Old hops

[half_whit]

Hey folks! Man, I haven't been on here in quite some time. Hardly had time to brew this past year, what with work and getting married and such. My friend that I grow hops with was kind enough to harvest and dry out second year plants in the fall. I just got them from him, frozen....in non-airtight bags and tupperwear. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, I thanked him and said I'd get to work making our "harvest ale". Ended up with a few ounces of Nugget. Now the question is, can I use them and how?


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[JohnSand]

I suspect that they change very little while frozen. But either way, with homegrown hops you don't know the AA%. You can use them as flavor hops with a known bittering hop, I do this with my own Cascades. I received some garden hops from another brewer, I made a couple of simple extract one gallon batches to test them. You can use one ounce or less on a test batch, and build on that. Have fun.

 

[half_whit]

Thanks! Yeah I had already planned on mixing them with store bought for that purpose, but was worried mine would throw off some kind of stale flavor. I'll brew them this weekend and see how it goes


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[day_trippr]

You could always take two or three cones and make a cup of tea before you commit to using them in a batch of beer...

Cheers!

 

[JohnSand]

Day Trippr makes a good point. Smell them first. If they smell cheesy or garlic, don't use them. Dropping a few in hot water will help release the aroma.