I got hops..... now what?

[Everest]

hey guys

i started growing hops a year or two ago with some success.. and now ive gotten to the point i have 5 varieties growing now.. and it seems like such a waste to not use them all for the greater good of brewing...

so typical first question

wheres the best place to start...?
i have one of those dodgey home brew kits in the shed....
how do i go from that..... to adding my hops and getting out something like epic hopzombie
ha just a vague point in the right direction would be awesome...

cheers guys

 

[butisitart]

i don't suppose you thought of making beer with them.

 

[manticle]

Isn't that exactly what the OP is trying to do with them?

 

[welly2]

You should try and make a new hop variety!

 

[Tropico]

epic hopzombie

Is that a new style: dead feral hop hog cubed (as in exponential, not in container)

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

What varieties do you have ?

You could try by simply adding some hops to a kit and see how they go to get a feel/taste for them

 

[Everest]

a few cascades, chinook, goldings, pride of ringwood and red earth.... and yeah i was going along the lines of making beer with them ha

add hops to a simple ipa? one of those suspect beer in a can home brews?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

add hops to a simple ipa? one of those suspect beer in a can home brews?

Yep. As long as the tin isnt to suspect

 

[Spohaw]

id get a couple of light liquid malt extract cans and a kg of dextrose and boil for half an hour then add you c named hops in with 15-10 mins left of the boil Everest

Ferment at 18 degrees with us-05

then get your spring drinking on when its ready !

how many grams of each hops do you have ?

 

[kevo]

Have used homegrown hops a couple of times with mixed results.

My thoughts ... Use commercial pellets to bitter your beer and add your homegrown late in the boil in a bag of some sort so you can separate them from the wort.

I haven't had great results when bttering or dry hopping with homegrown hops, but as flavour additions in the boil I found they worked well.

 

[Everest]

oh theres some good googling for me to do now.. cheers Spohaw

all the hops i still have are in the freezer, but the bags didnt seal too good so im guessing they have gone to shit a bit...
ill wait for this years harvest then experiment with them...

but i might try the "can boiling" with a mates hops between now and then

 

[Diesel80]

oh theres some good googling for me to do now.. cheers Spohaw

all the hops i still have are in the freezer, but the bags didnt seal too good so im guessing they have gone to shit a bit...
ill wait for this years harvest then experiment with them...

but i might try the "can boiling" with a mates hops between now and then

Where in Perth are you?

Why not meet up with some local brewers for some brew days, you supply the hops they provide a cube of the goods (all grain brewers) or you can watch some extract brewers in action with the hops. You will learn really fast compared to googling up.

Heck even head into a "u brew it" and ask the manager if he can recommend a batch to make with your hops (will need a large hop sock though). You will be able to cook it up there and then and have it fermenting about 2 hours later (they take care of all that) and you can turn up later and bottle it. Expensive but a good way to start.

Careful, it is a slippery slope this Home brew caper. Hope you have deep pockets in the medium term!

Dollar cost averaging is pretty good from year 3 onward once the keg fridge is set and your double batch fermenting fridge and controllers are sorted out, gas burners or electric circuits.... etc etc etc. Don't say you were not warned

oh and welcome mate!

Cheers,
D80

 

[Barge]

Use commercial pellets to bitter your beer and add your homegrown late in the boil in a bag of some sort so you can separate them from the wort.

I like this idea. The issue I would have is that, not knowing what the alpha acid % is, it would be difficult to estimate the bitterness the hops contribute.

Obviously you can use the variety as a guide, but the longer they are boiled for, the greater the impact your estimation of their bitterness would have. Late boil additions would have a smaller margin of error.

id get a couple of light liquid malt extract cans and a kg of dextrose and boil for half an hour then add you c named hops in with 15-10 mins left of the boil

This sounds like a good option. If you have some software like Beersmith, etc you can get an idea of how many grams of hops to add to get a reasonable result.