The New Guy - First Post

[TheCADJockey]

I've been referencing this site for information for a long time and now that I am getting more serious about the beer I make and drink, it is time for me to post. So first I'll give some background:

I started brewing three years ago when I was in college and had to rob the change from my couch to buy a six pack of Keystone. Since then I have made about roughly 2-3 batches of beer a year. A modest amount due to schedule and funds. The first year were kits and came out (I assume) as they were meant to. It was beer. The second year I made a Hefeweizen and what the guy at the local beer store called a Crystal-Weiss. They both turned out pleasant. The real kicker is after a little experience and much more research as well as having disposable income, the last two batches had issues. The last one I did was my first all-grain and I ended up with bottle bombs. If that's what you call it. Each bottle once opened, would violently foam until the bottle was empty. It was so disappointing that I have not made any beer in a while. I thought I did everything perfectly, took extra care sparging, cooled the wort for the first time ever and even measured gravity for the first time. Not one bottle survived being uncapped despite precautions to prevent it.

That being said, I apologize for the lengthy post and will get to my actual question:

Two years ago, I planted a small crop of Nugget hops. It did not grow the first year, I forgot about it, had the bottle bomb incident and put brewing on the back burner. Well... I now have a 20+ foot tall hops vine in my garden that I have nurtured and has in turn refueled my interest. It is massive. It is gorgeous. It is absolutely covered in cones.

When should I harvest?

After much research I have found many contradictory ideas. The cones are over an inch long and have lupulin glands.

I have a new obsession with very, very hoppy beers.

Would a partial-mash, IPA be a nice way to get back into the swing? Does anyone have a recipe suggestion for such a thing? Should I try to wet hop any of it? Looking at the glorious plant in my garden, I am going to have quite the surplus.

Thank you so much in advance. Any tips, hints, or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. Thank you thank you.

 

[erick0619]

I have no real advice that would actually benefit you. I just came by to say congrats on jumping back Into this great obsession. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you come up with those fresh hops of yours.


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Where do you place your probe?

 

[ong]

Your batch of gushers seems like a simple priming sugar problem (either you used too much sugar or the beer wasn't completely fermented). You may well have done everything else right!

If you want to use your hops wet, you can replace dry hops in a recipe with approx 5x the weight of wet, to account for the moisture still in the cones. My first wet hop beer last year had a couple of problems, and was a dumper: I harvested too soon, so there was virtually no hop flavor or bitterness, AND I tried to use my own hops for the 60-minute bittering charge, so the problem was compounded. I'd recommend using commercial hops at least for the first addition, in case yours aren't quite up to snuff.

 

[unionrdr]

A PM IPA with wet hopping those fresh cones would be interesting. But the nugget hops will need some other ones to go with'em. Nugget is high AA% with a strong herbal/spice thing to it. But plays well with other hops.

 

[HDDSlinger]

Fellow upstater here. Dropping in on a homebrew club meeting is a great place to get advice. I attend UNYHA meetings but there is a club or two local to Buffalo. I know there are several guys growing hops in my club I am sure you will find several locally. Here is a recipe i tried a year ago that I really liked. I think it came from right here on HBT. To my knowledge nugget is a good bittering hop and can be used for early additions in mostly any beer for bittering purposes.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.98 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.98 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal   
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.072 SG
Estimated Color: 10.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 115.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
11 lbs                Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        71.0 %        
3 lbs                 Rye Malt (4.7 SRM)                       Grain         2        19.4 %        
1 lbs                 Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM)    Grain         3        6.5 %         
8.0 oz                Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)             Grain         4        3.2 %         
1.50 oz               Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min         Hop           5        63.3 IBUs     
1.00 oz               Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min         Hop           6        32.4 IBUs     
1.50 oz               Falconer's Flight [11.00 %] - Boil 10.0  Hop           7        19.4 IBUs     
1.50 oz               Falconer's Flight [11.00 %] - Boil 0.0 m Hop           8        0.0 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35. Yeast         9        -             
1.00 oz               Falconer's Flight [11.00 %] - Dry Hop 5. Hop           10       0.0 IBUs      


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 15 lbs 8.0 oz
----------------------------
Name              Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Mash In           Add 5.48 gal of water at 161.7 F        151.0 F       60 min        

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 4.61gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
Mash @ 151 for 60
Boil for 60
Wirlpool for 10 before chill

 

[TheCADJockey]

Nugget is high AA% with a strong herbal/spice thing to it.

Would you suggest a different style of beer for the Nugget? Or a type of hops to pair with it for an IPA?

The guy that helps me at our local store, shares a striking resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite and is very helpful usually... but he talks in numbers and can be hard to follow.

