Seeds in Hops?

[abraxas]

Anyone ever find seeds in hops? Just brewed a batch and had a bunch of seeds floating at the end. Never experienced this before....

 

[JLem]

Can't say that I have. Where did these hops come from?

 

[abraxas]

Year plus old Northern Brewer whole hops from Freshops. These were the only hops used in the batch.

It's strange, I have a 1/2 ounce leftover and I don't see any seeds in these. But there were a good dozen seeds floating during the boil, I managed to scoop a few and saved them.

 

[abraxas]

Must be some accidental pollination or a hermaphrodite plant...

 

[r2eng]

I get them all the time from hops from Freshops and Hops Direct - some varieties, not all.

My IPA's always have 'em, so Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial, etc.

 

[Stauffbier]

I'm sure when given the right conditions hops will go to seed. I imagine that is how wild hops grow. Ironically today I was just wondering about this topic. I will be growing hops this year, and I'll be keeping my eyes open for seeds..

 

[Nanobru]

Mother Nature will always find a way

 

[anonymouslyyours]

Are most hops varieties hybrids? If so, the seeds may not work that well.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Male plants have seeds, females have the hop cones. Contact the vendors to let them know. They should remove the male plants.

 

[day_trippr]

Male plants have seeds, females have the hop cones.[...]

Looks like someone skipped basic reproduction studies in grade school...

Cheers

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Wikipedia is my friend.

 

[Stauffbier]

Male plants have seeds, females have the hop cones. Contact the vendors to let them know. They should remove the male plants.

Actually the female plant grows the seed. The male pollinates the female and then the female grows seeds. Hop growers usually remove male plants so the females cannot be pollinated..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hops

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Ok, I stand corrected. But the OP should still contact the vendor to remove the male plants.

 

[Stauffbier]

Ok, I stand corrected. But the OP should still contact the vendor to remove the male plants.

I think it would be hard to stop 100%.. Depending on where the hops are grown somthing as simple as a far traveling honey bee could pollinate a female plant even though the farm doesn't have any males. Plus, some plants (I'm not sure if this includes hops or not) will turn into hermaphrodites and pollinate themselves in stress situations. As long as it's just a few seeds here and there I really don't see any harm in it. I would actually be looking in the cones of any leftover hops to see if I could harvest a few seeds for planting if it was me...

 

[bierhaus15]

The only grower I ever met (in northern cali) told me that some growers will intentionally keep a few male plants in the popular varietal hop fields to fertilize the females. That way they get seeds and therefore grow larger cones. And as larger cones equals more weight, that means more more $$$. Unfortunately for us, seeded cones don't produce more lupulin.

Whether or not this is intentional, I can't say, but I sure have noticed that for the past few years all my simcoe, citra, amarillo, and centennial have had a lot of seeds in them. All from hopsdirect.

 

[Special Hops]

It's like finding seeds cheap pot.

Not that I would know about that.