This thought has been bouncing around in my head for a while, and I have 5 ozs of keg hops that are soon to be coming out, so I figured I should ask now. I dryhop in a bag using pellets in my kegs. Has anyone ever reused their hops? Could I rack on top of them and dry hops a second time? I assume they will have lost most of their aromatic potential. Could I measure some hops out and use them as a bittering addition? I figure this should work, as the alpha acids would not have isomerized. Am I nuts? No. Cheap? Yes.
I tried it once using the dryhops from an Elder recipe. Seemed more bittering came out of them than floral notes.
I have done it as well. Six ounces of Citra from a IIPA and used them to bitter a stout that I made the same day I kegged the IIPA. These were the only hops that I used in the stout and I would say they gave me MAYBE a third of the bittering if I had used the same amount of Citra to bitter with under normal conditions. This is by now means scientific and only one time but you will get some bitterness out of reusing dry hops for subsequent bittering. These were whole cones so it may be different with pellets. NHB
Traditionally (e.g., 19th cent.), Scottish brewers reused their hops for bittering hops in the next batch(es) quite often. See one of Ron Pattinson's blog entries about Wm. Younger brewery: http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2009/10/spent-hops.html Here is a quote: "...Sometimes they didn't bother with any fresh hops at all..." Enjoy! Gogol
All or most of the oils that will provide your flavor and aroma would be gone in the beer before, but this seems to be a question about bittering: And, since the alpha acids haven't isomerized I would say go for it...although have the hops lost some of those alpha acids? So, how does one measure out the hops?
I would think most of your flavor is gone for another dry hop. It sounds plausible for bittering your next beer. I would also work a dry hop into the next beer. If you don't get the IBUs you want you can dry hop it to help balance it out a bit. (Obviously not adding IBUs, but to help add hop flavor). Let us know if you do this and how it comes out.
Some people would reuse dry hops for bittering in the next batch of beer during the hop crisis. I never did that. As pointed out above it has been done before.
I just read an old article from a Zymurgy written during the hop crisis a few years back by Matt Brindelsen f/ FW, and he recommended reusing the DH for bittering on another brew.
I've tried it and I probably wouldn't do it again. You will get bitterness and it will be somewhat less than calculated. The amount of alpha that's left is just too unpredictable for me.
I figured I would take the 5 ozs out, measure their weight, and then divide proportionally by weight, and use a wighted average for AA, although it sounds like the numbers may be lower according to later posts, so maybe add 50% more... I figure I should mention I only have Citra, Amarillo, Centennial, Chinook & Cascade so I don't want to use them for bittering only, this is great to dual purpose them
I did it a few times with great success during the shortage a few years back. It was almost like dry hopping for free. The alpha acids are largely intact after dry hopping. I'd guesstimate they lost maybe 25% of their bittering potential. Hops are cheap enough today that I don't bother, though it still breaks my heart to trash 4 oz of hops when I pull them from the keg.
