This is the most magical time of year for hoppy beer lovers with the fresh hop ales coming out. A fresh hop beer uses hops that are not processed or dried out but used immediately after harvest. While not everyone prefers fresh hop beers for hopheads like myself it is a glorious time of year.
This is the first year in about 5 years that I have not been in Yakima during the harvest and enjoyed hanging out with growers, brewers, and the amazing people that work in the hop industry. You cannot imagine the amazing smell of this area this time of year and I miss it greatly. So, I thought I would give you a little tour of how hops get from the field to your beer.
Hops originate from rhizomes, roots that look much like ginger root. Around March they break through the ground and look for something to climb. Hop fields use 20ft poles and wires to give the “bines” something to climb and keep them under control. The growers will pick the strongest few bines and train them to climb the wires provided. This is done by wrapping them around the wire clockwise, once you have done this they will climb in this fashion on their own and can grow several inches in a single day. Once they are done growing upwards they will produce hop cones which are the source of all the Lupulins we hopheads crave. To harvest, most farms will use a bottom cutter to cut the bottom of the bines so they are now only suspended by the wire at the top. At this point the top cutter will come along, clip the top wire as a truck follows behind to catch the bine. This happens row by row and it amazing to see and smell!
Once the trucks are loaded, the hops are dropped off at a processing facility where the cones will be separated from the leaves and bines via a crazy amount of conveyor belts and sorters.
At this point, fresh hops can be sent out but the bulk of the hops will go to kilns to be dried. They are put in giant heated rooms with false screen bottoms and warm air blown through them to dry and remove moisture quickly. After drying another decision is made, some hops will be left and sold as cones but the majority will be sent to another processing area to be turned into pellets. Most large breweries use pellets or hop oil because it is much easier to control the exact concentrations of oil compounds for consistent taste and bitterness.
To hopheads, Jason Perrault is Jesus. This man is the hop breeder responsible for Simcoe, Citra, Mosaic, & Sabro hops. It takes at least 10 years for a hop to go from experimental to production. Here he is leading us on a tour of one of his experimental fields. I have never felt like I was the kid in the Willy Wonka movie more than I did this day.
and now, your closing ceremony & thanks for your indulging me!
That was fun and educational!
So how does a beer made with fresh hops taste in comparison to dried?
Depends on the hop but they are usually a little more grassy, usually more subdued than one made with pellets. It is kind of like the difference between fresh herbs and dried herbs. Takes more to deal with them but you can definitely taste a difference.
…in my head the kiln part still involves oast houses
…but I’m pretty sure part of the drying process thos used involved your actual brimstone so I’m guessing it’s not all that likely…but they did/do have these sort of chimneys on top called cowls that look like a combination of a weather vane & a witch/wizard’s hat
…so however it works there’s clearly magic involved?
That’s some serious old school stuff right there! I don’t know if Yakima ever had those but definitely not anymore.
Great pics. The quantities are absolutely mind blowing.
By coincidence I just bottled an IPA this evening.
Nice! I’ve got two home brews on tap right now, one a fresh hop from my yard hops that came out great
Great write-up, @loveshaq.
Currently brewing a fall amber ale with Cashmere hops. This is a relatively new varietal that’s caught my attention. Mr. Shaq, what are some of your favorites? I grew up with the big Cs of Citra, Cascade, and Columbus. I feel like it’s hard to keep up with the modern landscape of hops these days!
I have had some great beers w/ Cashmere, have not brewed with them. I grow Chinooks which I currently have a fresh hop I made on tap. My favorite hops right now are Sabro, Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, Ekuanot, Azacca and Galaxy. I have also used Ekuanot & Lorel Cryo with excellent results. I’m about to brew a beer w/ Galaxy & an experimental hop HBC472 which is a relative of Sabro. Sabro has been my favorite in the new beers coming out, it has a coconut, passion fruit kind of taste. It is very hard to keep up that is why I like to go to Yakima every year and see what the locals are brewing with and what the hop growers are doing. YCH has an experimental lab that does small scale batches with same grain profile but different single hops. It is the best way to get a feel for what each hop can do. Also, all the breweries around Yakima are either hop mafia families or connected to the hop growers in some way so get all the new varieties.