What's Wrong With My Hops?

[MarkBastard]

I'm growing some Chinook which look like they're about ready to harvest. I picked some because I noticed they had what looks like either very small worms or some debris from a nearby plant on them. I think they're little hair sized twigs from another plant personally, none of them are wiggling and they just don't look like they were ever alive, but not so sure.

Also what do people think of the size of the hops? I'm still not 100% on how to know when they're ready to pick. They smell sort of like their cousin, and a lot of them have been full size for a couple of weeks, have yellow lupulin glands of a decent size, feel sort of papery and the small petals where they join the bine have browned on most of them. The ones in the photo are actually some of the ones least ready to pick IMO as there is no browning.

They're sitting on a Microsoft mouse btw. Biggest one's about 2 inches by 1 inch.

 

[MarkBastard]

The picture doesn't show anything, stupid phone.

 

[MarkBastard]

Okay this is interesting, I decided to shake the things out of the hops and onto some white paper. They're all sort of V shaped but the interesting part is I found a similar sized V shaped green one, which is the same green as the hops. Maybe it's a natural part of the hop that has turned brown on all the others? Do hop flowers shed these things? Note the green one in the middle, definitely plant matter and the same shape as the dried out brown ones.

Okay on further inspection I found these things sort of grow out of the lupulin glands where all the yellow stuff is, and they must brown and die out once the flower is ripe?

 

[bradsbrew]

Arghhhhhhhhh.... they are all stuffed PM me your address and I will be over and take them away for disposal. I have a bib disposal vessel that I will fill with hot liquid and boil them for anywhere from 5min upto an hour. Once boiled I will remove and drain then return back to you

 

[MarkBastard]

I have harvested more and now I know for sure what these are.

You know when the hops start to bud and they look like little hairy balls? Well the little hairs stay there on the inside of the hop flower and then die off.

 

[MarkBastard]

64.5 grams wet so far, only harvested the most ripe looking and I'd estimate that's about 1/5th of fully budded hops, and there's heaps of ones that just appeared a few days ago so there'll be a good second lot by the look of it.

Love my ghetto hop dryer? Cardboard box, swiss voile, stapler, computer fan, cable ties.

 

[daemon]

Ignore Brad's advice and give them to me What you're seeing is normal, it's part of the fact that it's a "flower". I found that most of this was removed in the drying stage, in fact underneath my screen from the garage window specialised hop drying device there was a large pile of them.

 

[MarkBastard]

I think I'm addicted to the smell of fresh hops. I can see why hippies put them under their pillows.

 

[[email protected]]

Your hops look good!

Much better than the ones I got this year. Picked them too late.... But - they still smelled great in the brew-pot!

 

[Wolfy]

Also what do people think of the size of the hops? I'm still not 100% on how to know when they're ready to pick. They smell sort of like their cousin, and a lot of them have been full size for a couple of weeks, have yellow lupulin glands of a decent size, feel sort of papery and the small petals where they join the bine have browned on most of them. The ones in the photo are actually some of the ones least ready to pick IMO as there is no browning.

From the sound of it they are almost over-due for picking, I think you want to get them off the bine a little before the stems turn brown. But the paper-feel and yellow lupin make it sound like an ideal time to pick them.

Some of my hops had strange 'filaments' and some even sprouted 'leaves' from within the flower, so as long as the 'bits' don't wiggle and squirm away like a bug or caterpillar would, I think you're fine.

 

[raven19]

Not sure about the bug issue, but all that yellow goodness is the lupulin in the hop flowers, needed for aroma and bitterness.

Once they start to get a bit drier and papery they should be great to pick.

 

[MHB]

When the young flower (called a Burr) is first growing the stigma (female sex organs of the flower) stick out trying to collect pollen, as the flower matures they wither and die, whether they have done their job or not. You know they have done the job if you have seeds in your hop cones, pretty unlikely in most parts of Australia.

I think in normal processing they are knocked off; you have probably been too gentle with your hops

Nothing to worry about, classic Chinook flowers, scruffy looking bastards aren't they

MHB

 

[MarkBastard]

When the young flower (called a Burr) is first growing the stigma (female sex organs of the flower) stick out trying to collect pollen, as the flower matures they wither and die, whether they have done their job or not. You know they have done the job if you have seeds in your hop cones, pretty unlikely in most parts of Australia.

I think in normal processing they are knocked off; you have probably been too gentle with your hops

Nothing to worry about, classic Chinook flowers, scruffy looking bastards aren't they

MHB

Cheers mate, good to know that extra info. Yeah Chinook flowers are a bit all over the place aren't they. Most of them are a good egg sort of shape but there's a few of the long buggers as well.

 

[Screwtop]

Take a fresh cone and squeeze it up in your fingers then have a smell, to me Chinook have a kind of onion aroma. And yes when the flowers make that dry paper sound when you rub the cone they are ready to pick.

Screwy

 

[MarkBastard]

Take a fresh cone and squeeze it up in your fingers then have a smell, to me Chinook have a kind of onion aroma. And yes when the flowers make that dry paper sound when you rub the cone they are ready to pick.

Screwy

To smell these all I had to do was stick my nose near them when they were still on the bine. They have a real herby florally smell. I guess sort of like spring onion, the green part, but not quite. Similar to pot before it's dried as well.