Nick Carr on March 18, 2016 35 Comments It could be argued that the honeybees’ part in the history of brewing is as ancient as brewing itself. Only the humble yeast can boast a longer relationship to the art — first the accident — of brewing, but this boast is slightly marred by yeast’s relationship with brewing. Without yeast, there is no brew. Not so for the honeybee. Honey is not an integral part of brewing, but sugar is, and many historians agree it is likely that honey was the sugar source for the earliest fermented beverages. Even today, it is often used in brewing. Why Bees Are Important For Brewing Beer has its own long ties to this natural sugar and its hardworking maker. The earliest known evidence of beer comes from 7000 BC China where Neolithic villagers created a beverage of honey, rice, fruit (hawthorn and/or grapes). But, these small creatures’ wings of influence stretch far beyond the brew pot. Our very rise and continued existence are inextricably linked to this trundler of the air currents, this buccaneer turned pollen merchant and all her kin. Honey has been an invaluable source of food since the very beginnings of mankind’s history and today one-third of the world’s population is dependent on bees’ ability to pollinate food crops. This small insect is so critical to our food chains that one in three mouthfuls in our diets is somehow linked to bees work. What Is Colony Collapse Disorder? Colony Collapse Disorder seems to be the result of a compendium of mostly human-caused changes that include global warming, the switch from using cover crops to synthetic fertilizers, farming crop monocultures, pests such as the varroa mite that spreads viruses, and the use of pesticides — particularly neonicotinoids. Taken one at a time the bees could probably cope better than they are, but taken all together, where one problem compounds another, they are seriously over-matched. Marla Spivak gives a TedTalk on why bees are disappearing and liken these combined problems to a nightmarish scenario of being sick. You can watch the TedTalk below: Imagine being so sick (virus/varroa mite) you don’t feel like leaving the house, but you know you should go get some nutritious food, so you finally rally and head out the door only to find you have to go 50 miles (monoculture) to find this food. Then you suddenly realize that the food you’ve come so far to get is actually contaminated (neonicotinoids and other pesticides) and either kills you outright or makes you so disoriented you no longer know how to get home. Just, imagine… How Hops Can Help Save Bees There is hope though. The world-over is realizing that “as goes the bees so goes mankind,” may be more accurate than most of us would have thought possible. Some countries have banned the use of neonicotinoids, which seems an apt response if there’s any chance of this pesticide being one of the culprits. The science community is also aligning its might against the problems plaguing the bee. With the bee’s sweet foodstuff so long a part of brewing history, it is only right the newest piece of assistance would come from the brewer’s playbook — Humulus lupulus (aka: Hops). Yes, hops, the magical herb that lends bitterness, flavor, and balances to nearly every type of beer seriously brewed today, may also be an important piece in the larger puzzle of stopping Colony Collapse Disorder. It seems the varroa mites’ kryptonite could be hop beta acids (HBA). In fact, research has shown promising results in the use of the naturally occurring pesticide, the potassium salt of HBA, to kill and repel this vampiric pest of the hive. A 2012 study, found 100% of mites placed on a bee, wiped down with a 1 percent HBA solution, died. The bee was not affected by the solution. The same study placed strips of cardboard treated with HBA in bee colonies. When these colonies were compared to colonies not treated with the strips, it was found that more mites fell off the bees in the hives guarded by the HBA cardboard. In October of 2015, the EPA approved the use of this biochemical pesticide around hives. The EPA was able to release it for use without further safety testing due to its long history of use in brewing and as a meat preservative. With such a long history of human exposure, it has been acknowledged as a safe-to-use substance. A few months later, in January 2016, the EPA announced that they will be “expediting the approval of pesticides that target Varroa mites.” This includes the use of potassium salts found within hop beta acids. For anyone looking to dive deeper, we would encourage you to read more about this update on Regulations.gov. Update: It appears that the link to the EPA announcement from October is no longer working. For anyone interested, you can view a snapshot of that original announcement on the Wayback Machine. What You Can Do: As a brewer, choose to buy local if you plan to use honey as a brewing ingredient. This supports your local beekeeper’s who are having a hard time of it. To find local honey use the National Honey Board honey locator. Plant local bee friendly plants such as red clover, bee balm, foxglove, asters, sunflowers and goldenrod. For more information on bee friendly plants, please visit either the honeybee conservancy or honey love. Donate to research, education, and community outreach on behalf of the honeybee, if moved to do so, and petition to get pesticides that might be adversely affecting bee populations banned. Stop using pesticides that may be linked to the bees’ problems. Find new respect for flowering weeds, don’t think of them as a blot on your landscape, but a much-needed nectar drive-thru for local bees. Those dandelions that spot your lawn aren’t bad, in fact, it isn’t just the bees that can use them. You can eat the leaves, make tea from the roots, and brew with the flowers I myself have used them in a mead. Make a herb garden that will benefit the bees, your culinary explorations, and your brewing.
