Adding hops to out of date lager

[Daddynoob]

Have got some out of date lager giving to me which is about 2-3 years old
Have bought some hops and a net
But haven’t done this before
Do I add the hops after about a week of fermenting and how much do I use and can it be reused
Any advice would be great

 

[crowcrow]

Hi,

You can either throw the hops in loose or in a bag. If in a bag be sure it is big enough - hops swells with moisture and will also need weighing down.

Anything from 25g up will make an impact for dry hops - even less is possible.

I normally add after about a week as I usually leave about 2 weeks to ferment - though it can take more or less. I personally find that the aroma is best after 3 days and much beyond that is of limited impact. In fact I have felt it has dropped from leaving too long.

If you are able to cold crash (bringing the beer to around 1c for a day or two before bottling or kegging) you'll find a lot of the hops will drop out/sink without finings and you can just go loose. If you can't cold crash you cans till go loose, just have to be more careful when syphoning.

What sort of flavours, hops or beers do you like and are you trying to recreate? I did a dried hoped 'Lost Lager' recently which was great but if anything could do with more dry hops go be like the canned beer.

 

[Daddynoob]

Wow
What a great reply
I am just adding any hops as the lager is out of date
Think I got fresh yeast also
I will try and cold crash before bottling
What is best temp for crashing
So just 1 day
Will try and send pics
Thanks again

 

[Rodcx500z]

Cold crash as cold as you can it for 3 days

 

[Daddynoob]

Cheers mate

 

[crowcrow]

First lager I brewed was 5 years out of date (the can and the yeast inside) - it brewed fine. Enjoy and happy tweaking! I loved trying different things when I did kits - I used to add different sugars (dark brown sugar and treacle were my faves) and also boiled up hop teas (boil for 20 mins and then strain into the bucket and ferment as normal) and did loads of dry hopping. I am a big fan of citra, but anything will be interesting I'm sure!

Good luck and let us know how it goes - I'm always interesting in pics of other people's set ups!

 

[Daddynoob]

I take the top shelf out when I put the fv in then swap to bottles

 

[Daddynoob]

If I renew the yeast would I need to add the hops
Will experiment on one anyway
Have got about 4 out of date lagers
And 3 new yeasts
Just set on away

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

I'd be a bit concerned about the packet of hops. Someone with better knowledge than me might be able to give you a definitive answer, but if they're not vacuum packed, I wouldn't use them unless you know when they were packed and how they've been stored.

I really don't know why Youngs are so behind the times. The first hops I bought were Youngs branded...in a plastic bag. After joining a forum, I ditched them before I even used them.

Light degrades hops, so even if your hops are vacuum packed, I'd be concerned about that clear panel.

 

[Daddynoob]

It was bought from a proper home brew shop about 4 months ago

should be ok

 

[Daddynoob]

Does the hops have to be weighed out

also am going to try using the PB for carbonate
How much sugar do I put in

brown ale done and is really nice

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

It won't do any harm to use the hops - they'll add some bitterness and aroma to the beer, and might make it keep better.

Does the hops have to be weighed out

Not necessarily - but obviously the more you put in, the stronger the flavour is going to be.

Just out of interest if you're trying to achieve a particular flavour then you have to adjust the weight according to the 'strength' of the hops. This changes year to year depending on the growing conditions. When you buy them from a brewing supplier (e.g. Ingredients for home brewing - The Malt Miller) they quote the strength as the 'alpha' percentage, as below.

If you used hops with twice the 'alpha' then you would use half as much... etc.

 

[Daddynoob]

No particular flavour
Just with it been out of date
Have got fresh yeast and a bag of hops as above
Was thinking of about quarter of the bag and put it in the net bag
It’s been fermenting a week now and is ready to go in