Hops - covered in aphids

[NBBC13]

So, I harvested about 1/3 of my cascade and centennial hops today. they look great except after leaving them in the bucket for an hour, I see tons of aphids crawling out. I was planning on getting some insecticidal soap tomorrow which should get rid of them. my question is: will the soap (which I believe breaks down, but not sure) affect my wet hopping this weekend?

 

[nagmay]

Personally, I'd prefer a little extra protein in my beer than some insecticide.

 

[ong]

Yeah, I wouldn't use anything like that this close to harvest, personally. I think you'd taste it in the beer.

 

[NBBC13]

wondering if my initial harvest last week had same aphids problem. I didn't see the aphids in this batch until an hour after I picked them. Last week, I just dumped the hops right into flame out.

maybe I'll spray the hops still on vine to harvest next sunday and use the ones I just picked as is

 

[JohnSand]

A good plan, I think. Mine had aphids, but they left as the hops dried.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

wondering if my initial harvest last week had same aphids problem. I didn't see the aphids in this batch until an hour after I picked them. Last week, I just dumped the hops right into flame out.

maybe I'll spray the hops still on vine to harvest next sunday and use the ones I just picked as is

Dont spray them with a week left thats dumb.

Just dont wet hop with them,dry them out and package them and then use them.

Spraying this close to harvest will just get you sick. A few bugs in your boil arent going to ruin anything, it will all get left behind in the trub in the pot or in the fermenter anyways.

 

[phydough]

what part of the country are you in, im in Michigan and i have no aphids on my hops, spiders yes but no aphids lol.

 

[day_trippr]

what part of the country are you in, im in Michigan and i have no aphids on my hops, spiders yes but no aphids lol.

Does it actually matter?

Last year I had a fantastic aphid infestation in my Centennials. There were millions of the li'l bastids bailing out of the oast a day into drying.

This year? Zero.

My Centennial, Chinook and Cascade (and a little Fuggles) are all in and I haven't seen a single aphid.
Didn't get any spider mites, either.
Very weird, frankly...

Cheers!

 

[ong]

My hops were completely aphid free this year, as far as I could tell. Saw only a couple of ladybug larvae while picking, a couple of aphids, a few ants and spiders. Last year they were really crawling with all kinds of insects. Not sure what, if anything, changed, aside from getting them on drip irrigation.