time for hops depends on the weather and the location. It's usually late August or September.

This is how you can tell if the hops are ripe

  • open fruit
  • yellow powder (lupulline) inside
  • aromatic fragrance

It is not possible to tell from the outside whether a hop fruit is ripe. You have to open a fruit to check.

The hop is ripe when the yellowish powder lupulin has formed in the cone. When the fruit is opened, an aromatic scent escapes. This is the surest sign that the hops are ready for harvest.

Harvest hops properly

Harvest the hop cones while they are still green and tightly closed. Cut the umbels carefully, being careful not to injure them.

The best time to harvest is a dry day. It shouldn't have rained much in the previous days either. The drier the hops are, the quicker they can be processed and stored in the freezer.

Processing hops after harvest

If you want to enjoy the calming effects of hops as a tea, reap the rewards on an ongoing basis. Always cut off the largest umbels and pour boiling water over them.

In the case of a large hop harvest, allow the fruit to dry for some time after harvesting. Drying causes the umbels to unfold and make the yellow lupulline available, which contains the active ingredients desired in naturopathy or for brewing.

You can also put the dried umbels in freezer bags and store them in the freezer for later use. The hops stay there for up to a year.

tips

In areas with commercial hop cultivation, the harvest is mechanical. The whole plant is cut and the umbels are later separated.

Category:

Vegetable garden