First time out- brewing my hops

[garlicfingers]

So, I have some Newport, Cascade, Willamette and Fuggle hops, the Cascades and Willamettes produced a fair amount. I thought I'd try to brew them, but don't know where to start.

I am looking for a good book suggestion for recipes and a good Beginner brew kit suggestion.

----At this point I know nothing

 

[dpeters]

I would take your green hops and spread them out on window screens elevated off the ground in your garage or somewhere dry and without direct sunlight and have a fan on a low setting blowing air across them until they are dry with almost no moisture left in them. I then vacuum seal them and put them in my chest freezer to use at a later date which is what you may want to due until you get all the equipment and information needed to brew. I would suggest visiting your local home brew store for info to get started but there is also a ton of info on the internet you can find by just googling it. Joining a local homebrew club would also be a great opportunity to have someone help you get up and running.

How did you end up with all the hops without ever brewing?

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

Dry them as the above posting.
I would use a vacuum sealer and put the packets in the freezer.
Then I would brew a couple of extract kits to understand more about brewing.
Then use your hops when you understand it better.

 

[Homercidal]

Agree on the drying. Sooner the better as they start to degrade once they are picked. Actually, I've had good luck just freezing them and using them fresh, but the taste is slightly different.

Secondly, you don't know what your Alpha Acid content of these things is. I recommend looking these varieties up on Google and see what their average AA% looks like and use that as a guide. When you buy hops at the store for brewing they have a noted AA% on the package. You will be kind of guessing since you don't have a lab report stating specifically.

In any case, I highly recommend you start with a beginners site like Howtobrew.com or better yet, borrow or buy the book. There is also brewing for dummies which is pretty decent, and Papazian's Complete Joy of Homebrewing, the classic homebrewing guide.

While you are reading up on it, go buy yourself an Extract Kit from the store. You will need a few things to make the kit, including a kettle big enough to handle the concentrated wort ( don't recall how big this needs to be for extract brewing, but maybe 5 gallons?), you will need bottles and caps, and a capper. You will need 2 buckets for brewing. One will be a 6.5 gallon primary to ferment in, and the other can be a 5 gallon bucket WITH A SPIGOT installed for bottling. And a bottling wand and some hose.

Also, don't forget to buy a small bottle of Star San sanitizer and some distilled water to mix it into (You can reuse it later if you mix with distilled and the pH remains low enough!)

That should be enough information to kick start your hobby. Decide what your favorite beer is and find a recipe kit and get going!

And RDWHAHB!

 

[garlicfingers]

Thanks for the great advice. I planted these hops about 3 years ago to see what they would do. I left them and just came back to them this season. I picked them, a bit late, dried them over a fan for 12 hours, let them sit another 24. I just bagged them, vacuum sealed them into 2oz and 1.5 oz bags and through them in the freezer until I can get a book and starter kit. I'm considering setting up a 1/4 to 1/3 acre hop yard this fall nad starting with fresh rhizomes in the spring.