Hops

[joshld]

G'day all,
Still only quite new to the homebrew game and have recently been trying out the hops tea bags in the last few batches.The results are quite good!!I'm now looking at hop pellets, as they seem cheaper.Just wanted to know a few things about them... Like how to store them, how much to use...And is the best way to use them, in one of them bags then put in the boiling water?
Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mosto]

Hi Joshld,

I've been using hops for a few brews now.

The ideal way to store them is in a vacuum sealed bag in the freezer. I don't have a sealer so I just squeeze as much air as I can out of zip lock sandwich bag and store them in that in the freezer.

How much to use really depends on the recipe and your own taste, just play around with them and see what you like.

I started off with the hop tea bags steeped in boiled water for 10 min. Then I started steeping some specialty grains and, given that the resulting liquid has to be boiled for 30 min or so, I add my hops to that boil with around 10-15 min to go. I've read to extract the best from the pellets they should be boiled in a liquid with a gravity of around 1040, which is achieved by steeping grains, adding extract, or both. If you haven't used ianh's spreadsheet yet, do so. There's a function down the bottom which tells you how much extract needs to added to achieve a gravity of 1040.

Hope this helps.

 

[joshld]

Hi Joshld,

I've been using hops for a few brews now.

The ideal way to store them is in a vacuum sealed bag in the freezer. I don't have a sealer so I just squeeze as much air as I can out of zip lock sandwich bag and store them in that in the freezer.

How much to use really depends on the recipe and your own taste, just play around with them and see what you like.

I started off with the hop tea bags steeped in boiled water for 10 min. Then I started steeping some specialty grains and, given that the resulting liquid has to be boiled for 30 min or so, I add my hops to that boil with around 10-15 min to go. I've read to extract the best from the pellets they should be boiled in a liquid with a gravity of around 1040, which is achieved by steeping grains, adding extract, or both. If you haven't used ianh's spreadsheet yet, do so. There's a function down the bottom which tells you how much extract needs to added to achieve a gravity of 1040.

Hope this helps.

Cheers mosto!!I've had a look at that spreadsheet, time to start playing around with it and see what comes of it.

 

[jaypes]

G'day all,
Still only quite new to the homebrew game and have recently been trying out the hops tea bags in the last few batches.The results are quite good!!I'm now looking at hop pellets, as they seem cheaper.Just wanted to know a few things about them... Like how to store them, how much to use...And is the best way to use them, in one of them bags then put in the boiling water?
Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Pellets are good, oxygen is your biggest enemy keep them cold and chuck them when they turn orange

If you are doing kits, mix 200gm of your DME (or whatever you use) with 2L of water - add the hops roughly 30gm for a 23L batch and boil for 10 mins - strain the lot into your fermenter and do the rest as usual

piss easy

no pun intended

 

[lfc_ozzie]

Pellets are better in my opinion never really had any good results using the tea bags, but as said before store em in the freezer and get as much air out as possible! I use a cheap sun beam vac sealer does the job brilliantly

 

[hsb]

From memory, aren't the 'tea bags' just stale, crunchy pellet hops inside a little tea bag?

Fresh makes a mammoth difference. I'd try and source small amounts of fresh pellets for now so you can try out different varieties. Give them the sniff test, if they don't smell good they won't taste good. So better to buy small and fresh, then you don't have to worry about storage for now.

 

[tricache]

Two words....Yakima Valley the best site to look for hops and cheap too

 

[joshld]

Two words....Yakima Valley the best site to look for hops and cheap too

I had a look on the Yakima valley website... Wow!!!!!Huge selection! Might try a few different kinds, just get small amounts of each one and work out what works best..When you ordered from memory how long did it take to arrive?

 

[joshld]

And also would anyone be able to tell me where I could get some hop bags??

 

[lfc_ozzie]

do you mean hop bags you put pellets in?? people have used all kinds of things muslin bags, paint strainer bags, ladies tights. I usually just throw mine in the boil un bagged and strain out and same with dry hopping as i siphon into another fermentor before bottling.

 

[Juzdu]

And also would anyone be able to tell me where I could get some hop bags??

I did a big order recently from Discount Home Brew Warehouse and included a couple of their grain/hop bags in that order. I grabbed a 2nd FV setup, couple of cans of LME, cracked grain and hops, bottling tree, bottle rinser, stericlean etc and the whole lot was only $15 delivery. If you do a big order though you need to email them the shopping list and your phone num 'coz their website doesn't process the shipping charge correctly.

Anyway the grain/hop bags were only a couple of dollars each, they are here: linky

 

[jaypes]

And also would anyone be able to tell me where I could get some hop bags??

https://daveshomebrew.com.au/index.php?page...t&Itemid=99

 

[tricache]

pantihose FTW cut off about 10cms and they fit a good 40g of pellets

 

[nacnud]

So, how long will pallets last in the freezer if you just have them sealed in a ziplock bag? Are we talking weeks or months?

 

[barls]

weeks at the most before some oxidation will take place.
ideally co2 or nitrogen flushed then vacuum sealed will last months

 

[QldKev]

Zip lock bags are hopeless, they are not impermeable to air. Large zip lock bags are good for throwing multiple smaller bags in to keep them grouped. (bloody groupies)

When you get them they should come in a foil (best) or a clear vac bag. Keep them in the bag they come in, fold the opening on itself a couple of times and peg it in place. Later if you get further into brewing it's worth getting a vac sealer. Storage in the freezer is best, otherwise the fridge. My rule is once they have been frozen do not let them thaw out unless you are using them the same day. If the place you are getting them from has them stored on a shelf out of the fridge, get them elsewhere.


QldKev