I've been given the opportunity to harvest a few hop vines and wonder if anyone has suggestions on how to proceed, as I'm coming at this quite loosely.
First things first: I intend to use them fresh to dry-hop a (4% abv) table saison currently sitting in secondary. My plan is to pick them in the afternoon this weekend, plunk them into a new carboy without washing them, and then rack the beer on top.
From what I've read, one should use 5x as much fresh hops by weight compared to dry hops -- so 15 oz fresh hops instead of 3 oz for a 5 gallon batch.
This all make sense? Seems easy enough, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask
One real question that comes to mind: how does one know when the hops are ready to pick? It's only getting colder where I live, so I figure there's no time like the present. But are there other ("real") indicators of readiness?
First things first: I intend to use them fresh to dry-hop a (4% abv) table saison currently sitting in secondary. My plan is to pick them in the afternoon this weekend, plunk them into a new carboy without washing them, and then rack the beer on top.
From what I've read, one should use 5x as much fresh hops by weight compared to dry hops -- so 15 oz fresh hops instead of 3 oz for a 5 gallon batch.
This all make sense? Seems easy enough, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask
One real question that comes to mind: how does one know when the hops are ready to pick? It's only getting colder where I live, so I figure there's no time like the present. But are there other ("real") indicators of readiness?
... haha. No if they smell good, and they are sticky and covered in yellow powder/pollen looking stuff Pick Away!! and I would say racking on top of them is fine. However what variety is it? Also if they are a *touch* on the grassy side I personally think that is great in a saison. But that is me. Fresh hops and saison is a marriage designed by the gods in my humble opinion.
