John Eaton
South Jersey FC Member
I know there are popular ways to test hop pellets for flavor, a bland american pilsner and popping in a few pellets for a few days, but can that work for whole hops?
I tried that with Sol (good flavorless beer, but stupid twistoffs, doah!), and all I got was disappointment. I used a short copper water pipe, loaded 4 or 5 cones in it, then pushed them through inside the bottle and capped it. 4 days later, viola, dirt flavored beer. I wanted to 'cap' my losses in case they did not seal so I only tried 4, and all 4 were horrible. One sip and down the drain.
My worry is that my hops suck. I coddled them weekly for 4 weeks before finally deciding they were ready, in spite of minimal aroma. Picked, dried and vacuum sealed, setting aside 4 or 5 of several for this test, which I bottled the same night, so they were only 2 -3 days off the plants. One thing I did notice is that I had piles of lupin dust fall though the screens onto my counter as I weighed them out and vacuum sealed them. Probably 1/4 tsp from 8-9 ozs of dry hops once I figured out how to scoop it up without smearing it on everything. The last short oz package got the lupin dust added.
I used a 12oz bottle to cram them into the vacuum bags, which worked very well, and when I was done I had to recycle the bottle as it was totally gummed with lupins, and short of using solvent, it was not coming clean. Clearly they are loaded with the magic dust.
Anyone have other ideas for checking whole hops aroma, short of a brew?
I tried that with Sol (good flavorless beer, but stupid twistoffs, doah!), and all I got was disappointment. I used a short copper water pipe, loaded 4 or 5 cones in it, then pushed them through inside the bottle and capped it. 4 days later, viola, dirt flavored beer. I wanted to 'cap' my losses in case they did not seal so I only tried 4, and all 4 were horrible. One sip and down the drain.
My worry is that my hops suck. I coddled them weekly for 4 weeks before finally deciding they were ready, in spite of minimal aroma. Picked, dried and vacuum sealed, setting aside 4 or 5 of several for this test, which I bottled the same night, so they were only 2 -3 days off the plants. One thing I did notice is that I had piles of lupin dust fall though the screens onto my counter as I weighed them out and vacuum sealed them. Probably 1/4 tsp from 8-9 ozs of dry hops once I figured out how to scoop it up without smearing it on everything. The last short oz package got the lupin dust added.
I used a 12oz bottle to cram them into the vacuum bags, which worked very well, and when I was done I had to recycle the bottle as it was totally gummed with lupins, and short of using solvent, it was not coming clean. Clearly they are loaded with the magic dust.
Anyone have other ideas for checking whole hops aroma, short of a brew?
