Defrost the hops?

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Manngold
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Defrost the hops?

Post by Manngold » Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:02 pm

Hi all,

I recently purchased some hops for the first time. After using some in a boil and some to dry hop for my first brew, I want to dry hop again. From reading around, it seemed like general consensus is to freeze them to keep freshness. Do I need to defrost before dry hopping again, or can I just add them to the FV in a muslin bag?

On a side note I am adding them to a delicate pilsner. I brewed a 10g citra tea to start with, and added that (strained the hops off mind). I was planning to add 25g for dry hop to 23L, but am thinking, well why not just dry hop with 40g. Is this too much for a pilsner though?

Thanks

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keith1664
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by keith1664 » Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:23 pm

No need to defrost. The hops have a very low water content so they're more very cold than frozen.
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by NobbyIPA » Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:32 pm

you don't want -5 to -20c hops in your wort i always use hops at room temperature
but dry hopping with 25g you may get away with chucking them in when frozen they will defrost easy that much should have no cooling affect as hops when frozen defrost near on instantly unless they are pellets
i dry hopped once with over 170grams of mixed pellet and leaf if they were frozen my 27 litre brew would have dropped in temperature quite a bit i think?
keep your fermenter at 15c 17c to dry hop

Manngold
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by Manngold » Mon Jun 09, 2014 9:47 pm

Ok, perfect thanks guys. Might have trouble with that, it is in the coolest place of the house at the moment. Hard to get away from the hot weather. Is it advisable to stop brewing in the hottest parts of the Summer?

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GrowlingDogBeer
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by GrowlingDogBeer » Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:04 pm

Hops won't cool your beer whatever temperature they are. As keith said the water content is minimal. Unless you are using over a kilo in a 5 gallon brew it will make no noticeable difference.

Even IF they were to cool your beer would that matter. You dont normally dry hop until the first bit of active fermentation is almost over anyway so a small drop in temp is no bad thing.

Manngold
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by Manngold » Mon Jun 09, 2014 10:33 pm

I really just wanted to make sure it was ok. I am still new to this process, so didn't know if best results would be too defrost them first or anything like that. It has gone from 1.040 down to 1.002 in 7 days. I had a little taste, was a bit sour, and could defo smell the citra tea I made at the start. Happy days. Hopefully the sourness will reside.

Thanks for the advice. I have a golden stag kit next which I am really looking forward to doing.

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scuppeteer
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Jun 09, 2014 11:22 pm

Manngold wrote:I had a little taste, was a bit sour
Don't want to panic you but you shouldn't be getting any sour tastes. Roughly what sort of temperature is the coolest place in the house? If you are able to keep the fermenting beer at no more than 23C then you should be fine.
I only ask, as through experience you may think it's cool but during the day it can creep up. A couple of years ago I forgot to check on a brew I had in the garage, only after checking the thermometer I realised the temp had gone up to 35C, whole lot went down the drain. :(
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Manngold
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Re: Defrost the hops?

Post by Manngold » Mon Jun 09, 2014 11:36 pm

I am not too sure to be honest. I have no thermometers in the house. The house usually feels quite cool. I was worried about it being too cold than too hot. In April it would quite happily drop to 16c (my other fv has a LCD temp gauge.

Is there an easy way to lower temp other than a brew fridge? Guess I will try to get another LCD thermometer tomorrow.

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