If nobody has suggestions as to when to decide if the time is right or not to harvest, I'm going to pick this Saturday and hope for the best. I just do not want to risk losing them. They do have lupulin glands and when rubbed definitely release a nice aroma. Just so nervous about the whole experience. I'm afraid failure in this case would be crushing.

 

[unionrdr]

Here's an old AE/IPA recipe of mine I used nugget hops in. I've since gone to partial mash & have a recipe for that brewing style, but no nugget hops & it's in Beersmith2.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/buckipa-v1-288640/

 

[SPR-GRN]

First off, welcome back to the hobby, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can.

bottle bombs - this is quite literally when the bottle explodes from over carbonation. The issue you had is what I would refer to "gushers" or "geysers" not as dangerous as bottle bombs, but just as disappointing.

Your issue could have been due to sanitation or bottling too soon, it was a while so it's time to let it go and move on "RDWHAHB" is what you will get on the site.

2-3 batches a year is nothing to be ashamed of, thats 2 to 3 batches more than the average keystone drinker makes so kudoos to you sir!

on to your Nuggets - I typically harvest my hops when they have a papery-springy feel to them when squeezed, I then get them on my drying rig and let them dry for 24hrs+/- (box fan with furnace filters).

as far as brewing with your hops, you can't know the alpha level unless you get them tested so I'd suggest making a hop-tea from known alpha level hop and make a hop tea from an equal weight of your hops and compare them to get an approximation, that or use them as an aroma hop and use known alpha hops for bittering.

on to quantity from a harvest.. I packed, and I mean packed three one gallon bags with hops from my harvest this year and it turned into 10oz of dried hops, which isn't all that much (for me anyways) considering how much I brew.

I will personally be brewing with my home-grown hops just to experiment, whether you attempt it or not is up to you.

stick with the hobby, sanitation and patience are key in brewing.

cheers!

 

[unionrdr]

Here's a recipe for an IPA called nugget nectar I found on the Beersmith site;
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/185082/nugget-nectar
It's an AG recipe, so you'd have to convert it to PM.

 

[TheCADJockey]

I typically harvest my hops when they have a papery-springy feel to them when squeezed, I then get them on my drying rig and let them dry for 24hrs+/- (box fan with furnace filters).

From this statement it sounds like mine are definitely ready to harvest then. So as far as the drying rig goes, I've seen a few pictures and was considering affixing a sheet of mesh screen (like from a screen door) to a 4'x12' rack made of 2"x4"'s. Then just keep it somewhere clean with fans on it? I know little of this process but it will be done clean.

I am looking to make a solid hoppy beer to come home to after work. Hops really set me straight after staring at a computer all day. So maybe I will use the Wet nugget for bittering and aroma. Unless that is a bad idea? I'm kind of shooting from the hip with these.

sanitation and patience are key in brewing

These are the only things I know I am good at. While being a broke student for so many years, I cooked in a top-notch kitchen to afford beer money. I clean everything.

I can not thank you guys enough, I have a daunting number of ideas and thoughts in my head I need to sort through. I only wish I knew fellow homebrewers that I could mill it over with over a few beers.

 

[rodwha]

"I can not thank you guys enough, I have a daunting number of ideas and thoughts in my head I need to sort through. I only wish I knew fellow homebrewers that I could mill it over with over a few beers."

Have you looked for any home brewer groups around you? If not maybe you can inquire at your LHBS.

Like you I've wanted to pal around with like-minded people, and having recently moved near Austin I found just that and have been to a meeting and recently showed an interested guy a brew day and what's involved. I'm hoping that I'll find a group of guys who like to share their beer, go in on group buys, and maybe work on test batches together.

Were it me I'd use those hops you have for aroma additions and/or dry hopping as you don't know the AA's as was mentioned. Or you can wing it and maybe assume they are on the lower side and just keep your recipe from being too far to the high end of the IBU scale just in case. Maybe use pellets to know your bittering addition is spot on.

Maybe you ought to brew a small test batch or three with your hops to see what you get. You could split up your yeast evenly between them. Maybe brew up a few hoppy pale ales with a dry hop.

 

[TheCADJockey]

I can't wait to harvest and make a batch on the spot. I'll try to snag some pictures of the situation from harvest / drying / wet hopping for the first time. Maybe someone will catch something I'm doing that makes things go awry.

 

[SPR-GRN]

edited because I can't work the internet properly...
post moved here, where it's supposed to be
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/salvaging-hobby-489618/#post6349688

 

[JohnSand]

Welcome aboard. There are plenty of threads in the Hops Growing section of HBT that will help. Also look at the postings on Brewer's Friend, they have a section on hops growing. I have picked and dried my Cascades (2nd year). I plan to use them in a quick extract+steeping grains batch. 30 minute boil, 2.5 gallons. That way I don't waste too much time or beer.

 

[b-boy]

I'm in Buffalo too. Glad you're getting back into the mix. Good luck.