What to do with half a pound of Nugget Hops....

So here's one of those "good problems to have"...

My cousin grows his own hops and just gave me about a half a pound of nugget hops. They are currently vacuum sealed in a baggie.

A bit of background - I'm mainly an extract/partial grain kit brewer (I have bought exclusively from NB and AHS and I'm confortable brewing their kits, but I'm also ok with doing custom kits). Currently I have an Oktoberfest (in cornie keg) in secondary in the fridge, AHS Pumpkin Ale in Secondary, NB's Patiersbier aging in keg, and NB's Dawson's Kriek in primary.

Also I have NB's Nutbrown Ale, as well as their "Pick your own wheat" kit (planning on doing 2.5 gal banana, 2.5 gal cranberry) in my basement ready to brew. For the Nutbrown, I'm looking to add some Maple Syrup and make it a Maple Nut Brown. For the Wheat, I want to brew like normal, then split it 2.5 gal in 1 keg, 2.5 in the other, and add half of the fruit in each.

I'm looking for a few suggestions....

1. How long will those hops keep in the vacuum sealed bag? A week? Month?

2. What should I do with them? Add them in a secondary in one of the beers I already have going? Add them during brewing in the Nutbrown or Wheat kits I have? Buy a Pale Ale/IPA/something else and use them for that? Throw them out????

A. If I add them to one of the other beers, when and how much?


thanks, and I look forward to the discussion!

doesn't sound like you'll be able to use them...just send them my way.

seriously though, are they dried or "wet"?

I helped him pick them off the vine about 4 hours ago.....

dry them or use them.

Well I guess that's the question - what should I use them in?

I've never dried anything - how would I go about doing that? And if I did do that, how long would they stay good?

Also, does anyone know how long they'll stay good in the vacuum seal bag? Should I refrigerate them or do they get funky that way?

thanks as always!

I make an india brown ale that uses only nugget hops...it's pretty good. if you want i could get the recipe for you but don't have it with me. 8oz of wet hops, however, really isn't that much. you need about 5 oz wet for every 1 oz dried hops...so you might not have enough to make an entire batch with what you have...

...so you should probably send them to me.

Eight ounces wet is enough for a 4-5% APA and single hopping with Nugget works. Use ~ 1/2 for bittering and split the rest at 15 and 5 minutes.