How hops are grown and harvested
Hop bines climb overhead trellises, and only the female plants are grown, so the cones never form seeds.
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The short version
Hops are the cones of a climbing vine. Only female plants are grown, so the cones are never pollinated, and the bines are trained up strings to an overhead trellis. At the end of summer the bines are cut down, the cones are stripped off by machine, and the cones are dried in a kiln.
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Train bines up strings
Plants stand in rows about 2 to 2.5 meters apart. Each spring the roots send up new bines, which are started up strings to an overhead trellis. Only female plants are grown, and they are propagated vegetatively, so no seeds form.
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Cut the bines down
Hops are harvested at the end of summer. The bines are cut, and a mechanical separator, patented by Emil Clemens Horst in 1909, strips the cones off. Before that the cones were picked by hand.
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Kiln-dry the cones
Drying in an oast house cuts the moisture content. Modern kilns use big fans to force clean, heated air through the beds of hops. The dried hops are then compressed into bales.
Worth repeating
- Much of the world's hop production sits near the 48th parallel north.
- Hop cones contain lupulin, a yellowish waxy substance that gives beer its flavor and aroma.
- Whole families once traveled to Kent to pick the annual harvest and lived in huts called hoppers' huts.
Where it goes next
Hops feeds 3 lines directly.
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How hops are grown and harvested." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/hops