Dried Hop Aroma?

[chewyheel]

This is my first year growing hops, (cascade & chinook) so I didn't get a huge yield, but enough to do at least one 5 gallon batch. Since I didn't have very much I decided to dry them using the microwave method I saw on the Mad Fermentationist blog.

So my question is should the hops still have a pungent odor after being dried? I wasn't expecting them to smell like pellets since those are super concentrated but I'm worried I still might have got them too hot since the aroma is decidedly less now that they are dried. I had my microwave set at 40% power and stirred them every 30 seconds.

Also, I was hoping to use these for a my next pale ale and wanted to first wort hop with them, or would they be better suited to dry hopping and if I should stick to pellets for bittering?

 

[alane1]

Once dried, if you crush a cone in your hand and then smell, the aroma should come back. Most people typically use homegrown hops for just flavor, aroma and dry hop additions. Bittering with first year hops could be a crapshoot, might work might not. Best err on the side of caution. If the aroma is acceptable after the rub and sniff test though, they'd probably fine for dry hopping. Good luck

 

[thaymond]

First year harvests aren't as fragrant as subsequent years. Also, they have to be absolutely ready to pick in the first year to get the aroma. Don't worry, though. Once you throw them in your beer, the oils and acids go to work, and you get your aroma and flavor, even out of a first year harvest.

I was disappointed by my 1st year cascade. I thought for sure that they would be super aromatic and "cascade-y" and they just werent. Once I threw them in my pale ale though, they did just fine. Now they are in their third year, and I get the Cascade aroma when I squeeze them. I can smell them from several feet away, like I can my Chinook plant, but it is pleasant.

When drying, it is my practice, as well as others, to dry with low to no heat. Keep as much of those hop oils and resins present as possible. It takes more time, but at least you're able to keep them. The big commercial growers use heat to help with the amount of time in drying I order to accommodate their sheer volume. If you're only working with 10s of pounds of wet hops, you can spare a couple of days on a screen or an oast. Then vacuum seal those dry cones to keep that fresh aroma sealed in for use.

Fwiw, I use mine for bittering and aroma. I have been making variants of an IPA and DIPA with my 4 homegrown varieties for about 2 years. Zeus, Nugget, and Chinook all are higher alpha hops anyway, so I assume the lowest end of the hops range. So, if the package says something like 11 to 14, I'll assume 11 and build a recipe that way in brewtoad. The older they get, I'll assume lower AA amounts. My 2 year old Nugget is down to 7 when I formulate, but it I haven't been surprised when the brews come out. They aren't too hoppy or overwhelming at all. You'll find your sweet spot. I don't know if what I'm doing is wrong, but it seems to work for me, and people dig my brews, so I guess there's that.

 

[rtracer]

Good to hear about first year not being super aromatic. I just harvested 2/3rds of a 5 gallon bucket of Cascades off my first year plant. They smell hoppy if you squeeze and break them apart, but nothing like the aroma of a freshly opened pack of pellets. Going to fun trying a SMaSH brew with my home grown!