BeerBorg

Well, hops cleaning is more like it.

In preparation for today's trip to the LHBS, I decided to take stock of the freezer where I keep my hops, knowing that I have some surplus in there, and thinking I might already have some of what I need. And I did, so I'll save a little money, and I also consolidated some things, such as the Northern Brewer, where I had about three containers with various amounts.

I'm not worried about the freshness, since they've been in the deep freeze, but I think when I resume brewing 2.5 gallon batches in the fall, I'm going to make every other batch use these surplus hops. The Northern Brewer will probably be used for a Cali Common, which I make fairly regularly anyway, but I've got a good amount of Hallertau, and some Liberty, and some Palisades, and stuff like that.

So rather than concentrate on style, I'm going to concentrate on creativity. I'll research the aspects of the hops so I get the best usage from them, and see how well they might blend. But I'm going to try some grains I haven't used before, or combinations that are a bit different, just to stir things up a little. They may not be stylistically "pure," but I'm confident they'll be good beer, which is something that pleases me. I like that I'm far enough along that I can just up and choose some grains and feel that they'll work out to produce a good, drinkable beer.

I don't know how many batches I'll do this way, because, as I said, I've got the Northern Brewer, and I've also got some English strains, so I might just go ahead and make a stout or an ESB with those. The point is, I really ought to use these hops, not just before they do lose too much of their punch, but also to make room in the freezer.

I do this all the time.......make a recipe with hops that are getting old or only have a few left. Most have been enjoyable beers but if the grain bill is good, any hops will make some great beer.
As for style, well, we all know Beer-lord has absolutely no style!

Yeah, I have over an ounce of Hallertau, and I feel as though I can just divide it up, toss it in when the time comes, and rely on the grain bill to carry the day on that one. I mean, it's Hallertau. That would be a batch where I'd have some fun with the grain bill and see what I get.

It's always fun to Frankenbeer something to use up ingredients. I've done a number of base recipes over using the same grain bill as one of my preferred beers just tossing in whatever left over hops I had on hand.

A little Magnum? In you go.
Some Citra? Yep.
A touch of Cascade and some Northern Brewer? Sure.
Oh look, a bit of Munich I forgot about. Everybody in the pool!

Some come out better than others, but as you said - they all come out drinkable and its fun to just wing it sometimes.
Who knows, maybe you'll create a new style.

Kealia wrote:Some come out better than others, but as you said - they all come out drinkable and its fun to just wing it sometimes.
Who knows, maybe you'll create a new style.

The guy at the LHBS said they did that with a bunch of their surplus hops and called it "Eff You IPA."

I don't know if I'd go that extreme, but it'll be fun to decide exactly what I'm going to do with all of this stuff. I think the Hallertau will be the only hops in a very malty dark ale. I'll have to be judicious with my choice of yeast on that one, too.

I have a bunch of 1/4 and 1/2 lb leftover specialty grains and enough 2 row and misc hops to maybe do a kitchen sink brew. Start w/6.5 or 7 gallons of wort and do 3 smaller batches with different hops and hop additions.

It's all beer, Dawg. I've been concentrating on brewing different styles, but just brewing beer happens, too.

I have a bunch in the freezer as well. I think they will be okay because they are all un-opened packs and are all the same age (bought during a Label Peelers sale) but they are way over a year old.

If they smell cheesy or don't have any smell at all come brew day (whenever that is ) I'll put the wort away and go by some fresh hops.

One draw back to brewing only a case per batch is having a collection of opened hops around. Maybe we should move closer to Beer_Lord and learn how the big boys hop their brews.

Feel free to dispose of any unwanted hops by mailing them to me for proper disposal.

Are they also vacuum sealed? Hops have three enemies: temperature, light, and air. You've got the first two covered since they're in the deep freeze, but air can still affect them, so make sure to give them a smell test before using them. They're probably not going to be cheesy/bad, but they may not be as strong as they were. You may want to use a little more than you'd usually use. If they weren't vacuum sealed, but they're in a sealed bag with most of the air removed, they probably won't be affected too much.

bpgreen wrote:Are they also vacuum sealed? Hops have three enemies: temperature, light, and air. You've got the first two covered since they're in the deep freeze, but air can still affect them, so make sure to give them a smell test before using them. They're probably not going to be cheesy/bad, but they may not be as strong as they were. You may want to use a little more than you'd usually use. If they weren't vacuum sealed, but they're in a sealed bag with most of the air removed, they probably won't be affected too much.

Good to see you, Brian!

Actually, my LHBS sells hops in small plastic jars with screw-on caps. Certainly not airtight, but not as open as a foil bag. I did smell the Northern Brewer and the Hallertau, and they still seemed reasonably potent. I don't think they've been around all that long, anyway, but I might supplement them with extra hops and/or fresher hops.