Wet Hops

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Permalink Reply by Jess9 on March 5, 2013 at 7:28am

I hear not to add after fermentation - can cause off flavours / spoilage??  Could be due to intro of wild yeasts or impurities (bugs/any other stuff on hops etc you may not see).  Anyone know more on this??  Cheers.

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Permalink Reply by Tilt on March 5, 2013 at 9:45am

That's sound reasoning - and probably true for a beer you really want to shine.  But going by the experiment I tried last week it hasn't been a problem (yet!). I'm figuring the low pH and alcohol content of the beer is keeping things under control

I added 150g of wet hops in a large hop sack to an old Pale Ale which was starting to get a bit tired in the keg.  There seemed to be a bug in every third hop flower when I picked them so I gave them a bit of a rustle and tied them up in a bag and no sign of crawlies have come out of the tap yet.  The beer has a great, and relatively mild, fresh hop flavour and it probably wont last long enough for any spoilage to set in.

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Permalink Reply by Tilt on March 12, 2013 at 11:28pm

The end result of hop season 2013 at my place was a 2kg crop of Danscade.  900g of these were used wet to brew a harvest ale and dry hop some existing beers in the keg.  The remainder were dried ending up in 300g being thrown into the freezer.  The harvest ale recipe is posted here.

Looking forward to next season already.

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Permalink Reply by G S on March 13, 2013 at 8:09pm

Are we already past harvest time? Am Auckland based, a non beer drinking / making collegue at work has a hop plant growing, and has offered harvest rights in return for chopping the thing down. Bases on others harvesting is it best to get it done soon? Or how should I / we tell its ready ? Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Tilt on March 13, 2013 at 10:12pm

Now's about the right time or they could be past it - it depends on which way they face and the amount of sun they get.  I'm in Auckland too.  My hops face due north with full sun and are growing on a white painted shed so there's plenty of reflected light and heat.  I picked the first lot 2 weeeks ago and the second batch last Friday.  I'd say get round to your mate's place and check them out.  This post gives some tips about checking whether they're ripe. 

If you have a chance maybe leave the bines for a while after the harvest until they yellow off then chop them down and dig up the rhizome for use at your place - assuming you've got the space that is.

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