Re using hops

[Normski]

Well God knows I can be as frugal as the next person but I would think reusing hops might actually cost you money in the long run. To the extent that alot of the alpha and beta acids are pulled out of the hops during the first use, that would leave an undetermined minor amount for the second brew. Since you don't really know what you are dealing with I would think the risk of having less than an optimum beer would go way up for the second brew. To the extent you made an investment in grain etc for the second brew why chance less than a sublime beer? Sure, it's probably going to be potable but hey, aren't we trying to make the best swill we can possible produce? After all, you can get all the second rate stuff you can lay your hands on easily, that's what Bud, Miller and Coors are for after all.

I can see a lot of sense in what you say, but I have made some fine ale this way. The way I see it is if my boiler has hops in it that haven’t been boiled and my 2nd brew is not a hop dependant beer, then what’s wrong with leaving them in. I agree it could be a risk, but I have done this quite a few times now without any problem.
If anything it makes me less concerned about putting lots of late hops in my 1st brew, knowing that they won’t go to waste. My 2nd brew is always only a simple bitter or stout.
Theres probably lots of reasons not to do this. I thought, theres one way to find out what happens if you do. So I tried it, I like it, So I continue to do it when i do a double brewday. For me the 2nd brew has been a gorgeous unexpected bonus.

[Barley Water]

Well if you have done it a bunch of times maybe you have enough experience to know empirically what you are going to get out of those twice used hops. Hey, if it works for you go for it. Some of you guys are much more ambitious than I as I only do one batch at a time anyhow. Also, I tend to make all kinds of different beers, you know "jack of all trades, master of none". The other thing about me and hops is that until recently I avoided doing the really hoppy stuff. After 20+ years in the hobby I for some reason have now gone to the "dark side" and I'm screwing around alot more with the heavily hopped stuff. I suspect that hop flavor and aroma is much like heroin addiction; once you get a taste for the stuff you want more, more more.

[timbo41]

I think I've been on the same track in a different thread
My idea is to do a biab as normal, racking off 15 liters ( I like to bottle batches of 30x 500 ml)
this of course leaves a lot of loose hop still in much of which are
underutilised being late additions.
I was then going to add maybe a kilo dme top up with a gallon or
so,bring temp uptown boil perhaps steep some speciality grains
And a few extra hops ...an ad hoc extract brew in limited
quantities

[far9410]

I bottled it in the end and threw em on the compost!

[seymour]

I bottled it in the end and threw em on the compost!

Good call.

[far9410]

I bottled it in the end and threw em on the compost!

Good call.

I still think tho, as most of the bittering acids are not extracted, they would probably be a safe bet to use, maybe next time

[Normski]

I bottled it in the end and threw em on the compost!

Good call.

I still think tho, as most of the bittering acids are not extracted, they would probably be a safe bet to use, maybe next time

Yup.
Theres a lot of people who have no experience of doing this saying its wrong.
I have read many many books and i didnt see anywhere saying it was something good or bad. After a few posts here like yours, I was curious.
So I decided to find out what would happen, I found out, Good Ale is what I got.
Im not saying you should do it, Im just saying I do. Has anyone else who has bullied you into not trying your own experiment, tried it themselves?.
I have always tried to get the most from my hobby. Chucking away stuff that may have a use instead of experimenting with it is a waste. I have never wasted any grain or yeast in trying this. And the time spent has been a pleasure.

[seymour]

Yup.
Theres a lot of people who have no experience of doing this saying its wrong.
I have read many many books and i didnt see anywhere saying it was something good or bad. After a few posts here like yours, I was curious.
So I decided to find out what would happen, I found out, Good Ale is what I got.
Im not saying you should do it, Im just saying I do. Has anyone else who has bullied you into not trying your own experiment, tried it themselves?.
I have always tried to get the most from my hobby. Chucking away stuff that may have a use instead of experimenting with it is a waste. I have never wasted any grain or yeast in trying this. And the time spent has been a pleasure.

You make some good points. Don't knock it 'til you try it, right? I'm not trying to criticize or bully anyone. I just think when you consider all the time and effort and expense and risk of brewing a batch of beer, it's "best practice" to use new hops rather than used ones. You say it works out fine for you with used hops, so fair enough. You can make a second cup of tea from the same bag too, who am I to stop you? I just can't believe it's as good a cup of tea as if you'd used a fresh bag. But hey, I applaud your sustainable, low-impact, inquisitive attitude...

[Normski]

But you are knocking it and you have no experience of doing it.

[seymour]

But you are knocking it and you have no experience of it.

You're right. I stand corrected.

As I said, not trying to criticize or bully anyone, I apologize if it came across that way. Just participating in a discussion, and I'm always looking for equally strong-minded adversaries. This back-and-forth is my favourite part. As you say, good ale is the aim, so well done.

Cheers!

[Normski]

Cheers

[Barley Water]

Well here's the thing, both Seymour and I are Yanks and of course we just love to argue...about anything. Once we are done debating then of course we want to set up a competition, it's just what we do. Now bear in mind, being a Texan Yank I'm a little bit superior to other non-Texan Yanks but still, we are all more similar than dissimilar. Oh, and when we get bored we will sometime bait you just to get the "conversation" going....nothing personal, after all we are talking about beer here.

[seymour]

Exactly. Next, we'll argue about whether Texans are allowed to call themselves Yankees, after waging a bloody war to secede and all... Then we'll argue about just how personal beer really is...

[Barley Water]

Well anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon line being called a Yankee is not exactly a term of endearment.

[Hanglow]

I ended up reusing the 100g of citra I used in a pale ale again in a stout yesterday. I used them as first wort hops, it'll be interesting to see if any flavour comes out from them, but there was another 200g of fuggles and challenger in there too.