Rock Zombie says March 31, 2016 at 8:04 pm Great article Nicoli! You covered a lot of information in a very concise manner. As a beekeeper and a hopthusiast I found it very infomative. Hadn’t heard yet of HBA treatments. I try to keep my bees as naturally as possible but I will look into this further. Thanks! Cheers! Rock Zombie Reply
Nicoli says April 5, 2016 at 2:17 pm Appreciate the great feedback on the article Rock Zombie! Glad you could glean some possibly good information out of it for your own bees. Cheers! Reply
Amber says January 20, 2017 at 11:30 pm It is called hopguard and is available through bee suppliers, however I have not found it to be very effective in my apiaries. Best of luck! Reply
Bill Smith says April 22, 2017 at 10:51 am There is an anti varroa mite solution called hop guard. I am a home brewer and a bee keeper, Reply
Patty Schneider says April 18, 2016 at 7:11 pm Just a small correction, bees don’t feed on red clover, that’s bumble bees. Honey bees feed on the Dutch white clover, which also makes a great green compost to dig in at the end of the season. Reply
Khalen says September 17, 2016 at 12:40 pm Unfortunately red and crimson clover are often confused. While red clover is popular with bumble bees, crimson clover is an excellent food source for honey bees. Its easy for people to confuse the two. Reply
Nicoli says April 20, 2016 at 11:34 am Appreciate the correction Patty. You’re right of course. Guess I was thinking about the red clover I’d planted in the yard a couple years ago while writing the article. Thanks for catching that! Cheers! Reply
Claudia Phillips says April 20, 2016 at 7:14 pm Great information. I am very concerned about the rampant use of neonics in plants sold in the U.S. Now that Home Depot is requiring that growers label all plants treated with neonics, I realize that many “bee friendly” plants in my garden might be contaminated. Do I need to remove all my plants? Will the Neonicotinoids eventually be gone from the plants? Reply
Nicoli says April 21, 2016 at 10:26 am Claudia thanks for the kind words about the article and you bring up a very good point, one a failed to address in the article. It is true that everyone needs to be extremely careful where they source their plants and seeds from. Use organic nurseries or catalogs always and ask questions if you’re unsure. Sadly, from the little bit of research I’ve done it’s pretty clear that Neonicotinoids can stick around for a long long time, and worse yet, are water soluble, so if you plant something treated with Neoniconoids it can get into the soil surrounding the plant and into other nearby plants. Read this wired article for a good overview of this problem: http://www.wired.com/2014/06/garden-center-neonicotinoids/ Do your own research and seek the advice of some organic nurseries, but ultimately, at least from what I’ve learned (and remember I’m not an expert) The safest thing to do is probably also the hardest and most expensive: remove and replace plants you know or suspect of being contaminated. Good Luck and thanks for trying to help the bees! Reply
Chris says June 5, 2016 at 8:50 pm Do bees visit hops? And by that token would they pick up traces of this HBA and take it back tot he hive? I believe there has been a similar result found for tobacco plants. Is that correct? Reply
Brian R. Woodcock says September 17, 2016 at 1:26 pm Very basic and interesting question, did anyone answer it? Reply
Nicoli Carr says November 3, 2016 at 12:38 pm Hi Chris , Pollen would only be available on a male hop plant and most home growers have only the female plant which produces the cones used in brewing. Hops are also wind pollinated, they don’t rely on insects for pollination. That being said I have read about some bee species using the pollen as a food source, but can find little about honey bees having much interest in the male flowers. Even if they were using it every so often I don’t know that this would be enough to stave of the mites. Note this last is all conjecture on my part. As to the tobacco plants I have not heard of any simular affect produced by them…. a very cursory internet search does not come up with anything either. Cheers! Reply
Ronie says September 15, 2016 at 6:40 am Now comes the hard part…. how do you get honey bees to drink Bud Light? Reply
Anthony says November 28, 2016 at 3:43 pm Hops are also used in beer for their antibacterial effect. Dandilions are an invasive weed. If you allow them to grow it would be nice if you do not let them seed. Do the hops growing in my yard also help the bees? Reply
Nicoli Carr says December 12, 2016 at 12:22 pm Hey Anthony thanks for the comment and question. Though it is true that Dandelions are an invasive species they get a bad rap. Why not make your lawn a benefit for you and the bees, beyond an empty stretch of green that looks nice. As I state in the article, as long as you’re not spraying them with pesticides, they actually have a lot to offer. Dandelions, rank in the USDA’s top 4 vegetables for overall nutrition. You can eat the leaves in a salad -even sell bags of the leaves to your local co-op sometime, the roots can be made into a tea, the flowers and root can be used in brewing (plus the bees love the flowers). As to the hop question. Bees do not use the actual hop plant in any way, so just planting hops does not benefit the bees. Cheers! Reply
