Freeze used hops???

[seanmppp]

I know it sounds weird, but.....

I read that commercial brewers save late addition hops, such as in the whirlpool, which are pretty much not sapped of their alpha acids at all, and they throw them in as the next batch's early addition hops (because who cares if the flavor/aroma oils are gone, you've still got the AAs so they're like new hops for that purpose).

This of course is doable for the commercial guys because they are brewing one batch right after the other. Not so much for homebrewers unless you do two batches in one day. I was thinking about it, though. What if you freeze those hops until your next batch and then thaw and throw them in at 60 minutes?

I'm aware that if this is viable at all it'd probably only be with whole hops. But the question remains:
WILL IT WORK?

 

[Darcey]

I have to be honest I have never heard of this before in microbrewerys at least. It is true that you can skim the hops off the top during the whirlpool but this would also include all the other hops and protein etc. Besides I don't know many brewers that would choose brewing twice on the same day.

It is an interesting point about the AA being reused but I would expect it would be in saving £ rather than flavour, and the saving would not be too great IMO. I am sure others will discuss the AA and the BA and their times at boil.

I tend to steep my very late hops for 20-30 mins before cooling so even late hops have a considerable time at 80c +. Also the most hops in my copper the better my hop filter works! ( :wha: ) at filtering other turb.

Worth an experiment.

 

[boozy_shoes]

Although it might save you a bit of money I think you would set yourself up for a consistency nightmare as you would add another variable into the millions there already are with brewing as you wouldn't know what had come out of the hops in their first use and what was still therefor bittering. Buying cheap bittering hops or using high alpha varieties could proably save you as much money.

 

[Vossy1]

As a home brewer, if you have the ability, it is a good idea to freeze all your hops at purchase and use them from the freezer, deep freeze being best.