First time using fresh hops

[Lbarouf]

I just harvested some cascade this year. They are 2 days old now, not wet but not flaky dry neither. I did they are a bit dirty. How can I clean them and what should I do with them before brewing. Hoping to brew tonight if possible.

 

[tellyho]

Just toss em in. They'll be fine. Just don't count on any predictable amount of bitterness from them

 

[Lbarouf]

I hear you. So no need to clean, nothing? I was thinking of cold wash, soak a bit, then strain in a salad spinner. once dry and back to room temp, brew them at a ratio of 0.9g of pellets for each grams of 2 days dry hops. they are still wet/greasy, not flaky dry. And a simple single hop IPA would be my first try.

thanks for the input @tellyho !

 

[Kenmoron]

No need to wash whatsoever...you will just lose some of your hop oils. Putting them in hot wort will kill any nasties on there. 1 gram of wet hop = 0.2 g pellets. I'd actually use even a bit more wet hops than that since they are already 2 days old.

 

[tellyho]

Yep, you'll be fine. I have 6 hop plants and have been brewing with them for 6ish years. Great for aroma, not reliable for much else. I make a garbage pail ale once a year with all of my hops in the whirlpool; gave up trying to brew to style with them.

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[Lbarouf]

We'll see how it turns out. I made a very basic IPA to start with to give me an idea how off they could get. I like how they look, so worse case it will be ornamental as well. Or a garbage pail ale as well. love the name.

one of the batches was BIAG, and got a little tipsy with friends while brewing this last batch.... I left the bag during the boil phase! I wonder if it's even worth trying to ferment that one. Never happened to me to do such thing before, I have no clue what to expect out of that. Any idea?

 

[Kenmoron]

When you say BIAG you mean BIAB? And if you left the bag, do you mean you left all the spent grains in the boil? If that's the case it is likely that the batch will be 'grainy' tasting and have astringency. If I did that I would probably still ferment as usual, see how it turns out, and use it as an opportunity to learn about off-flavors if there are any.

 

[Lbarouf]

When you say BIAG you mean BIAB? And if you left the bag, do you mean you left all the spent grains in the boil? If that's the case it is likely that the batch will be 'grainy' tasting and have astringency. If I did that I would probably still ferment as usual, see how it turns out, and use it as an opportunity to learn about off-flavors if there are any.

Hey Kenmoron,

Thanks fro the reply. Sorry for the delay, I was away. Yep, typo,... brew in a bag style for that batch. I forgot to remove the grains when I ran the boil. The grains were in there the whole 60min. I only realized once I stopped the boil. :-/ It looked and tasted like crap. I tossed it.

Thanks,