Fresh/Wet Hops - how to keep?

[jackdaw]

Mine are near ready for picking. How long can I keep them for without drying/dehydrating?
Whats the best method to do so?

I expect to start picking next week and the later cones 5 or so days later.

Too, in what proportion should I use them? I've heard anything from 3x to 8x the weight you use of dried pellet hops.

Cheers!

 

[earle]

I try to use mine as soon as possible after picking but once kept them for a week in a sealed container in the fridge without too much ill effect.

4x fresh compared to dry is what seems to be commonly quoted. But I reckon you should also take the hops into account, what I mean is that up North here where we are out of the ideal hop growing climate I think we might get lower lupulin levels compared to some of the photos the southern guys post, meaning I probably need to use more hops for the same effect.

 

[Yob]

Dry them right away

 

[twinathon]

I am having some trouble judging when the Hallertau is ready to pick. It has all the signals that it is ready, but there is not a lot of lupulin in the hops. Is that just due to the Hallertau being a low AA% hop?

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Vacuum seal and freeze them if you cant use them straight away. I still have some wet hops from last season frozen that way and they are still good.

 

[rossbaker]

Vacuum seal and freeze them if you cant use them straight away. I still have some wet hops from last season frozen that way and they are still good.

Can this be done without drying first? I have to harvest mine this weekend, but I will be short for time and might not be able to brew or properly dry them. If I could get away with vacuum sealing and freezing that would be excellent. Otherwise I might just brew a APA and throw them all in (cascade) as late additions... is there such thing as too much??

 

[MHB]

Personally I reckon the pest place to put fresh hops is in an Oast House.
Chlorophyll tastes like shit.
Mark

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Can this be done without drying first? I have to harvest mine this weekend, but I will be short for time and might not be able to brew or properly dry them. If I could get away with vacuum sealing and freezing that would be excellent. Otherwise I might just brew a APA and throw them all in (cascade) as late additions... is there such thing as too much??

The key to it is snap frozen. That means picked, packed, vacuum sealed and frozen straight away. Within hours of being picked.
Like all commercial frozen foods are done that way.

As for using too much? Is up to you. I am a hop head to a degree. If I ever get hop flavour overload in a beer its welcome in my opinion.
I did a 38lt Harvest IPA with Cascade last year with ~ 1kg of wet Cascade. Hop flavour galore but not bitter enough. I then wet hopped one of the kegs with 200g.
It needs a little bittering addition of some neutral kind at 60min.