Dry - Hopping a TC

[E J Gumby]

Hi All,

Just started off a 23L batch of TC (22L cheap AJ, 454g Clear Honey, Strong tea, Youngs Cider Yeast)
Found 100g of First Gold hops bought from Rob about 2 yrs ago (Vacuum pack still intact) 2010 harvest.
Would this be OK to use for dry-hopping? If so, how much? - I do like a hoppy IPA.

Thanks

[Wonkydonkey]

Good question, I'm in almost the same boat as you. Made a basic mead, only a gallon. Was gonna hop it, at some time but was not sure when and for how long and how much.

So I shall wait as well, in hope some one comes up with a proven method. even if it's for cyber

But in the meantime it's been going about 2months and is cloudy so there's no real hurry,. I'm guessing it would still be ok to add them at almost anytime after racking and before bottling.

But on another note it's almost the same as dry hopping a beer. But really still falls down to how many grams and if those hops are a good type for dry hopping.

By the way your 2010 hops should still be fine, but once opened then the only way to help preserve them is to bung-um in the freezer, where all mine are kept all the time.

[Wonkydonkey]

This should give you an idea.
Somewhere down the page it says about hops,
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=66468&p=698717&hil ... ad#p698717
And if you read this, seems like it won't be long before your doing another brew.
viewtopic.php?f=65&t=66468&p=698717&hil ... ad#p698717

[E J Gumby]

Thanks for those ideas, Wonky.

To be fair, I must have read Oldbloke's How-To at least a couple of times before, but you know what it's like - it's "Now where did I read that?" - so thanks also to Oldbloke.

On the strength of that I'll whack 25 or 30g in next weekend and see how it goes, I normally leave it in the FV for two weeks - sometimes three. This one looks to be a bit of a slow burner fermentation-wise. I normally get a good two or three inches of krausen within a couple of days, but this time hardly any: plenty of surface activity though so I'm not worried about it - just a bit unusual.

Will let you know how it turns out.

Also, like you, I put the hops in the freezer once they're open.

[Wonkydonkey]

Well , I got a bit carried away with myself. Last night I thought "I know, i'll add some hops to that demijohn of apple wine in the cupboard, I got 3 of them anyway. They could do with racking in a few wks. I guess It will make it a bit more interesting if I hop 1 up.
So in went 10g of admiral and 10g of my home grown challenger hops. I'll see in a wk or 2. Could be good ? But then I will have a better idea when I come to do the mead.

Anyways, what I like, some others may not. Then that means more for me.

[E J Gumby]

So, dry-hopped with 30g First Gold, in muslin bag tonight.

Will probably leave until week-end after next before bottling.

[Wonkydonkey]

Just over two wks went by, oh sh-t, I almost forgot about the dry hopping, well strange, not What I thought it would be like. Def, orangey & floral with apples.
I'm pleased I tried it, I will leave it longer to see how the flavour matures, then I can either dilute it with the other cider I have if I don't like how it's turned out. or make some more, and try different hop combos.