Using fresh wet hops

[hoppyscotty]

A friend of mine has a hop plant in his back garden that has produced quite a bounty this year so we're going to brew a beer with them this weekend. I think they are a variety that suits a more traditional/classic English Pale Ale so going with a simple grain bill and loading the hops in the hopstand and maybe dry hop too depending on how much he yields and using another pellet hop for littering. The idea being to really bring out the flavour of the hop.

Anyone brewed with fresh wet hops? Seems you literally need to use them within 24/48 hrs so will suggest he picks them on Friday evening/first thing Saturday morning to ensure their freshness.

Anything else I need to know in preparation especially if we are going to use some in the dry hop? I guess if we have enough for a decent dry hop then those will have to be frozen until ready to use, what about washing them? Just a rinse under the tap or a soak in water or anything else?

It seems the ratio of wet hops vs pellet hops is about 5:1...does that sound right for those who've used them before?

Thanks.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Picked some wild ones just after the funeral. They're going in as mostly flavour and aroma hops in an English IPA, in about an hour! Only got 300g of them so relied on pellets for the bittering.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Did you prepare your hops in anyway before using? e.g. washing them or drying them?

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Nope, picked them and gave any bugs an hours eviction notice!
Then started adding them with 15 mins of the boil to go at the rate of a handful every couple of minutes, the rest at flameout.
It's an IPA with about 70 IBUs from the bittering hops plus a few more from the green hops.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Brill thanks. I'm thinking of using pellets for bettering and only using wet hops in hopstand or dry hop. Do you know if wet hops more effective in hopstand or dry hop?

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Not sure but I didn't fancy a dry hop in case there are still any critters in there.
At least with a hopstand they should get a bit of sterilisation!

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

Also the green hops would be well past their best when I got to dry hop as I'd picked them all.

 

[Sandimas]

I've never been tempted to brew with fresh wet hops due to the sheer volume due to all the moisture content, I don't know what the advantage is?

I just brewed with this season's hops that I picked last weekend, they've fully dried in a week and I used ones I've yet to package up.

 

[Little Rock Brewing]

I totally agree Sandimas. It was just that I found these wild hops on Sunday and was planning a brew on Monday.
There really wasn't enough to dry and freeze plus I've no idea what they are!
So a simple (cheap) brew seemed a good idea and get them used.
I chose a pretty pokey IPA so they've got somewhere to hide.
If it's rubbish I'll palm it off on my mates!

 

[Sandimas]

I've been tempted to do the same, I live close to the River Severn and there are a few places on the riverbank where wild hops grow: I've no idea what they are either. I must go down there again soon as last time I tried to identify the hop but it was too early and the aroma hadn't developed. Although my 3 hop bines at home have produced more than enough to keep me going this year so I don't really need any more.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Sounds like I can get away with the wet hops for hopstand but for dry hopping I'd probably be best drying and freezing. Drying them looks simple enough so should have time to do that before dry hop time.

I was going to use my hop missile for the 'hopstand' at 80 degrees C. Could bung some in at flame out too.

Not intersted in using leaf hops wet or dry normally but since they're there would be an interesting exercise.