New hops strands/types. How?

There are so many new hops strands coming out, it makes me wonder how they do it. Would a homebrewer like myself be able grow my own strand? How would one go about this?

Selective breeding and trial and error. Don't quote me but I think only like .1% (something like that) of all the seeds that are tested actually become a new hop strain. Disease resistance, growth pattern, yield, flavor, aroma, AAU, concentration of oils all play a part in if a certain strain will be used for further testing. Very difficult and in depth process imo.

The problem with growing your own strain is that you need a male to pollinate your female plants. Then you get a different strain. But then you have to get rid of that male or all of your cones will be pollinated and they're not worthy of brewing with. It's not worth the effort.

Just wondering why seeded hops would not be worthy of using? I've used them quite a few times over the years and the beers came out fine.

Bummer

Kmcogar said:

There are so many new hops strands coming out, it makes me wonder how they do it. Would a homebrewer like myself be able grow my own strand? How would one go about this?

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You sure could. It would take a lot of work but if you just follow basic principles botany then you could pull it off. I imagine a lot of home brewers already have
a slightly mutated or augmented strand that technically the hops in their back yard are different than your typical commercial ones. The thing is though, that you might be able to cross breed a few strands but would it really make much of a difference in the composition, habits, yield and durability of the old strands? Probably not. And if it did without all the hightec gear to test stuff you might never know

From what I understand a lot the new strands come from cross breeding modern commercial strands with wild hops or by selectively breeding wild hops until they are usable for brewing (high enough yield, enough AA output, taste, life span etc etc)

A few of the strans ive heard about are coming out of New Mexico and are all really old heritage hops that were brought over by the monks in the 1600s and are half wild.

B-Hoppy said:

Just wondering why seeded hops would not be worthy of using? I've used them quite a few times over the years and the beers came out fine.

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Oh crap, somebody called me on it... I remember reading somewhere over the years that you don't want males around because pollinated cones aren't good for brewing. I'm not a botanist to know why, I just remember reading it. I don't remember any description of what physical changes you would see to know if your hops got pollinated or not.

More than half the hops I get have seeds. That said, I almost only buy whole leaf as it's cheaper and there's more varieties available than pellets.