What to do with freshly-picked hops?

- A
- Andy Spragg
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sat, Sep 20, 2003 10:56 AM

Came back from a day's hedgerow-scavenging on Sunday with little to show for it (been too dry, for too long; most of the fruit on the brambles was completely dessicated) except a large bag of hops ... this time last year, I had a much smaller amount, and I just boiled them awhile, and tipped them into a 5-gallon batch of kit homebrewed bitter. Can't say they improved it any, or indeed that they did any harm. Just couldn't taste much difference.

What's the best thing to do with them? I believe I need to dry them thoroughly first, but beyond that I'm floundering. And indeed, even on the subject of drying I'm a bit hazy. Do I stick them in a warm oven for a couple of hours? Spread them out in a cool dry place and leave them for a couple of weeks?

Ok, so then I have dry hops. What next?

Andy

- N
- Negodki
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sun, Sep 21, 2003 4:42 AM

Andy,

Although many of us brew beer and ale as well as make wine, you'll probably get more response if you post the question at rec.crafts.brewing.

- A
- Andy Spragg
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sun, Sep 21, 2003 10:50 AM

snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Negodki) pushed briefly to the front of the queue on 20 Sep 2003 21:42:05 -0700, and nailed this to the shed door:

^ Andy, ^ ^ Although many of us brew beer and ale as well as make wine, you'll ^ probably get more response if you post the question at ^ rec.crafts.brewing.

Right you are, sir. Thanks!

Andy

- J
- John S. Watson
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sun, Sep 21, 2003 5:53 PM

If you have a food dehydrator, it might be more useful in drying them.

Re: What to do with them?

Tricky question, since you don't know what percentage alpha-acid (AA%) they are.

AA% is what you need to know to determine how bitter your resulting beer will be.

So if you're going to use them for bittering your beer, you must be prepared to assume a "ball-park" number, and be prepared that the bitterness might be fairly far off. Perhaps assume 6% alpha acid.

Now, if you use them for beer flavor and aroma, you don't have to be as exact, since getting flavor and aroma out of the hops is much more less of a science.

Just throw in an ounce at 1/2 hour before the end of the boil, and another ounce just at the end of the boil.

Assuming you've got enough hops, I'd make an IPA.

Maybe boil 2 ounces at 90 minutes until the end of boil for bitterness, then 2 ounces at 30 minutes until the end of boil for flavor, then 2 ounces at 5 minutes until the end of boil for aroma. Then you might dry hop with 1 ounce after fermentation.

Then if the hops turn out to be strong (greater than 6%aa), you'll have a strongly hopped Amerian style IPA (or maybe an old fashioned English Style IPA). And if they turn out weak (less than 6%aa), you'll have a weakly hopped English-style IPA.

Slainte, JW