Dried hops

[Crundy]

SWIM makes ale from kits, and has just started a Geordie yorkshire bitter. We were talking about it perhaps being a little less flavoursome than his last kit (a muntons yorkie), and I suggested next time buying some dried hops (rather than those teabag hops), steeping in boiling water for a bit, and then straining into the primary before adding the water. Is this is a good idea or am I talking crap? Assuming the former, if one were to buy vaccum packed hops like these, then how much should you use for a 5 gal kit and what would be the best type of hop to use for a yorkshire bitter?

[6470zzy]

I think that you could benefit from doing a dry hop with 30gm (or 60 if you are adventurous) of East Kent Goldings. I would let it sit on the hops for 10 days then rack the beer off and either bottle it or into the keg.

Cheers

[Danmet]

Try this guy - http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/the_hops_specialist/ - he delivers pretty quickly. I've steeped hops and added them in, and been very pleased with the results. Not tried dry-hopping yet. There's a thread here for adapting kits that may be useful.

[Hoppyfeet]

Ozzy or any brewer how exactly do you dry hop! is it just a case of putting loose dry hops into my fermenting bin whilst a brew is fermenting
Thanks guys
Hoppyfeet

[6470zzy]

Generally you would want to put them into a secondary fermentor and then rack your beer on top of them and let them sit for a good 10 days (personal preference here ) You might also put them in a mesh bag and pitch them in with some clean stainless steel weight. I use some nuts and bolts for weight when I use a bag. As for putting the hops in whilst the brew is still actively fermenting in the primary I would not do that because you will loose some of that precious hop aroma with the off-gassing.

Cheers

[Hoppyfeet]

Thanks a lot ozzy sounds good to me I will give that a try
Cheers.
Hoppyfeet