I have yet to brew a wet hop beer but I was reading up on it tonight and it is kind of all over the place as far as brewing methods go. I watched a video Surly had on YouTube where they filled up a portable tank on wheels full of hops and then pumped the hot wort over the top and then as the wort trickled through the hops it was pumped out of the bottom and into the fermentor. I could easily do this at home by filling up my HLT with wet hops let the hot wort run in through the top and then out the ball valve in the bottom and into my fermentor. However while reading several articles on this I did not see any home brewers trying this on a smaller scale. It seems like everyone one just goes for late boil additions to their kettles. So how do you all of you brew with wet hops ? What would be the best practice here? The Surly method is scary because I would worry about oxidation and possible infection. On the other hand this method works well for them and Surly Wet is a great beer. Thoughts?
Oxidation and infection should not be a problem with hot wort and hops...sounds like a hopback of sorts. Personally, I just whirlpool/hopstand @ ~ 170*F. Just be sure to use more with wet hops (4 to 5 X at least)
As @GreenKrusty101 mentioned, that sounds like a hopback. I haven't watched the video, but would assume the wort also went through a chiller, in between the hopback and the fermenter. I only mention that because you'll still need to chill your wort somehow.
"It seems like everyone one just goes for late boil additions to their kettles." I will soon be brewing a Harvest Ale using freshly picked wet hops from the hop plant in my back yard. I will only be adding the wet hops at the end of boil and conduct a hop stand (for 20 minutes or so). Cheers!
Mark, I was not a fan of last year's (2013) Sixpoint Harvest Ale. In general I was not a fan of any of the Sixpoint beers brewed at Lion Brewing in Wilkes-Barre, PA. I am very much looking forward to the upcoming wet hopped Sixpoint beer (SENSI Harvest Ale). IMO, the Sixpoint & City Brewing (Memphis, TN) is a great brewing team!! Cheers!
Brewed a wet hop beer once. A total PITA as the hops sucked up alot of wort. I rinsed and reboiled to get to proper gravity. My friends loved it; I told them to enjoy it because I wouldn't ever do it again.
"...the hops sucked up alot of wort." Yup, that is a real issue with brewing wet hopped beers. You have to produce additional wort to compensate for the wort loss. Maybe 5-10% more depending on how much wet hops you add. Cheers!
Actually, wet hops do not suck up as much wort as dry hops...but any kind of whole cone will seem like a lot more than pellets. Do not recommend using wet hops unless they are REALLY ready for harvest...the chlorophyl can be overwhelming...especially when dry/wethopping.
@GreenKrusty101 has good advice about: Do not recommend using wet hops unless they are REALLY ready for harvest.. The tip I received from Stan Hieronymus was to err on the side of 'over-ripe' when picking wet hop cones; he stated that even a bit of browning on some of the cone 'leaves' is good. Cheers!
I have used them once and the beer made my top six list. Grist was 100% GP with a 7 gallon starting point and 1.060 OG. I added a small bittering charge of pellets at 60 to bitter to around 40 IBUs. Then I added 0.5 lbs each of simcoe, citra, and cascade fresh wet hops at flameout. I did a hopstand of about 25 minutes, chilled, strained, aerated, added yeast etc. Made my top six list. Hope to make it again, verbatim (or at least 0.5 lbs x 3 of wet hops).
