Is this a waste?

[pottolom]

Hi,

I grew some First Gold hops last summer and made a pale ale SMASH with them, which turned out to be really good. I used the following recipe:

Grain: 100% Low Colour Maris Otter 1.5 kg
Hops: Bittering – Home-grown First Gold @60 mins - 12.5 g, 10 mins - 26 g, & 1 min - 200 g
Yeast: Safale US-05 (dried)

This was for a small 'test' batch with end of boil volume 6.3 litres.

I'd like to make this again. It really was pretty fantastic, perhaps the best beer I've brewed. However, you may notice that I chucked in LOADS of hops. Because my First Gold was home-grown, I wasn't sure of the AA or aroma content, so I thought I'd err on the side of caution and use a lot.

It tastes great, so I could of course just repeat the above recipe next time I make it. However, what I'm wondering is, is there an "optimum" level of hopping, beyond which any additional hops have no real effect on flavour, i.e. the wort becomes saturated with hop oils? Perhaps there was no real advantage in putting such a large amount of hops in? If this is the case, I'd prefer not to waste them in future......

[Jocky]

If you don't know the AA% of a hop, then the simplest thing to do is to make your 60 min addition with a hop you do know the AA% of and then load up very late with your unknown hops. The 60 min addition will contribute very little in flavour, just bittering.

I'm presuming that it was 200g of dried hops you added at the end? If it's wet hops then 200g isn't a lot.

Is it a waste though? I'd argue if it's a great beer then probably not, but always adding more hops providing diminishing returns... Quite where the tipping point for you personally is a matter of opinion, but 10g per litre of dried hops in a 1.050 English pale ale is quite a lot, and you're over 30g/l.

[pottolom]

Thanks!

Yep, the hops had been dried.

I'll try reducing to something closer to 10 g/l next time and see how it affects the flavour.

[Fastline]

How did you dry the hops, and how do you store them

[pottolom]

Air-dried, with a bit of help from a dehumidifier. Compressed and stored in freezer bags in my freezer.

[Brewedout]

Put mine in the loft on trays. Dried out a treat