Hi all
Was not sure where to post this http://www.biabrewer.info/posting.php?mode=post&f=150# and thought this a reasonable place. In the UK, which is where I am, hops are mostly bought in 100 gm packs. Over the last year or so, trying out various types of beers, I have a load of left over hops stored in my freezer. Some can be used in rebrewing the brews I liked but there are a load of various others that were used in beers that didnt appeal and I will not brew again. So the question is what do other brewers do with them? Throw them away, or use to experiment, or something else I havnt thought of.
Thank for any replies
Jomay
Post #2 made 7 years ago
since you have them in the freezer they are definitely still good.
I would not just blame the hops (alone) on past brews you did not like.
Experimenting is a great way to better brewing. You never what you might brew up. Blending the hops at different times/varieties can produce some tastey brews.
My suggestion would be to sort out the hops you have - do some research on the internet (or library - a great book I have is "for the love of hops"). For example you could brew say a blonde or pale ale (use a yeast like a california west cost that will not play too much into the taste of the brew) and then mix and match some hops to experiment - could even split the batch match some hops that are spice in one batch and fruity in the other - then you can enjoy some taste testing. good reason to have some folks over to sample and provide thier input.
another suggestion is to brew the pale and split the batch and dry hop diffent hops then enjoy the taste testing.
Pete
I would not just blame the hops (alone) on past brews you did not like.
Experimenting is a great way to better brewing. You never what you might brew up. Blending the hops at different times/varieties can produce some tastey brews.
My suggestion would be to sort out the hops you have - do some research on the internet (or library - a great book I have is "for the love of hops"). For example you could brew say a blonde or pale ale (use a yeast like a california west cost that will not play too much into the taste of the brew) and then mix and match some hops to experiment - could even split the batch match some hops that are spice in one batch and fruity in the other - then you can enjoy some taste testing. good reason to have some folks over to sample and provide thier input.
another suggestion is to brew the pale and split the batch and dry hop diffent hops then enjoy the taste testing.
Pete
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Post #3 made 7 years ago
Thanks for that Brew4me, roughly that is what I had in mind, a bit of experimentation, but did wonder if there was something I could do that I hadnt thought of :-) Will defo look up the characteristics of various hops, do certain types of hops go together well? or is it all a matter of experimentation. Dont have enough kit to split the brew into two, but have a number of fermenter buckets so could split them at the end of the brew, and dry hop them with diff hops. I normally brew around the 23-19 litres vol but perhaps it would be more sensible to use smaller batches, perhaps around the 12 litre size. Anyway, thanks for your suggestions, you have got me thinking now :-)
Best Wishes - Jomay
Best Wishes - Jomay
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Post #4 made 7 years ago
Remember that hops added 60 minutes out will just add bitterness. So the aroma and flavor won't matter much. Higher AA the more bitterness you get. And lots of hops can go well together in aroma / flavor (so starting at 15 minutes from end of boil on and through flameout.
Review the hop descriptions and make sure you don't see any real red flags... Then beyond that just use your judgement and...what's the worst that can happen?
If concerned about a particular hop variety's flavor meshing with the others, use it early in the boil, an hour or more out for a bittering addition, as little to no flavor should make it to your beer - just bitterness. This is what I do in this situation. Hope this helps.
Review the hop descriptions and make sure you don't see any real red flags... Then beyond that just use your judgement and...what's the worst that can happen?
If concerned about a particular hop variety's flavor meshing with the others, use it early in the boil, an hour or more out for a bittering addition, as little to no flavor should make it to your beer - just bitterness. This is what I do in this situation. Hope this helps.
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