Artificially aging hops - Page 2

**Bobby_M** · 09-29-2009, 08:11 PM

I did something similar with Tett pellet hops. I put them in my coffee grinder to pulverize. This is critical so that you exponentially increase the surface area. From there, I put the powder in a paper lunch bag and stashed in my 120F attic for 2 weeks. You can probably just smash the pellets with a hammer while they are still in the plastic bag.

Tonedef131 · 09-29-2009, 08:17 PM

3 years is kind of the rule of thumb when talking about leaf hops. In Wild Brews they do talk about pellet hops though, since there are becoming the main source of hops a lot of breweries have switched to them even for these uses. If I remember he said the typical waiting period for pellets hops is 5-6 years, so it takes about twice as long for the same results.

Ryan_PA · 09-30-2009, 12:56 AM

I have done this exact process with some saaz pellets. While I agree with Bobby that more surface are is better, I didn't bother. In whole form the pellets seemed to artificially age as good.

wetherel · 10-01-2009, 03:50 AM

Do you think sour beers taste better with aged hops, or do you think people just do it for historical purposes. I'm not a big fan of oxidized hops in other beer styles, so I've chosen to leave them out of my sours. Also I fear my beers won't get that sour when the hops (aged or fresh) inhibit lactobacillus, so I leave them out. I could count on pedio to get the sourness, but then I fear diacetyl. So I've been brewing/fermenting sour beers without hops (and with lacto and no pedio) for 3-12 months, then adding the hop bitterness and aroma back in with a hop tea closer to bottling/kegging time. It becomes another variable when blending.