Tue Sep 28, 2010 6:55 pm
Homegrown hops work great for bittering, flavor, and aroma. A few pointers based on my experience:
Boil them, or add at flameout, in a hop bag. If you don't bag them, it's a frigging mess of little hop leaves and seeds, which in the final beer can make bottling difficult (if you bottle). Plus, dry hopping with them doesn't work as great as pellets, as the lupulin isn't all mascerated like in pellets, AND, if you want to use a hop bag, you'll need to throw in marbles or something to make the bag sink. In any case, using whole hops versus pellets is less sanitary and more likely to get contamination. Let me cut to the chase -- Have I gotten a contaminated batch from dry hopping with homegrown hops before? Yes. So I won't be trying it again. 'Nuff said. Boil them, even if just for a minute. You'll not only get more out of 'em that way flavor-wise, but also no contamination.
Alpha acid isn't terribly important if you do as you say and initially assume it is somewhere in the middle. Also it helps if you brew a style where IBUs are somewhat flexible. I like to shoot for a pale ale. Then if it's too bitter, call it an IPA. If not bitter enough, call it a blonde ale or amber ale. Then you'll figure out what level of bittering the hops provide for successive batches.
I like to throw in a bunch in the last 15 minutes of the boil, as per the "hop burst" method. This will give you good bitterness, flavor, and aroma -- all three. Perfect use for them, methinks.
Dave
"This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our Maker, and glory to His bounty, by learning about... BEER!" - Friar Tuck (Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves)
