Wet Hops for Homebrewers?

General Homebrew Discussion
1

Hi All,

Long time lurker here, and looking into trying something new. Is anyone using wet hops? If so do ya’ll have any recipe suggestions and where are you getting them?

Thanks guys!

2

They grow like weeds in our backyards.  Use them in any style, about 4-5 times as much by weight as dry hops since they are about 75-80% water.

3

The math goes

Dry <10% water, 90 or more plant material.

Wet/fresh 80% water, 20% plant material.

To get the same amount of plant material, 90/20=4.5 times as much by weight. Probably better to use 5 times as much.

4

Here’s what I posted a few weeks ago:

So, I’m trying out my theory tonight. Using the UVM hop calculator, I’ve determined my fresh/wet hops are 26% dry matter. The fresh weight is 1213 g, which (if dried), has an equivalent dry weight of 345.6 g. This gives a ration of 3.5:1, which is significantly lower than typical recommendations. I’m planning on brewing an IPA with a ton of late hops (single hop-Columbus). Any thoughts on this? I’ll update with my impression of the beer and the bitterness. Might have to brew a pellet version for a comparison.

http://www.uvm.edu/extension/extensionapps/engineering/?Page=hopscalc.html

The main thing was trying to determine how much dry material there is, hops are typically ~73% moisture when harvested and dried to ~8.5%. For my Columbus hops I picked, that meant a ratio of ~3.5:1. I ended up using a fairly large charge (14.1 oz. wet ~ 4 oz. dry) late at 10 and 5 minutes, as well as the same as a dry hops. I haven’t carbonated it yet, but the sample I took the other day was incredible-I got some grassy, wet flavors but the hoppy/earthy/spicy character also came through tremendously in the aroma and flavor. Malt was simple, 92% pils and 8% Vienna.

Harvest time for hops is August to mid September, so it might be a stretch to find some near you. Gorst Valley hops has some, but you’re probably best off trying to find a hop farm near you.

5

Nice calculator.

6

I’ve done several wet hop ales with my own hops.  I chose an American Amber recipe and modified it: kept the bittering addition as regular dried hops to ensure some predictable IBU component to the beer, and then added loads and loads of wet Cascades in the last 10 min. of the boil.  The beer comes out decent- though I do prefer to use my hops dry.  Frankly, the biggest upside of using a bucket of wet hops was not drying and packaging those hops.  Its worth doing, just to try it out for yourself.

7

Wilbur- thanks for the info. Let me know how your brew goes. I too have heard that a well done wet hop beer is a thing of beauty.

8

Thanks Chinaski. I’m trying to decide between using the fresh hops on the cold side or the hot side. Have you tried dry hopping with fresh hops? Perhaps knowing the alpha content would pump up your results

9

I didn’t look this year but I thought over the past few years I’ve seen some of the homebrew shops or hop sellers pre-selling wet hops for delivery immediately after harvest. I know breweries are starting to get their wet hop harvests in right now. Maybe contact local breweries you know do wet hopped beers and see if they will have any excess or can get a little more for you.

If you are a fan of wet hopped beers then that’s a pretty good reason to grow your own hops if you have the space and climate. You won’t have access to the newer proprietary varieties but some of the newer public domain hops should start to become available soon.

10

Some updates: burst carbonated this beer and tried it last night:

  • Bitterness is subtle, but great hop flavor. Definitely not an IPA
  • I’d probably use more hops. Hallowed Hops grower recommended using 4.5:1 (Using the formula wet/dry+1).
  • Nice and dry, but could probably use some more body. I’ll probably try mashing higher next time, maybe around 158 instead of 150.
  • Hop flavor is great, peppery character is prominent, with some grapefruit in the background. Definitely some grassy tones, with maybe a little bit of melon in the background? I’d definitely say single hop was tasty, but another C hop would be nice.
  • Maybe include a 30 or 60 minute addition to add some more bitterness/complexity on that end.
  • Easy to drink, but I’m looking forward to trying out some improvements next year. I did brew another wet hop beer with some different varieties this last weekend that incorporated some of these changes.