Green Hop beer!

First off: what is a green hop you may ask, they're all green! (admittedly so, apart from some twiggy ones which are a lovely shade of beige)...

"Green hops" are the British name (whilst Americans call them "wet hops") for unkilned cones fresh from the bine.  As they have just been picked they're still full of moisture - dried hops are around 80% smaller than the same weight of fresh - so the brewer must use 5 times the amount he would normally use to get the same result...

When I say "same result" I'm obviously not talking about them giving the same flavour; green hops give a much more chlorophylly, "sappy" taste along with hints of citrus and even onion (!) meaning you get a totally different flavour experience with green hops to dried ones.  To be honest I've never been a huge fan of the flavour they impart, but as harvest is a once-a-year event it has become something of a trendy brew to make, especially in the states, and increasingly over here too... I got talked into doing one by our hop merchant and a hop farmer so if it's rubbish you can blame them!

The hops arrived this morning, just in time for the brew, and admittedly smell fairly nice; we can tell they are fresh by the hordes of aphids climbing out of the bags!  The brew is a simple 4.5%-ish one with the Progress green hops plus some Citra, Chinook and Centennial - not a massive amount, just a bit - to give it the extra kick I reckon it'll need.  It won't be dry-hopped and will go straight into cask next week... I'd say look out for it but it doesn't have a name yet so you won't know what to look for...

How many bloody hops?!?

Sparging has finished

Happy yeasties!