Fresh whole hops. . . just ??

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Grinder12000

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Do I just add them to the boil in a hop bag. I have about 12 oz of fresh cascade hops and have a recipe in mind. ????
 
Use them as you would purchased hops. Are they dried? Drying them first will make for better flavor and reduced amounts used in your brew.
 
I don't know why but hops go further and provide better utilization when dried. Think tea. Can you get a good cup of tea from the freshly picked tea leaves or does the dried tea leaves make a better tea? You can use the hops without drying but it takes 4-5 times more than dried to get the IBU's and flavor. Do you want to make one batch with "wet" hops or would you like to have enough hops to make maybe three batches?
 
except your still using the same amount of hops total. the weight loss is just water not hops.ie if you have 5 ozs wet and they weighed 1 oz dry how is that going further?
 
I understand the logic of dried to wet weight totals practically matching. It is my understanding that dried hops provide better utillization of the lupulin and flavors a brewer is trying to get from the hops. I really don't care if if someone wants to use wet or dry hops, just putting out the info for others to try or not. I know that the hops I'm drying now had very little aroma when I first picked them but now that they are dried have an incredible aroma now. If I had enough to do wet/dry side by side comparison brews I would just to see how much of a difference there is between the two.
 
OK - fair enough - best way to dry hops with no special equipment?? Oven on low for a number of hours????

These Cascades are REAL aromaous (that not a word is it LOL)
 
You can lay them on a window screen and leave in a warm location such as an attic or shed for 3-4 days but WI is probably a bit too cool now for that. My research into drying reccomended not heating the hops over 130* (if my memory serves). I simply put a small space heater behind a fan on low with the hops in a colander and mixed them up every so often for even drying. Some folks used cellulose air filters stacked 4-5 deep on a box fan secured with bunji straps. You know they are thouroughly dried by opening a flowerette and bending the center sprig/stem and when it snaps they are ready. Good luck!

aromaous = aromatic:D
 
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