Jesse says November 28, 2016 at 7:59 pm So, I don’t directly see the article saying that planting hops will help control mites on your bee colonies. Did I miss something? But the way I read it is that the pesticide is only derived from hops, planting them in your garden won’t help protect your bees. Please confirm my understanding and thank you for the information. Reply
Nicoli Carr says December 12, 2016 at 12:29 pm Hi Jesse, You’re right about the pesticide being derived from hop oils. Hops are wind pollinated and there hasn’t been any other beneficial links found between planted hops and bees. Cheers! Reply
Ryan says November 29, 2016 at 7:58 pm Who Photoshopped that drone on to that hop plant?? Even if that female Blossom from the hop plant could yield some food, that drone is not going to be able to get anything from it. It’s been fed its entire life… Reply
Romo says December 12, 2016 at 6:34 am I’m a Beekeeper.. thank you for this article. Varroa mites are nasty little pests. Generally, every colony will have some varroa around, but the bees can usually take care of them. Although, i’ve recently seen more and more of CCD that appears to be from these mites. The current method I use is menthol and formic acid, but those aren’t great for the harvest of honey from the colony. Hops, though. Interesting…. I already have plans to brew with honey, so this may bring it full circle. Reply
Rico says April 22, 2017 at 10:18 am I believe that pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides contribute to “colony collapse disorder,” but “Global warming?” Why not throw in chemtrails and HAARP, just to make sure you have all of the conspiracy theories covered. Reply
Kevin Roddy says April 23, 2017 at 12:12 am Great article! I would make one correction though…you state: “trundler of the air currents, this buccaneer turned pollen merchant, and all his kin.” All HER kin. All bees who forage for nectar and pollen are female. Males do none of this, and the few males the colonies make are used only to inseminate the Queen. Keep on writing and spreading the word about these amazing creatures! Reply
Nicoli Carr says December 2, 2017 at 6:54 pm Hey Kevin, Thanks for the correction! I automatically wrote that without really thinking about it. Your absolutely right though, and I should have caught it. Cheers Reply
Akos says November 1, 2017 at 8:01 am And, its already here… after years of research. Check it: ApisPlus.com Reply
Brady says April 22, 2018 at 7:49 am I’m planting hops this year for my hives to see if it helps with the mites . I think it’s worth a good try to help my thoughts on the mite problem.And also do some home brewing with them. Reply
AM Hunter says June 9, 2018 at 12:08 am Brady, while I can see how you derived the idea of having hops growing near bees as beneficial, if you read the other comments, you will find this comment by the author of the Ted Talk: “Bees do not use the actual hop plant in any way, so just planting hops does not benefit the bees.” Reply
ken roche says February 24, 2019 at 7:36 am While all this is true, what if parts of the plant were put in the hive so that as the bees chew it to remove it, they are ingesting (somewhat). the chemical? easy to try! Reply
Donna Moseanko says December 3, 2018 at 11:25 am “and all his kin”, Would you correct the gender? Like the “Bee” movie, they also got it wrong. My eighty year old dad told us, and now I keep 60 hives, that people need to know it is the female worker that is the buccaneer, the member that collects pollen, and nectar. Appreciate your article. Cheers! Donna Moseanko Wildwood Queens Reply
Kegerator.com says January 17, 2020 at 3:11 pm Good catch Donna, thank you for the correction. Cheers! Reply
ken roche says February 24, 2019 at 7:31 am Have hops growing, have bees too. Gonna try an experiment- will put some buds/vine / leaves inside a hive. Bees will chew to remove it; might get some benefit from this. anyone already try this? ideas? Reply
john middleton says December 6, 2019 at 2:40 am I dried some hops out and ground them down to flour, for my wife to use as a natural yeast in baking, July this year I decided to try some with my bees, I sprinkled half a teacup over the frames of each of my hives, the bees loved it, there was a good varroa drop, and the bees have thrived. Reply
Stoop Dogg says October 7, 2020 at 12:44 am Have you tried making tea with it for feeding? I just harvested my hops and I think I’ll give it a try. Reply
Bapa says June 6, 2020 at 11:33 am old thread – but just a word about hops as an ornamental. They’re a great, low maintenance vine. We use them as privacy vines on the chainlink surrounding the hot tub. Never noticed the bees per se – nothing like the “humming tree” that is my Hawthorn when in full blossom. Reply
Junior says August 13, 2020 at 11:54 am Sorry, but at the end, ” plant red clover”, is wrong. White dutch clover is the clover you want. Red clover they can’t get their tounge into so they dont pollinate it. Bumblebees do though. White duych clover is what you want for honey bees Reply
