Hops from the same Plant vastly different

[allynlyon]

I harvested one round of hops from my Zeus plant and they smelled heavenly. All through the drying process I kept going over and taking big whiffs. About 7 days later I did round two of collecting hops and these just aren't the same. some smell like the others but other ones have almost a burnt smell to them. The lupulin in the second batch also looks dark almost like ear wax. Gross I know but considering they don't smell too great i'm trying to give you a visual. I suppose it's possible I waited to long to pick the second batch but they really did not seem ready before. :? Here is a pic of the inside of one of the hops that smells bad. Thanks for the advanced help.

 

[B-Hoppy]

The lupulin looks fine but the bracts themselves look like they may have been affected by something. That happens on my Zeus every year which is why I've never bothered to pick them. The majority of the cones are almost ripe and a few days later when I check, THAT starts to happen. I don't know what it actually is as there's many possibilities so I usually go have a beer. Just me though?

 

[allynlyon]

The lupulin looks fine but the bracts themselves look like they may have been affected by something. That happens on my Zeus every year which is why I've never bothered to pick them. The majority of the cones are almost ripe and a few days later when I check, THAT starts to happen. I don't know what it actually is as there's many possibilities so I usually go have a beer. Just me though?

Ha. good thought. Have you smelled them? IS the smell I am describing familiar? You are right the first batch from Zeus was great! Now these are all funky. Now it's going to bug me I'll have to go research.

 

[grathan]

I wonder if the harvest could have stressed the plant. I might not even use my hops this year. They have an oniony smell about them. I watched them carefully for the right time to pick, but I think I missed it. One thing I might try is boiling some in some water and see how that tastes.

 

[allynlyon]

The lupulin looks fine but the bracts themselves look like they may have been affected by something. That happens on my Zeus every year which is why I've never bothered to pick them. The majority of the cones are almost ripe and a few days later when I check, THAT starts to happen. I don't know what it actually is as there's many possibilities so I usually go have a beer. Just me though?

When I first read your comment I confused bracts for bracteoles. What about the bracts are you seeing? As a reference these have been drying for about 2 days at the time of the picture.

 

[B-Hoppy]

I guess what I meant was bracts/bracteoles collectively seem to become affected by downy mildew, alternaria or something else late in the season around harvest time.

 

[allynlyon]

http://www.ipmcenters.org/cropprofiles/docs/wahops.html

If you scroll a little over half way down this page I think i have figured out what happened. I did notice sugar ants hanging out on that hop... and only that hop. I didn't think much of it, but I think now I had some aphids that inevitably caused a mold problem. Which explains why the first ones are fine and even some in the second batch were fine. Although now I am uncertain if I should just dump that entire second batch.... probably will. Thanks for all your help.