- 1). Dry the hops. Once harvested, the mature female hop must be dried. One way to do this is to hang the flower from a drying rack in a cool, dry area. Never dry in direct sunlight as this will damage the flavor of the resins. It will take between one and two weeks for the hops to completely dry out.
- 2). Place them in the freezer in a sealed plastic bag once the hops are completely dried. Allow them to freeze thoroughly, approximately 12 hours.
- 3). Take the bag containing the hops out of the freezer. Remove the hops and place them into a large cotton bag, one that is about twice as large as the hops that are going into it. The hops should only fill up about half of the bag.
- 4). Gently shake the bag full of hops. The goal is to loosen the pollen containing lupulin glands out of the bract, the outer part of the hop which protects the lupulin glands. The lupulin glands are the part of the flower that contains the resins and oils.
- 5). Look inside the bag after gently shaking the hops for 2 minutes. At the bottom there should be yellow colored balls of hop resin. If you look inside a hop flower, you should notice that most of the pollen has been removed from inside the bracts of the hops. If not, close the bag and shake again for 2 minutes and check again.
- 6). Remove the hops and collect the pollen at the bottom of the bag once you have successfully shaken the resin from out of the hops. Use a paint brush to gently sweep the resin from the bottom of the bag into a glass container. Remove any loose plant material. Store the hop resin in a cool, dry area, or in the refrigerator until ready for use.
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