My daughter gave me a Cascade rhizome a couple of years ago and i had a decent batch of hops last year. The problem was i had no supplies so the hops were on the dry side when i picked them. This year, the plants are booming and i have supplies at the ready. My question is that i have some almost fully grown hop comes and a bunch of different sizes. My question is, can i cut off the ready cones and freeze them until i get enough for a batch. I plan on using them as flavoring hops and maybe dry hopping.
Nope. Pick 'em fresh, use 'em within a day or two. Brew a nice APA with a store-bought package of hops to get your IBUs, then sink your entire hop crop for an epic hop stand. Flowers in a glass, my friend.
You need to dry the hops before you freeze them. The beauty of growing hops is to use them fresh, IMO. I plan to brew at least two separate batched of wet hopped brew.
Thats just flat out wrong. If you're doing a wet hop beer, yes use them fresh, you can't store them wet. When you pick your hops, dry them and then after they are dry they can be stored in the freezer, preferably in Nitrogen or CO2 purged, vacuum sealed bags.
You can store wet hops in the fridge for a short while. At least I have had success doing this. A few years ago a friend from PA sent me some homegrown Hallertaur fresh off the bine. He sent them through UPS or Fedex (2 day, I think) and I kept them in the fridge for a few days before using them. The beer I made was hopped solely with them, and it was fantastic. Most interesting hop character ever in one of my homebrewed beers -- extremely spicy, nothing like dried, store-bought Hallertauer.
so in your world, if you grow your own hops, they must be used green and can not be dried and stored for later use. but the question is about waiting until there are enough hops stored for use in a brew. so... when you say "no one's storing anything wet" you haven't really understood the question or the replies. did I get that correct? Cheers.
2 years ago I made a Wet Hop IPA with 1# Simcoe and 1# Citra. The hops came in fresh from Hop Union to our LHBS on Wednesday. I could not brew on Wednesday. I pushed them down into a vacuum seal bag, removed all O2, and tossed in the freezer until Saturday. Pulled them out, let them thaw a bit, ripped open and added at flameout. Beer was great. No off vegetal flavors. Smelled awesome, like melons and fresh ground black pepper (according to a BJCP judge that tasted it fresh). I seem to remember doing this with my Wet Hop beers last year as well. Weighed out what I had wet after harvest, threw the mix in vacuum seal bags, tossed in freezer until ready to brew (the next weekend I think). Made 3 great beers. YMMV If you are able to remove all (almost all) O2 and seal, freeze right away, and use very soon I don't think that there is any reason you can't harvest what is good tonight, seal/freeze, harvest more on Monday next week, and throw it all in the brew kettle Monday night (just realize that the frozen hops will stop the boil). But, if it turns out like crap, not my fault, since everything I said is anecdotal - it worked for me, might not for you.
I've been freezing fresh wet hops for several years now with good results. People find it hard to believe because traditionally hops were dried for storing because that was the only way available to preserve them. Oxidation is the enemy of hops and they are exposed to a lot of oxidation during the drying process versus being vacuum sealed and frozen wet. Vegetal flavors are more likely the result of picking the hops too soon.
I use them wet but dry the majority storing in zip lock type bags. Vacuum seal would be a big improvement, it works for me. Almost 20 lbs froze so far, yahoo.
