2023-09-16 17:43:08
This week in September, it was hop harvest time at the Dubuisson brewery. It begins early in the morning and more than 1000 plants must be cut on half a hectare.
Plants that reach eight meters in height. A good harvest is judged mainly by its timing “You really have to do it at the right time”confides Antonin Maes, brewing engineer, quality manager at the Dubuisson brewery, “If we wait too long, the flower will open, which will lead to the loss of the bitter resin, humulone, which is found inside the flower and which gives the bitterness of the flower. beer”.
A year not exceptional in terms of performance
This year, the performance is mixed “You should know that the yield from a hop field is one ton per hectare and this year we hope to harvest 450 kilos. It’s not Byzantium but it’s not catastrophic either.”
This hop will allow the production of 4,500 hectoliters of beer and the quality must be there, whatever the weather, “Our job is to take into account all the variable parameters to put a little more or a little less so that the consumer ultimately has the same quality of product” continues the brewing engineer.
Hop cultivation remains rare in Belgium, there are only 23 producers listed in Belgium. “The hop harvests are quite concentrated in Belgium near Poperinge (West Flanders editor’s note)“ indicates for his part Gauthier Fraiteur, the communications manager of the brewery, “Otherwise the cultivation of this plant is actually quite confidential in Belgium despite the fact that we are the kingdom of beer.
As for the rest of the process, then it’s time for the drying and processing of the hops, the spice of success for making the brewers’ beverage.
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