From the Fields: Hops ready for harvest

FAIRBURY, Ill. — Lincoln Slagel turned back time with a corn variety developed in the late 1870s in central Indiana.

Boone County White corn grew in popularity among brewers and distillers across the Midwest in the late 1800s and early 1900s until prohibition.

Slagel, Emancipation Brewing Co. co-owner and head brewer, wanted to create a pre-prohibition style lager.

“About three weeks after harvest, we’ll be able to tap it and taste it.”

—  Lincoln Slagel, co-owner and head brewer, Emancipation Brewing Co.

He was researching the new “old” beer a month ago when AgriNews visited his brewery on the family farm. The final product is now available.

“It’s called Corn Bird lager. The idea I had was what would a brewer back then have done if they had our technology now. So, it has a lot of the old ingredients, but the process is what we do now. They didn’t have the level of artificial refrigeration that we have, so we get the benefits of temperature control within a tenth of a degree,” Slagel said.

Hop Harvest

The hops grown adjacent to the brewery are only days away from harvest.

“The first sign that hops are getting close to harvest is the brown edges, and similar to any grain, we want the right moisture level. In the western states, they’ll use a moisture tester to determine the moisture level, but a lot of it is based on the feel of it,” Slagel noted.

“You can squeeze the hop and it will bounce back to its original shape. It feels like there’s almost nothing in there, almost like a little feather. If it’s too wet and you squeeze it, it doesn’t go back to its same shape.

“The yellow powder inside of the hop is what we’re looking for. It’s called lupulin powder that’s used in the brewing process. Our whole goal is to get this powder, and that’s basically where all of the flavor and aroma compounds are.”

He is changing his harvest method this year because the plants struggled due to a cold winter followed by a cold spring.

“They’ve sort of been fighting an uphill battle all year. Normally we would cut them off at ground level and on top, which is technically how you’re supposed to do it, and when they’re so tall that’s the easiest way. In our case we’d take them up to the tables and we handpick the hops,” he said.

“This year, I think we’re going to pick them off of the plants and not cut them. That way we give the plants as much time heading into winter to build some strength. They won’t produce anymore hops this year, but hopefully gain some steam and be a little healthier overall going into next spring.

“A lot of times that’s the practice in the first few seasons of harvesting since they take a few years to mature. If you want to speed up their maturation process you try not to cut them off until it’s really getting cold outside.”

Learning Curve

Having grown up on his family’s corn and soybean farm, Slagel said it’s interesting trying to figure out when the hops are ready for harvest and the agronomics.

“The whole process of learning how to take care of the plants has been a real learning curve just because it’s so much different than corn and soybeans. We irrigated on a schedule every day. There are a couple of special kinds of natural fertilizers that we have to use, but now that we’re this close to harvest we won’t apply anything else,” he said.

“There’s a little bit of fungus on some leaves, but at this point we don’t want to spray anything because it’s so close to being harvested. It’s sort of like a race to get to the harvest point now.”

Once the hops are harvested and processed, they’ll be used by Slagel for brewing.

“About three weeks after harvest, we’ll be able to tap it and taste it,” he said.