So after 3 years I finally got a small hop harvest. I have an American Ale (extract) that is just finishing up it’s primary fermentation. I’ve never used fresh hops before, but was wondering if I’m better off dry hopping in the primary for another 10 days and then xfer to corney keg and carbonate or move it to the corney keg now and dry hop while carbonating.
My thinking is it will be easier to dry hop in the plastic primary bucket and then transfer vs having to deal with hops possibly clogging the corney. I’m also not sure which method would give the best results.
These have been dried. I have a large zip lock bag full. Not sure of weight. I posted in the hops forum asking how to eswtimate weight and how much to use.
How much to use is a personal decision. Just like when using commercial hops.
edit: I see now you have no scale. As every cone is a different shape/size. There is no way to estimate. Looks like your next purchase is a nice scale. They are handy for other things. Weighing out snacks or portioning out potato chips for lunch. I also use it to weigh out chicken/beef/pork for my stir fry.
I prefer keg hopping over dry hopping. Soak a cheap nylon stocking (I buy the cheap white ones in the plastic eggs at Walmart) in StarSan. Stuff it full of hops to make a nice hop sausage. Cram it in the cram hole. Rack beer on top. I’ve had up to about 8 oz whole hops in the keg this way, but that was pushing it. 4 oz is more like it.
I get good results letting the hops sit in the keg at room temp for a week (mid 60’s to 70’s) and then putting it in the keg fridge on the gas. I typically leave the hops in the keg for the whole time until it blows, and I haven’t had problems with grassiness. YMMV. :cheers:
