Brewing with Fresh (Wet) Hops: Tips from the Pros
The window to use fresh hops (that have not been dried) is small, but the reward can be great. Here are some tips to help take advantage of what nature gives us.
Brewer: Kevin Smith, Bale Breaker Brewing Co. in Yakima, WA
At Bale Breaker Brewing Co., we brew a 100% wet hop beer called Piled High Imperial Fresh Hop Ale. We wet hop the mash, first wort bittering with wet hops, three wet hop kettle additions, a wet hop whirlpool addition, wet hops in the hopback, and we also “wet hop” the beer post-fermentation for seven days. But, you will get the most out of them by using them late in the boil or in a hopback. The biggest nuance to expect with fresh hops is beer loss. Fresh hops soak up a lot of wort, but it will definitely be worth it!
The other downside is their poor shelf life. Since the hops are not dried the flavors and compounds that they create in the beer are very unstable. Fresh hop beers change quick and often. I’ve always believed that fresh hop beers should be made during hop harvest and drank afterward as a celebration that the harvest is over. There isn’t a better way to celebrate the conclusion of harvest than by drinking a few wet hopped IPAs or pale ales.
I typically assume that you will need about 5x the amount of fresh hops to get the same character as pellets or dry hops. However, I have gone as high as 8x the amount of wet hops and had good results. Just like homebrewers who grow their own, I do not get any information on alpha acids or oils on the fresh hops that I use (its more fun that way!). I just assume a median AA% for the variety. For instance, I’ve seen Simcoe® as low as 10% AA and as high as 16% AA. But for the sake of the brew, I assume that the Simcoe® I use is going to be somewhere between 12-13% AA. Therefore for brewing calculations, I assume that wet Simcoe® hops are ~2.5% AA (or roughly 1⁄5 the AA% of dried Simcoe®).
My philosophy in the recipe development of fresh hop beers is to create a malt bill that could handle a range of IBUs. Our Piled High Imperial Fresh Hop Ale is 7.2% ABV and I shoot for 70 IBUs. However, if the AA% of the wet hops I am using is higher or lower than expected, I have created the malt bill to be able to drink well at 50 IBUs or 100 IBUs. That philosophy is especially handy when drafting a 100% wet hop beer because bittering with wet hops can be a shot in the dark.
I have heard people perceiving “grassiness” as an off-flavor of fresh hop beers, but that is the exact flavor I am after. It is the flavor that is true to the fresh hop beer. A fresh hop beer without any grassy character is just an IPA, and, to me, that seems to miss the point. This is a beer that can only be brewed once a year and it should be unique. It should taste different than the other IPAs that you can brew all year round.
Outside of IPAs and pale ales, my favorite style to wet hop is a hop-forward saison. However, in my opinion, fresh hop beers should be all about the hops — and IPAs and pale ales are the best to show off hops. I don’t think it makes sense to make a fresh hop Berliner weisse or fresh hop milk stout.
My other advice is to have fun! Do not strive for perfection with a wet hop beer. The beauty of this beer is in its imperfections and unpredictability. This beer is a celebration of the hop plant. Brew it fresh and drink it fresh!
Brewer: Tomme Arthur, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey in San Marcos, CA
With fresh hops we typically only produce our High Tide IPA year after year here at Port Brewing. We have done single batches of pale ale and even a red ale one time. But we prefer IPA to all else.
For the novice, the best way to brew with fresh hops would be to add them as a dry hop to a favorite pale ale and IPA. This is a very simple method. A more advanced starting point would be to use them in the boil for each of the additions. This is much more complex as the alpha acids will be unknown and there is also more moisture in these non kilned hops, which can dilute the gravity of the beer.
I believe the standard substitution rate for wet hops calls for 5–10 times (in weight) what you would need for kilned hops. In High Tide IPA I think we use three times the amount for our whirlpool addition and twice the amount (per barrel) for the dry hopping. We love the character we get in our beer using that ratio. I do think there can be a “grassiness” attributed from too much new hop content but we don’t allow our beers to go there by purposefully keeping their use to a more moderate level. Some of the greenest fresh hop beers I have tasted are the result of immediately going from field to kettle in super charged times (like under an hour).
The dominant American varietals have great application in West Coast styled beers. Pretty much anything goes although we love Centennial and Simcoe® for High Tide IPA. Some of the lower alpha and noble type hops have been used but for my preference these tend to express themselves best in fresh hopped lager-styled beers.
These beers are often some of the most rewarding and challenging we make. If there is one thing I know about fresh hop beers, it’s that there is no single way to “best” make them — other than to use the best hops whenever possible. So have fun, remember it can only occur once a year and better luck next year if the Hop Gods don’t shine down on you this year!
Brewer: Veronica Vega, Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR
It’s easiest to use traditional dried hops in your first and maybe even second additions to get accurate, calculated IBUs. We tend to use fresh hops more as a unique flavor punch than for bitterness. We add large amounts to the back end of the brews so the unknown IBU contribution is negligible.
We love all things fresh hop and are really not averse to trying any variety fresh. Nugget, for example, might not be as hip as Citra®, but fresh they can provide something truly unique and shouldn’t be overlooked. We tend to use “softer” varieties such as Hallertau, Tettnang, etc. in beer styles that aren’t loaded with hop character. For IPAs and pales we tend to go with the more traditional varieties that fit with the beers — Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo®, Nugget, Citra®, etc.
We’ve done a ton of different wet hop styles — Oktoberfest, lagers, reds, Kölsch, golden ales, cream ales, saisons, as well as pales and IPAs each year. We like to release new beers as well as fresh hop versions of our existing brands such as Fresh Hop Cinder Cone in Bend, or Fresh Hop City in Portland. Did I mention we are kind of nuts about fresh hops?
Try to use them as fresh as possible. We work diligently with our hop growers to visit them when they are harvesting the variety we want, and we divert the just-harvested hops from their path to the kiln and bag them up to put in a brew that is in process back at the brewery. We drive back to the brewery in hoodies with the AC on to keep the hops cool and comfy. Probably a little over the top, but it’s all about the hops! We keep in radio contact with each other and the hops go into the brew as soon as they arrive — it’s pretty exciting!
At home, try to use them as fresh as possible, and in the later additions. Experiment with both kettle additions as well as conditioning tank additions to see what works for you in the styles you are experimenting with. And have the best time!
