Nowadays most leaf hops worldwide are processed into various hop products after harvesting. Hop products are more homogeneous, easier to handle and have better storage stability than leaf hops. In addition, brewers’ modern day requirements have become more complex, as a result of which there is a huge range of hop products with varying compositions.

One of the most widely known and studied medicinal properties of hops is its ability to induce sleep. In the European HMPC (Herbal Medicinal Product Committee) Monographs hops are officially recommended as traditional herbal medicinal product for relief of mild symptoms of mental stress and to aid sleep.

In order to better inform our customers and our research, Hopsteiner has created a most detailed picture of hop cone development in conjunction with botanical experts at New York Botanical Gardens. The new botanical standard provides great detail on morphology of hop cones and can be used by growers, scientists and technical brewers alike to compare studies of flavor change over hop cone maturation in the field.

In order to produce beers with a unique character that can easily be distinguished from other brands, brewers worldwide focus more and more on new and special aroma varieties. In 2010 the new American variety “Delta” was commercially grown for the first time and the brewers’ feedback has been promising.

Hop pellets, conventional hop extracts (ethanol and CO2), isomerized kettle extracts (IKE, PIKE) and light stable kettle extracts (LSKE) are the products usually used in the brew house. Besides excellent storage stability, hop extracts are homogenous and therefore can be dosed precisely to add mainly bitterness to the beer.

Our new CO₂-Extraction plant in Mainburg, which has a capacity of approx. 4,000 tons of hops per year, started up in autumn 2010. This new investment is an extremely important addition to our well-established Ethanol-Extraction plant.

Mycotoxins are a diverse range of molecules that are harmful to humans. They are secondary metabolites secreted by moulds, mostly Penicillium and Fusarium. Because of their antimicrobial activity it is most unlikely that hops could be considered a source for mycotoxins. In order to confirm this we again monitored the situation concerning residues of most toxic mycotoxins by screening hops after the last harvest. In our investigations, all major European varieties from different growing areas were considered. To guarantee a representative analysis, ten samples of large lots were selected and then combined into one composite sample for each variety. These results for the 2010 crop are presented in the table below.

Downstream products, such as regular iso extract, rhohydro-iso-, terahydro-iso- and hexahydro-iso extracts, are usually dosed prior to filtration. However in practice some brewers are still adding these extracts after filtration, when there is a distinct risk of precipitation in beer and therefore also of inducing gushing.