The Bar Towel

My apartment has a pretty bountiful crop of Goldings hop flowers out back.

I've never brewed but would love to do something with them! Anyone have any suggested recipes and beginner guidance?

Check out this podcast on The Brewing Network:

"Wet Hops"

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/847

I haven't listened to that brewing network podcast, but I'm sure its full of good advice.

A few things of note if you don't feel like listening to the podcast:

- assume that the hops are between 75-80% water. So 100g of wet hops = 20g of dried hops

- take a wild guess & assume that the hops are in the middle of their AA range. US Goldings are between 4 - 5, so...

- You may want to consider bittering your beer with a hop of known AA & adding your fresh hops are the end of the boil. That way you're guaranteed the bitterness you want rather than praying that the guess of 4.5 AA was correct. You'll get more fresh hop character this way anyhow, as the boil would drive off a lot of delicate flavors/aromas

Have fun! We just did a wet hop beer with Centennials & it turned out awesome!

-rudy

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately just found out the hops are actually ornamental "golden" hops.

I got pretty excited about the possibilities, so I'm going to try something with my dad this fall, who has a great cold cellar.