I just picked a huge pile of hops from a friends vine and had planned to just shove them into the freezer.
Then simply add them to my BK when brewing. Is this not a good idea?
great write up and pics though.
They're 80% water and if you leave all of that in there the crystal formation will tear up the lupulin glands. You'll get less utilization and they'll go bad much faster. Either dry them or go vine to kettle immediately.
Don't worry about sunlight. Radicalization only occurs in isomerized oils (i.e. post-brewing). Before you use the hops, sunlight won't hurt them a bit. Many old-world methods of drying used metal pans and grates to dry the hops with direct solar heat (similar to making raisins).
The reason to dry before freezing is solely to remove weight. Commercially, it cuts down shipping and storage costs significantly. If you want to freeze them before drying, it won't hurt a thing. Some sources even suggest better flavor retention in the short term (say, inside six months) by freezing the water content with them. Don't worry about freeze-cracking the plant tissue, boiling does far more "damage" and it's essential to get the oils out anyhow.
It's not recommended to use hops without drying them. The chlorophyll compounds are volatile and will be removed by drying (especially when heat is used along with airflow). You do not want the chlorophyll in your brew unless you like overwhelming leaf flavor.
Don't be afraid to use an old pillowcase and your dryer if air drying is too slow. I plan on experimenting with cold smoking this next year.
Thank you TrojanMan. That was the perfect answer I was looking for. I have a friend that gave me about a half gallon of Hallertau and all I did was vacuum seal them and threw it in the freezer. I was woundering if I had to dry them out before use, it sounds like I'll have to. Planted a hallertau plant just the other day and it will be interesting next year if it comes through the winter alright
"Drying hops should be done as quickly as possible after the harvest to preserve the essential hop oils. Warmth, no sunlight, and good air circulations are all that's required... Once hops are picked, they should never again be placed in direct sunlight, or even strong artificial light. Light-struck hops will add skunky off-flavors to beer."
This is coming from the book The Homebrewer's Garden by Joe and Dennis Fisher (a great source for information about growing hops and gardening in general). The actual science of why picked hops should avoid sunlight is not explained, but I have read several times that it is good practice. I haven't experimented with this at all so I have no empirical proof, but I thought I would just throw this out there.
2 days to dry hops with a fan on high? That seems really inefficient to me as I simply left mine on a screen for 3 days in August and they dried out fine.
__________________
Heb no oana Hoibe hoch, du Hund!
Drinking: Fight Night Pale Ale
Fermenting: 100 pints o' Stout
- Use a space heater to help raise your temps into the 100-130 degree range. (works great if you live in a hot climate with a garage that isn't well insulated!)
- flip the filters so the side nearest the fan doesn't overdry relative to the opposite end
BTW, this is essentially Alton Brown's method for herb drying applied to hops.
Linear Mode
