Wet Hop or Not To Wet Hop?

[Oktober]

BNers,

With all the hops getting closer and closer to harvest season (and with some already being harvested), I wanted to ask the question to the army about whether its worthwhile trying to dry & freeze my homegrown hops, or just brew a wet hop beer on harvest day. I would preferrentially like to use the dry & freeze method, as I have not had too many wet hop beers I've liked. But I have also heard that storing homegrown hops can spoil very quickly too.

What does everyone else do with all their homegrown hops? If you do dry and freeze, what method do you use?

Thanks!

-Okt

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

One of the cool things about Oregon is there is a really cool hop harvest/wet hop beer fest every year here, and judging by the quality of those beers, I think it can be a really great way to hop a beer. Admittedly most of those breweries are probably using traditional hops early in the boil, but most of the beers do not have a flavor that you would immediately guess was from wet hops if no one told you.

I have done both, dry and wet, and I can't tell you which is better but they both are good. If you want to do a brew with 100% homegrown hops I would suggest not even drying them because for some reason it seems impossible to over-bitter a fresh hop beer, even subbing in 6 oz. of fresh wet hops for dry. You are not going to know the alpha% either way, so hopefully they smell and taste great and you can use them for late additions if you want to be more accurate with your IBU's.

And, remember, unless you are adjusting your soil pH and doing all those things that the farmers do, you are probably a good deal lower on your AA% than they would be.