Suggested Response - Q5

** “Harvest is critical to the quality of the hop cone used to make hop products.” Support this statement by highlighting how the hop cone can be negatively affected during harvest and drying.

Response:

The timing of when hops are harvested can have a huge impact on the hop cone quality – the later you leave the hops on the bine, the more hop oils are developed, resulting in more aroma. However, the longer the hops stay on the bine, the more the cone appearance deteriorates (goes rust/red/brown) and they are more likely to be negatively affected by the weather (rain/wind). Also, alpha acid content can start to decline if overly matured.

The hop picking process separates the cones from the bines, removing as much leaf and stem material from the cones as possible. An excess of vegetative manner will add little value to the hops for the brewer, and just add ‘filler’ to the hop products. However, being too strict in removing leaves and stems may also result in some cones being damaged or removed, thus affecting the yield and quality of hops.

The hop cones are dried from 80% to 10% moisture. If this is not done, the cones will start to rot, go mouldy, and lose quality. However, excessive drying can cause the cones to shatter and powder, causing hop loss, as well as cone discolouration.

The hops are then conditioned, which distributes the moisture throughout the batch and ensures a homogenous batch of hops. If this is not done, you will get potential spots of high moisture in a bale; this could deteriorate the hop quality and also cause inaccuracies when measuring out the amount of hops to be added to a brew (as their water content will affect this value). High moisture and temperatures during conditioning can lead to spontaneous combustion of the hop bales due to the volatility of the hop resins.

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