Have a dozen different varieties of hops in my backyard, but this year due to laziness, weird weather, and insect infestations, I will probably only harvest 2 or 3 varieties. Question: Has anyone ever collected the hop dust (lupulin) and attempted to make a beer with it exclusively (or even dryhop with it)? After drying and bagging ~ 1# of my Cascades, I dumped ~ 1/2 tsp of the remaining"gold dust" on the counter into my pint....mmmmm
The weather where I'm at caused some trees and my hops to drop some leaves due to heat stress. So I had to harvest some hops earlier than I ever have as some hops turned brown real fast. But the lupulin glands seemed fine. I've used brown hops before in brews and never noticed off tastes. Possibly those glands if not too far gone may be in their prime IMO.
I think you'll be pleased with how they do if you plan to use them for flavor/aroma. The late r they hang on the bine, the less alpha you will get but you will get a much higher percentage of oils. So there is less bittering potential but much greater flavor and aromatics than if you picked them while still moist and all green. I always prefer to hold off on harvesting until they are starting to get papery and just starting to get a touch of brown.
well I have had "yellow dust in the bottom of freezer hop bags after going through the 2 gallon bag, but generally I just dump it into weighing receptical and use it. No complaints here.
Sweetwater also makes a year-round DIPA much in the same vein, Hop Hash, which I've enjoyed. I've noticed that it also tastes fresh much longer than comparable shelf DIPAs.
